I loved it. You really, really need to see it on the big screen to get the full effect of the beautiful effects. It is a bit silly at points with the 2 scientists....but it was great!
MAKE SURE YOU STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS!!!! funny as hell last scene.
Pacific Rim, A MUST SEE!!!
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XMEN Iceman
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Seconding this, folks. If this were a serious movie, I'd be ripping it to shreds because the science doesn't work, there's plot holes big enough to herd a Kaiju through, the characters are little more than archetypes, and the plot's thin.
But it's not a serious movie. Del Toro never sold it as a serious movie. This is an adventure movie, a FUN adventure movie where you don't have Revolver McEmopants the Third contemplating his place in the universe as he blasts guys into gory paste with only dubious justification.
Nope, it's simple. Big bad Kaiju are coming out of the ocean to slaughter us. We built giant mecha to fight them on their own terms. It reminds me a lot of summer movies from the 80s:
"Three crazy washed-up professors figure out how to catch ghosts!"
"Turns out that video game was a recruitment ad for the Star League!"
"An archaeologist tries to stop Nazis from getting the Ark of the Covenant!"
"Lightning strikes an experimental weapon and it comes to life!"
None of those made much sense when looked at critically, and neither does Pacific Rim. That's what's awesome about it--Del Toro told us right from the start it was going to be very much like a kid banging his Shogun Warriors and Godzilla action figures together out in the backyard in an epic game of Let's Pretend. In fact, that's the in-universe explanation for how humanity thought to come up with the mecha!
And because of that and because the movie takes itself only seriously enough to drive that paper-thin plot, it's a BLAST to watch.
Let me give you an example, straight from the trailers, so it's not a spoiler. The hero mecha, Gipsy Danger, at one point reaches into Hong Kong harbor, grabs a big, long freighter ship, hefts it like a baseball bat, and knocks the crap out of one of the invading Kaiju.
You and I know that'd never work. The ship would fold before it got out of the water, to address the very least of the problems with that scene. A modern action movie that takes itself too seriously would throw in some technobabble at this point or shortly before, just to justify it: "inertial compensators" or "tactile telekinesis" or somesuch.
Pacific Rim just does it. BAM, out of the park!
Exactly the type of story element a ten-year-old boy might come up with, just as much justification.
Del Toro isn't so much asking the audience to believe him as adults, he's asking the audience to come with him back to his boyhood...and it works. The film is just so sincere about it you can't help but go with him.
So yes, see it for that sense of fun, if nothing else.
But if you bring a critical eye along, you'll find stuff to enjoy as well. The art direction is amazing. I never had a moment where I had difficulty telling any of the Kaiju apart or any of the mecha, for that matter. The colors and usage thereof is also excellently done; everything pops, it's not a muddy, gritty film by any means. Seriously, if you're an art person, go see it; it's got that same timeless quality that Blade Runner had.
Even though the fights are either set at night, in the rain, or underwater, you can still tell what's going on. That alone is worth the price of admission right there. None of this shaky-cam crap or too-close shots, nosirree Bob. It's all nicely choreographed action that's a real pleasure to follow. At one point the pilots of Gipsy Danger make an immediate, wordless, tactical decision about what to do to a particular Kaiju, and not only does it make immediate sense, every piece of the decision was clearly laid out in the previous minute. When it comes together you're going "oh, of course, excellent move there!"
This is the first movie that, since I've lost binocular vision, has actually made me sad I couldn't see it in 3-D.
So yeah, two thumbs way up. I'm sure Roger Ebert would have enjoyed the hell out of this movie just because of its quality and sincerity.
PS: Ghostbusters, The Last Starfighter, Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and Short Circuit.
But it's not a serious movie. Del Toro never sold it as a serious movie. This is an adventure movie, a FUN adventure movie where you don't have Revolver McEmopants the Third contemplating his place in the universe as he blasts guys into gory paste with only dubious justification.
Nope, it's simple. Big bad Kaiju are coming out of the ocean to slaughter us. We built giant mecha to fight them on their own terms. It reminds me a lot of summer movies from the 80s:
"Three crazy washed-up professors figure out how to catch ghosts!"
"Turns out that video game was a recruitment ad for the Star League!"
"An archaeologist tries to stop Nazis from getting the Ark of the Covenant!"
"Lightning strikes an experimental weapon and it comes to life!"
None of those made much sense when looked at critically, and neither does Pacific Rim. That's what's awesome about it--Del Toro told us right from the start it was going to be very much like a kid banging his Shogun Warriors and Godzilla action figures together out in the backyard in an epic game of Let's Pretend. In fact, that's the in-universe explanation for how humanity thought to come up with the mecha!
And because of that and because the movie takes itself only seriously enough to drive that paper-thin plot, it's a BLAST to watch.
Let me give you an example, straight from the trailers, so it's not a spoiler. The hero mecha, Gipsy Danger, at one point reaches into Hong Kong harbor, grabs a big, long freighter ship, hefts it like a baseball bat, and knocks the crap out of one of the invading Kaiju.
You and I know that'd never work. The ship would fold before it got out of the water, to address the very least of the problems with that scene. A modern action movie that takes itself too seriously would throw in some technobabble at this point or shortly before, just to justify it: "inertial compensators" or "tactile telekinesis" or somesuch.
Pacific Rim just does it. BAM, out of the park!
Exactly the type of story element a ten-year-old boy might come up with, just as much justification.
Del Toro isn't so much asking the audience to believe him as adults, he's asking the audience to come with him back to his boyhood...and it works. The film is just so sincere about it you can't help but go with him.
So yes, see it for that sense of fun, if nothing else.
But if you bring a critical eye along, you'll find stuff to enjoy as well. The art direction is amazing. I never had a moment where I had difficulty telling any of the Kaiju apart or any of the mecha, for that matter. The colors and usage thereof is also excellently done; everything pops, it's not a muddy, gritty film by any means. Seriously, if you're an art person, go see it; it's got that same timeless quality that Blade Runner had.
Even though the fights are either set at night, in the rain, or underwater, you can still tell what's going on. That alone is worth the price of admission right there. None of this shaky-cam crap or too-close shots, nosirree Bob. It's all nicely choreographed action that's a real pleasure to follow. At one point the pilots of Gipsy Danger make an immediate, wordless, tactical decision about what to do to a particular Kaiju, and not only does it make immediate sense, every piece of the decision was clearly laid out in the previous minute. When it comes together you're going "oh, of course, excellent move there!"
This is the first movie that, since I've lost binocular vision, has actually made me sad I couldn't see it in 3-D.
So yeah, two thumbs way up. I'm sure Roger Ebert would have enjoyed the hell out of this movie just because of its quality and sincerity.
PS: Ghostbusters, The Last Starfighter, Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and Short Circuit.
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