PACIFIC RIM is a great summer film like I remember seeing as a child. It is reminiscent of classics like JAWS, STAR WARS, and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and time will tell if this film is remembered as well. I saw the IMAX 3D version and the view was fantastic. Normally I just enjoy a straight-up viewing but I will say that the IMAX really immerses you in the film giving it an amusement ride feel. It is without a doubt a must see and the kind of movie that hopefully sees more support so we produce more films like it and, in turn, more film makers like Guillermo del Toro.
I start with director Guillermo de Toro because this is really his vision. He also happens to be one of a handful of filmmakers like Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, and Neill Blomkamp, for example, who seem to be throwbacks to a time when moviemaking was more about the art and the telling of a story rather than a vehicle for an actor or a two-hour long advertisement. Here it is just about the fun, story driven, epic eye adventure with ensemble cast — no egos allowed.
No egos leads me to the acting of PACIFIC RIM. Here it’s all about the characters moving the story forward surrounded by eye candy which does the same. The ensemble cast become their respective characters and each experience their own arcs through the movie’s plot and subplots. Whether it’s Charlie Day’s scientist Dr. Newton Geizler learning to work together to unlock an alien brain, Rinko Kikuchi’s young woman Mako Mori leaving the bonds of her adoptive father to slay her own demons, Idris Elba’s military leader Stacker Pentecost making his last attempt to save humanity, or Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Becket as a man leaving his self-imposed exile over his brother’s death to reach heights he no longer thought himself capable. These are the characters who move this story forward; the characters who move us, who inspire.
If the solid cast doesn’t inspire then the spectacle of giant Kaiju monsters fighting robot Jaegers sure will! What you will witness here is so enthralling, so entertaining, so real, that you will think massive robot Jaegers were created and Kaiju monsters were under contract to act out Travis Beacham and Guillermo’s script and del Toro just filmed it. The action never misses a beat and infects you to want more, but it is not just there for the spectacle. It conveys the sacrifices of this war-torn world and the characters who dwell within. It helps to convey their losses as countries and their people try to band together in the world’s final moments. From the loss of a young girl’s family or a soldier’s brother due to Kaiju attacks, to a son’s ultimate sacrifice to save a world as his father stands by, it is this very action that drives these points created by the cast home.
What worries me and ignites my writing is that PACIFIC RIM is not as successful domestically as it is internationally. I wonder why and I make a plea — Go see PACIFIC RIM! Feel real fear when brother and co-pilot are ripped from a steel hull by death itself. Experience real sadness as a young girl runs through a city’s destruction driven by inconsolable loss. Rise to real inspiration as a wounded leader, father, and man rallies, not his troops, but the people who have made the sacrifices to rise up just one more time to triumph. Experience real love as a father lets his daughter grow, another sacrifices a son, and soldiers find compassion amid the chaos. Fear, sadness, inspiration, love – those are stories of humanity — all brought to you by some giant robots and monsters. Go see the ideal that is PACIFIC RIM.
James “Ghost” Vecchia