Pacific Rim (2013)

[KyFi]

Anyone see this? I thought it was quite good. I liked the characters, and they seemed to avoid some of the cliches in storylines of this type. Nice action scenes, and a cool backstory. Idris Alba really has great screen presence. Also, drawing so much on Japanese cinema for the plot, I'm glad they made one of the main characters Japanese.

 

On the downside: almost all the action scenes are at night, in the rain or fog, or underwater---kind of made the movie a bit gloomier than it should have been, IMO. I would have liked a couple more action scenes in the daylight. Still, pretty good overall.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Saw this one on opening day, most fun I had at the movies all year. A very entertaining blockbuster popcorn ride.. The reason for those night action scenes are because that's Del Toro style. If you look back at his filmography he's always dealt with fantasy/horror/dark imagery like Hellboy/Blade 2/Pan's Labyrinth/Devil's Backbone. He tends to film is movies in a very dark setting even for this movie which is PG-13 and I guess only Monsters come out at night?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

some of my thoughts on the film:

It certainly is easier to write about films you love or hate. When you are ambivalent about a film it is easier to find another one you are passionate about. The hype this film has had with various friends on and offline had me intrigued and looking forward to viewing this. I am also a fan of the director (Hellboy, Blade II, Pans Labyrinth) and I knew this would be something he could do well.

I do not know if I was disappointed, but I felt the film was lacking in storyline and characterization with too many dumb scenes, too predictable of a plot and I was left wanting. Maybe I am just burnt out of action movies and/or I have just seen too many. I certainly enjoy a large robot hitting an intergalactic monster with a ship, but I also want to care about the characters. I might just need to watch a few Eric Rohmer, documentaries and non-action films for a while.

A portal to another dimension has been opened (somewhat like The Mist) and large creatures called kaiju (Japanese for monster) have appeared to wreak havoc on the populace. Since these creatures were quite difficult to destroy, large robots were created (better looking versions of Robot Jox) to combat these creatures though they need two pilots who are neuro-linked to each other with one performing the right brain activity and the other the left. The arc of the story involves Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) who lost his brother in a kaiju fight (a really stupid move cost them this; something no real solider or fighter would have done, you always make sure you finish off the enemy instead of celebrating early.)* Several years have gone by and the kaiju keep getting stronger (reminds me of a similar aspect in The Incredibles); however, governments have decided to disband this very expensive program in favor of really large walls to stop the creatures (this is also incredibly stupid, even if it worked they would have no access to the oceans and what would happen if these walls were breachable ) Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) needs all the help he can get when keeping this waning program up. Of course guess who is going to get back into the program.

Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) had dimensions and some pathos, though her character was still pretty standard (though kudos for not going the romance route). I though Hunnams performance lacked gravitas. Elba has it, but could have had a better written Henry V rallying speech. The kaiju groupee (Charlie Day) and the mathematician and Lee Evan imitator (Burn Gorman) make a nice though predictable team.

There are certainly aspects of the film that I liked quite well. The after-market organ harvester Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) and his operation feel like pure Del Toro and so does the humongous monsters (a trademark in his oeuvre); though I thought a more diverse design of those creatures could have helped. There was certain sameness to the bunch that I thought was weird considering the amount of past kaiju films Del Toro could have taken from. The CGI was quite good, though the cinematography could have used a more diverse palate.

I might be one of the few to say this: but I would have rather had a Hellboy 3 than this. I am glad he has a hit, mainly because he can possibly make that third Hellboy film. Make sure you say through the first part of the credits as you have an extra scene which is funny.

* How about the later and more annoying move: hey wait we are being beat up and I forgot we have a sword moment.

[bigrogie]

Saw this one on opening day, most fun I had at the movies all year. A very entertaining blockbuster popcorn ride..

I saw it today in IMAX 3D. I fully agree with you. That's a fun movie to watch and Rinko Kikuchi is hot!

[ToryK]

most fun I had at the movies all year.

Yep. It looks gorgeous in 3D and it's got a wonderful tone. Geek movie of the year, I say. My only complaint is that the finale is a bit of a comedown from the Hong Kong scene. The HK scene was insane. Perfect pacing and the use of scale was brilliant. And they bitch-slap a Kaiju with a boat! The ending's cool enough, I suppose. I was just hoping for something more along the lines of the action that preceded it. Props to Day and Perlman for their parts. Pretty sweet cast, altogether, but those two really stood out.

[KUNG FU BOB]

One of many films that I saw, but have neglected to comment on here.

My "deadly spawn" and I saw this on opening day in 3D. We loved it!

As a guy that grew up watching Ultra-Man, Johnny Sokko & His Flying Robot, KING KONG, the Godzilla films, and all the 1950's giant monster movies, I felt like I had died and gone straight to Geek Heaven! The special effects were phenomenal, the action was plentiful, and not only between giant robot warriors and enormous monsters/kaiju, but also some well-filmed martial arts bouts between the human stars! It had way more heart than I expected, and I was totally carried away by the story. The scenes of the little girl were incredible. My son said that whenever he'd glance over at me I was grinning ear to ear. To be honest, I had to actually catch myself at one point from throwing my fists in the air and cheering! So yeah, highly recommended.

[Superfly]

I need to see this. Bad reviews kept me away.

[zeus]

I need to see this. Bad reviews kept me away.

The only reviewer you should trust is yourself!

[Takuma]

Loved it!

Pacific Rim (USA, 2013) - 4.5/5

Tetsujin 28, Neon Genesis Evangelion and assorted Gamera monsters are all present in Guillermo Del Toro's love letter to Japanese kaiju and tokusatsu films. Although a CGI affair, the film feels relatively practical thanks to the attention paid to physics and sets. Monster design owes a lot to classic kaiju films; fans can spot features of Guilala, Guiron, and others. Rinko Kikuchi makes excellent co-lead – sad that she’s hated by everyone in Japan. The Russian Ivan Drago -style pilot duo would deserve more screen time, though. Above all, the film feels like a live action Neon Genesis Evangelion, although Del Toro's film is simpler and doesn't feature deep themes. As a mainstream entertainer, however, it is pretty much the best thing you could have wished for.

"Who are you, if you are Japanese and won't watch this?" - Hideo Kojima

"If you don't see this, you're kaiju food." - Takashi Miike

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Why is Kikuchi hated in Japan?

[Takuma]

Why is Kikuchi hated in Japan?

Probably for being "gaijin's bitch"

You usually break into stardom in Japan by becomming a cute idol. You appear in silly talk/comedy shows, you sing some stupid songs even when you don't know how to sing, you do silly TV commercials, and you act in some z-grade TV drama. You uphold pure image - no scandals, and preferably no boyfriend - get your face all over the TV, magazines, and ads, and then everyone loves you - until they forget you.

Kikuchi did the exact opposite. Instead of winning the local audiences first, she went directly abroad. She never did much of the cuteness stuff in Japan. Instead she acted in a film (Babel) that did not give a very positive image of Japan, and where her role was quite tragic and included doing full frotal nudity (absolute no-no for Japanese idol). She received tons of praise all over the world before anyone in Japan knew who she was. Later she has continued to act in foreign films.

I think a lot of people in Japan see her as a greedy bitch who doesn't care about local audiences and just wants to win Oscars abroad. "Well, go abroad and don't come back" they think. Well, of course not everyone, and my statement is a bit exaggerated. Nevertheless I believe this is the underlying reason why a lot of Japanese either dislike or simply ignore her - even if they might not always acknowledge the reasons for it.

When Kikuchi, Del Toro and Mana Ashida were doing publicity tour for Pacific Rim in Japan, almost all the media coverage focused on the 9 year old Ashida who appears in the film for about 4 minutes... followed by a little bit of attention given to Del Toro.

I'm afraid it may be partly because of Kikuchi that Pacific Rim is severely under-performing in Japan. Started 5th at the box office, fell to 6th on the second weekend (edit: that was accodring to Box Office Mojo. JP source say it went from 6th to 8th).

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

So roughly the same shit Zhang Ziyi had to go through... asian audiences are a strange breed sometimes.

[KUNG FU BOB]

"If you don't see this, you're kaiju food." - Takashi Miike

Awesome quote!

Loved your review Takuma. And thanks for the detailed explanation about Kikuchi's undeserved hate.

[Secret Executioner]

Sorry for the off-topic, but has anyone heard of a Del Toro's project called Dark Universe ? Apparently, it's a movie (still in works) to be based on a line-up of the Justice League called JL Dark. The movie version is to be made-up of the following characters: Deadman, The Spectre, Swamp Thing, Constantine (guess he'll be different than the Constantine we've previously seen), The Phantom Stranger, Zatanna, Zatara, Sargon the Sorcerer and Etrigan the Demon. Sounds pretty cool in my book.

Del Toro also said he would even try to get this linked to the universe of Man Of Steel if he has a chance to - kind of like what happened with the Marvel movies universe.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Sorry for the off-topic, but has anyone heard of a Del Toro's project called Dark Universe ? Apparently, it's a movie (still in works) to be based on a line-up of the Justice League called JL Dark. The movie version is to be made-up of the following characters: Deadman, The Spectre, Swamp Thing, Constantine (guess he'll be different than the Constantine we've previously seen), The Phantom Stranger, Zatanna, Zatara, Sargon the Sorcerer and Etrigan the Demon. Sounds pretty cool in my book.

Del Toro also said he would even try to get this linked to the universe of Man Of Steel if he has a chance to - kind of like what happened with the Marvel movies universe.

Interesting. I'd be down for this.

[inframan]

Saw Pacific Rim, great flick. I was a little worried about all the CGI after seeing the swirling mess that appeared in Transformers, but PR looked great!

Bonus, Mothra was playing on TV right before I left for the theater.

[SamSeed]

Sorry for dragging back an old thread, but I was thinking of getting this and I was just wondering, is there any martial arts battles between the human characters? Don't get me wrong, I love a good alien/robot battle as much as the next enthusiast, but an action film is always better with some Fu

[inframan]

yes a couple, there is a scene where a couple pilots get into it for a min and another scene where pilots duel with a jo. Mostly kaiju mayhem though, I'm really enjoying the 3D blu ray.

[AlbertV]

Okay those who liked Pacific Rim, keep your fingers crossed because Guillermo del Toro has announced that he has finished the script for the sequel and gave a number for the budget and it has been passed on to Universal for approval. 

 

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