Pacific Rim - Review
This review of Pacific Rim is spoiler-free!
And we're back at it with more Guillermo Del Toro! If you know anything about the man, Del Toro has a love for monsters and giant robots. Pacific Rim is an embodiment of this love of both of these things, and honestly, I was one of the few people who wasn't really that interested in the film. I thought if I wanted to see giant monsters in a movie I would go see something like King Kong or Godzilla. Unfortunately though at the time, I wasn't presented with any choices of that kind that were coming out anytime soon. So, when Pacific Rim came out on DVD I jumped at the opportunity to dive into this monster flick. With the release of Pacific Rim: Uprising this past weekend and my review for that coming out today as well, I wanted to take the time to tackle the original! Let's dive into Pacific Rim.
For those uninitiated into the story of this film, let's start from the beginning. Kaiju are a group of monsters that came from deep within the ocean to wreak havoc on the world. When these Kaiju broke through a break in the center of the Pacific Ocean, the world came together to defend it's home. Building giant robots by the name of Jaegers, these robots required two pilots to link together through a neural connection. For a time these Jaegers were winning against the monsters from the deep, but the Kaiju have fought back and pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. It comes down to the capabilities of a forgotten pilot to end the Kaiju threat once and for all. Honestly, the story of Pacific Rim is outlandish but it's not something that I found bonkers. It's a monster movie and has a story to match that craziness! There is one problem though that I faced with this story: it really lays on the emotion and tension. There's just simply too many moments focused on "connecting" and "you can do this". It is like it's trying to bash the head of the viewer against a wall and it becomes extremely frustrating.
Obviously, Pacific Rim isn't a story that should have focused heavily on its character stories as much as the conflict between humanity and the Kaiju, but Del Toro made the odd decision to do this. Speaking of which, let's discuss the main three characters from the film. Charli Hunnam plays Raleigh Becket. This archetype of character is something we see so often now that I'm just tired of it. The soldier whose seen horrors and has to be called back into the line of duty because no one else is left. Hunnam is an excellent actor and tries to make it work, but it just really isn't all that exciting of a lead character. The other main roles in this film go to Idris Elba as General Pentecost and Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori. These two are like father and son, with Mori being adopted by Pentecost after the loss of her family. Their relationship feels overly familiar with the constant trust issues of a father and a daughter not wanting to put each other at risk. One of my biggest problems with this movie is that it tends to really have so many archetypal and typical character models that you just feel too used to the characters and nothing really feels fresh.
Finally, we get to the thing I wanted to talk about from the very beginning. Pacific Rim's visuals are absolutely stunning. For a film that promises monster mash and beautiful scenery, it absolutely delivers. Del Toro has an eye for making beautiful creatures and seeing these Kaiju come to life on screen is absolutely gorgeous. The way the Jaegers and Kaiju battle it out with one another is awe-inspiring and the use of a darker night sky and sea during many of these large-scale sequences works to the advantage of the film. This allows for the details of these massive beasts and large robots to be accentuated by the lights that line them. I can't help but feel if this film's climactic ending took place in the broad daylight it would have felt a bit out of place. Great work by Del Toro to know how to make the look of the film stand out.
Pacific Rim is absolutely a mixed bag of a film. It's a beautiful movie to look at through all of its large sequences and action-packed battles between the Jaegers and Kaiju. Del Toro's monster love is shown in it's fullest here but I can't help but dream of a Pacific Rim that wasn't trying to be so damn serious at every turn. For those of us out there who love monster films, Pacific Rim is a good one to sit back and watch, but it's not the genre-defining film we've been looking for to bring it back to prominence. A weak story and terrible characters weigh down what could be a truly great movie if some different choices were made by the top brass. Check out Pacific Rim if you're in the mood for some robot on monster action, but don't focus too hard because the story will make you cringe at every turn.
