Pacific Rim [Movie Review]

 Lets me set the tone for the review very simply: GIANT ROBOTS!~ KAIJU!~

Aziz, Light!

Well, it delivers better than Robot Jox.

 Yeah... It's going to be somewhat difficult to cover the review without coming off as utterly in love with the movie. I'm going to have to reach into my film degree bag and use all my tools and words to give this anything less than a shining review.

Of course, there are many reasons this just about pushed every single one of my nerd buttons. Giant Robots! Kaiju! Japan! I could go on and on and on... And the music. It was excellent (accepting the inevitable 'Orchestral Hit' that has been in every dramatic sci-fi / fantasy / drama movie since like the 1980s).

Ok, enough for now. I think a brief synopsis is called for.

In the not very far future, like tomorrow, alien monsters arive on Earth, not from space but from a rift in the... wait for it... Pacific Ocean. Daduuuun...bet you were expecting me to type 'rim.'

Too bad.

I'm Commander Shepard and I approve of the N7 armor.

These monsters are appropriately named Kaiju. Which is Japanese for monster, literally 'strange beast', and an obvious allusion to kaijueiga like Godzilla and Gamera. The first beast takes days for the jets and tanks of the modern era to fell. So after a series of attacks, humanity bands together and creates the Jaegers (German for 'hunter'). 

I counted the stories. It's only like 20 stories tall. ~200ft.

The giant robots, these Jaegers, are equally as massive. According to the internet the Gypsy Danger stands some 288ft (88m) tall and weighs in at 7080t. They are awesome and more awesome. 

So the pilots become heroes, the robots gain celebrity and humanity does what humanity does. Expect too much, and then make bad decisions when their expectations are not met.

That's it for the synopsis. I've given enough tasty spoilers.

The Eureka Striker. Cause those words say 'Australia' to me.

Prepare to fire the SRM-6!

 Time for the good and the bad.

 Bad first.

 - The movie is cliche. But honestly, what were you expecting? Instead of lamenting the cliche, revel in it. You know its coming, enjoy!

 - Forced Humor. I'm really thinking about the after credits bumper. Completely unnecessary. Instead of ending the movie on a strong tone it, if you sit through the credits, it ends on 'Ba-dum-bump.' Wrong tone.

- Bad Science. This is inevitable in any sci-fi movie. Here's this movies weird science that makes little to no sense: "Nuclear Vortex Turbine (analog)." Because nuclear is analog? What? Just pretend that it makes sense - that they reversed the polarity or something - and it works.

I'm Lt. Commander Worf!

- Throw Away Characters: This cliche is so large that it encompasses a variety of tropes like The Worf Effect, or Sacrificial Lamb. Heck there's even a Red Shirt moment. We set up one mech as the biggest and strongest and oldest - result: Worf Effect. You expect some death, some pathos, in the story. Problem is we really don't get to know these expendables very well, or at all. 

Rawr! I'm the Monster of the Opera!

There's something about this that is so...

 Now the Good.

- K.I.S.S. The story is straight foward. This should not have to be something I laud in a movie, but it is. So many films, science fiction or otherwise have some serious plot errors, inability to maintain flow, or just simply confuse the viewer (I'm looking at you Prometheus). Pacific Rim does not do this. It's very straight forward. This is a good thing.

- Music. Ignoring the Orchestral Hit that every movie abuses (I'm still looking at you Prometheus), the sound track was energetic. It really kept the feel of the movie going. It was not a sound track I'd buy, but its amazing how it kept the pace of the movie so smooth.

- Subtle Messages: The plot interweaves several subtle (and honestly, sometimes not so subtle) messages. These cover things like Unity (shown in many ways: international cooperation to overcome a large problem, pair piloting, scientific exploration in duo), hero worship, pollution and the environment, and oddly immigration. Honestly, this movie comes packed with messages - some positives to take away, some as warnings. Wrapped in a rather simple plot, there was a lot behind it.

Heck this was science fiction and the black guy did NOT die first, had a position of power, was smart & observant, and was quite the hero. You gotta give a science fiction movies some props for that. 

Blue Highlights!

- GIANT ROBOTS! Yes, seriously. These are just awesome. The detail and designs are (aside from one) all pretty spectacular. Sometimes the spectacle is the reason to see something, and in this case the spectacle is pretty spectacular. It's like watching all your favorite mecha anime / 80s cartoons again. With better effects, straight forward story, and spectacle. And it does giant mecha better than any live action I can remember seeing. The piloting mechanism, while some parts are odd, others are cool, is in many ways a massive upgrade of the systems used in Robot Jox or G Gundam. 

 - Rinko Kikuchi. Let just leave it at the fact that I was impressed with her performance (and not just because she is amazingly cute). Her role added a majority of pathos to the film, involving multiple characters. Also I suspect that her inclusion meant that the Japanese used in the movie was really, well, spot on correct. This movie is not likely to win her any awards, but damn was it good. [Oh, and Ayanami Rei anyone? Not one of those weird Expy's... just a very similar look. Bob and Blue.] Oh, and she is amazingly cute, have I said that?



 I know that the average reviewers are giving this movie only slightly better than average ratings. I'm going to fall more in the same camp as Hideo Kojima and call this an 'Ultimate Otaku' movie. If this blog has not been hint enough, I am an Otaku. Accept my bias!

All that laid bare, here is my rating for Pacific Rim.

4.0 Stars

That places is right next to Oblivion and just below Star Trek into Darkness. I'm loving all the science fiction this year. That said, Elysium is coming up in August, Ender's Game in November... I can only hope that everything maintains the level of enjoyment I'm getting from science fiction right now.

One last message from Hideo Kojima, "This film is not simply a film to be respected, but most importantly, it let us dream the future of entertainment movies." Via his Twitter feed. 
 

Shoes!