So I saw Pacific Rim... I went into this movie not expecting much. Why? I saw the first Hellboy movie as preparation as to what to expect, because I had never seen another Guillermo Del Toro movie before. Regardless, aside from the costumes, I was thoroughly dissatisfied with it, and I knew that it received some good reviews when it came out. I didn't have the spirit to see Hellboy 2. I saw that Pacific Rim was receiving some pretty good reviews, and I was convinced I was being oversold; I prepared myself for the worst. How bad was it? In as little words as I can think of; I came out of the movie and I was, not blown away, but I was impressed: thoroughly!
The movie begins with a Lord of the Rings type prologue sequence, and I found the prologue, which I consider to be up until the Title, appeared to be comprised entirely of images and dialogue shot for the trailers. There is nothing wrong with it, but I do not look back on it as one of the highlights of the film. It does serve the purpose of adequately setting the tone for the rest of the movie. I shouldn't be writing this much about a stupid intro, but this was jarring to me, and luckily the rest of the movie made up for it.
The cast in the movie is, I was going to say outstanding, but as I thought, it was rather hit and miss for me. It is not that anyone was miscast, it is just that some of the actors take the extremely simple material and then do something exceptional with it, and other actors take the simple material and just role with it. As a result these actors are overshadowed by their other onscreen cohorts. Our main character, Raleigh, for instance, gets the job done, but is so bland you wouldn't remember him after seeing him in a scene next to the likes of Idris Elba, for example. Ron Perlman (Hellboy) particularly stands out, and so do Rinko Kikuchi (Mako), and the comedic duo Burn Gorman and Charlie Day (Gottlieb,Dr. Newton Geiszler, respectively). And of course Idris Elba as Iris Elba. If I have not mentioned them, aside from Raleigh who is our main character, you WILL forget about anyone else involved. They are essentially walking talking mannequins. Essentially anyone could have filled those roles.
The story is very basic. My guess is that this was done intentionally to compensate for the amount of action in the film, and there was a lot. The story itself, I don't feel like dedicating a whole lot of time to because, for the most part, you get just what you are promised.
The action! Let me begin by saying that, before the action had even started, I had noticed that in certain instances, the theater's screen was too small, and the sound too puny, that I MUST recommend, that if there is an Imax near you, and you are going to see this movie, GO SEE IT AT THAT IMAX. The visuals and the sound at any ordinary theater are too inadequate to contain the awesomesauce of Pacific Rim. I must also say that despite my inadequate screen, this is where the movie excels. I am not even going to try to describe the action as it will more likely degrade from the experience of seeing it on a screen, than it will do praise. I do have one nitpick with the film's action: MINOR. There is an instance where someone needs to send critical information to another person. This film takes place in the future, and instead of doing the common sense thing and pulling out their cell phone, they instead RUN. One of the movies saving graces is that; their is a little girl, and when a Kaiju is running towards her, she didn't learn to run from Prometheus and made a swift steady turn to the left.
The cons of the movie are this. There is as much action is this as the Man of Steel, and so when you walk out, you may be feeling exhausted... worn out. Also, and this is a very MAJOR dealbreaking complaint; there is so much collateral damage taking place in major cities that I am surprised that the people piloting the Jaegers didn't think about saving any innocent people. My last complaint is this. Mako is everywhere; she is literally everywhere the action takes place, and it isn't like it is explained.
Overall, if you are looking for spectacle, you got it. If you are looking for a David Fincher movie, Fight Club, this is not. I give this movie a SOLID 7 of 10.
If you are on the fence about the movie, check out the trailer.