Dark Kent Reviews Pacific Grim

Giant Monsters vs Giant Robots. What could possibly go wrong? The film has been getting a lot of flack from the geek community. And the General Audience isn't exactly flocking with an underwhelming 38 million dollar domestic opening. What exactly does Pacific Rim offer?

The simple answer would be Monsters vs Robots.

Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. Here we are presented a scenario by a brilliant director Guillermo del Toro that ask the audience to make a logical leap. Maintain a disbelief and just flat out forget about SCIENCE. GDT methodically crafted a world in which we, the humans are not only dealing with tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, sharknadoes. WE are now dealing with giant monsters. Codenamed Kaijus.

The Kaijus as per the movie, are treated like tropical storms or tornadoes. They categorizes each one. Gives it names like a Tomagochi. Then proceed to watch it destroy coastal cities along the Pacific. Although it was neatly packaged. The categorization and naming of said monsters are really done to appease the geek community. Names like Leatherback, Otachi etc... Instead of Sandy, Ramon, Katrina, Herbert, Hazel. The General Audience would've been more immersed if names of the Kaijus were derived from your everyday Joe and Jane.

To oppose these Kaijus, humans created the Jaeger program. A robot program that probably cost billions of dollars. Many have mentioned the unorthodox approach. "Why can't they just send the navy, fighter jets, tanks, etc..?" First of all, freighter's have "ZERO" maneuverability against Kaijus. That shit is getting chopped in half in the middle of the ocean. Jets are literally flies to these guys, and tanks; they don't go on the water.

The Jaegers themselves are a sight to behold. Giant Robots that can withstand the most strongest of storms. Can punch with so much power that it could possibly create a new dimension. A machine that is the only thing standing between a Kaiju and future human carcasses.

This movie may have sold that concept. Sometimes the audience forgets that there are humans here too. Guillermo del Toro, focused almost an hour developing human stories to balance out his spectacle. The result is far from perfect but it is a nod to the genre. The attention to detail is astonishing. From the mechanics to the machine to the cultural diversity. It might be astonishing but it was done with mediocrity.

The Australians are like the spawn of Crocodile Dundee. The Russians, since when do they speak English fluently. The Canadian Prime Minister is a redhead. And of course the Chinese who barely spoke got no development whatsoever. It was unfortunate that GDT had this novel concept but couldn't quite put them together. Where's the bickering, natural rivalry. Although the exposition mentioned how nations moved this element aside. Rivalries should still exist on a personal level. That is the personality this movie lacked from the beginning aside from the leads.

Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam were excellent in this movie. Their chemistry really shined a light in this very gloomy movie with their dialogues and narrative. Hunnam struggled to keep a consistent American accent but it's not that big of a deal. He did fine with what he had to work with. The leading lady on the other hand was like a lost puppy that couldn't portray proper western nuances. I have seen enough eastern form of art to say that she's actually on par in terms of acting. She nailed her Japanese eccentricities. It is considered "Kawaii" or "Cute" over there. Unfortunately over here; it is considered bad form of acting.

To wash away and distract us from the so-called bad acting and lack of personality; we have the score. The score was decent to say the least. It felt very loopy. Making it seem like GDT ran out of ideas. It's a very western sound and not a lot of random ballads and heavy metal that most mecha fans been accustomed to.

Overall, Pacific Rim gave mecha fans the very first taste of what is possible with the genre in Hollywood. A big budget blockbuster that was uneven with fun action is a good way to reignite interest and hopefully create an even bigger following. This is not the genre defining movie everyone hoped for but it is a good start. Considering if you've seen G Savior, (that movie was shit) the genre has come very far.

If you liked the film. You guys should really check out the animes that inspired this movie from the Gundams, Daiguard, Big O, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Eureka Seven, etc. And obviously the Toho shows with Godzilla, Rodan, Mechagodzilla and Mothra.

This movie gets my stamp of approval: