PACIFIC RIM | Movie Review

This review has been edited from its original version. It has been reformatted for culturally sensitive reasons.

In 2012, I had been checking the internet everyday for news on the Legendary Pictures Godzilla film, only to be disappointed that it in fact would not come out in 2012 as rumors had suggested.
As the year drew to a close, it looked like another year would go by until I could see giant monsters on the big screen. And then the trailer for this film came out and it made me as happy as a schoolboy to know that the wait wouldn't be so bad after all.

Pacific Rim was set to hit theaters on July 12, 2013. But I actually got to see it 10 days before that!
Apparently a member of a Godzilla Facebook group managed to get a few passes to an advance screening at a theater in Dallas, had no use for them and was offering them to anyone in the group who happened to live in that area. Me, who just so happened to live less than an hour from Dallas leaped at the chance to obtain them. As soon as I got them, I invited a few of my friends, but only one was able to attend and she was just as excited as I was to see the movie.

At the time, I don't think I had ever wanted to see a movie again immediately after my first viewing more than this one.
I am not exaggerating when I say that I. FREAKING. ADORE. PACIFIC RIM!

How do I love it? Let me count the ways.

THE STORY
Gigantic alien creatures called "Kaiju" emerge from another dimension from a portal beneath the Pacific Ocean and begin to destroy the major cities of the world. Mankind retaliates by building enormous war machines called "Jaegers."

It kinda sounds like someone got that idea by watching a kid playing with their toys. (And if you read the 'Tales From Year Zero' tie-in comic, that's exactly the case!)
But it still sounds like an epic idea.
Normally, giant robots would be operated via a series of control panels. But the Jaegers have the distinction of having 2 pilots melding their minds. Allowing them to work together to control the actions of the colossal sized Mech.

The story was conceived by Screenwriter Travis Beacham. As the story goes, he was walking along the Santa Monica Beach on a foggy day and happened to look over to the famous pier where he imagined a giant robot fighting a giant monster. An idea formed in his head, an idea he would spend the next couple of years figuring out.
This story actually shares parallels with how the idea for the original Godzilla film came into being. But that's a review for another time.

Del Toro and Beacham 

But it would take a director with a larger than life imagination to bring his idea to life and there was no better choice than the acclaimed Guillermo Del Toro.
The Mexico born filmmaker grew up watching Tokusatsu series, Anime and Kaiju films, so that already makes him an ideal choice. He's also a very visual storyteller, even the smallest details sprinkled throughout the film tell a big story.
If you love this movie like I do, I highly recommend watching it along with his Audio Commentary. Then you'll get to hear how he structured the story not like a typical war, action or even another monster movie, but another film genre I bet you never even made a connection to.

When I heard that Gareth Edwards was no longer directing "Godzilla: King of the Monsters", Del Toro was my choice to take over for the job. Obviously, that's not happening. Regardless, I still have no doubts that Michael Dougherty will knock it out of the park.

THE CHARACTERS
There's an unfortunate stigma put upon monster movies, where only the monsters matter and the human characters don't mean anything. A monster movie needs a good human cast to drive the story and make it entertaining when the monsters aren't on screen, and Pacific Rim has a great bunch of characters.
I enjoy seeing pretty much everyone of them and how work off one another.

I do think a lot of unnecessary hate is hurled at Charlie Hunnam's character. Many say his performance is stilted and emotionless. I think many people missed what he was going for. Hunnam described the character of Raleigh Becket saying: "He's lost so much, and I think it makes him a little bit cold on the outside. He's one of the most ethically righteous and disciplined, dedicated, loyal, honest guys you could ever meet..." Whenever I watch Raleigh, I definitely get that impression. It's made even better when you see him work off Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi). Both characters have experienced loss and tragedy in their lives and only together do they learn to overcome their fears and ultimately, save the world from destruction.

THE JAEGERS/KAIJU

Not surprisingly, the best parts of the movie are the battles between the Jaegers and the Kaiju. All of which are uniquely designed and pretty much flawlessly animated. My favorite Jaeger is Lady Danger and my favorite Kaiju is Otachi. 

You really get a sense of how massive these things are. All of the fight scenes use elements such as intense rainstorms and bright, colorful lighting to epic effect, but in my opinion the best battle and the one that uses those elements the best is the Hong Kong Brawl. The action, tension and surprises all come together to create an experience that begs to be seen on a gigantic theater screen. 
As an interesting piece of trivia, all the Kaiju in the film were made with the mindset of designing a monster suit to be worn by a human.

THE MUSIC
OHMYGAWD! The music in this movie is so FREAKIN' gooood! Ramin Djawadi did an amazing job composing a score that captures the tragic, beautiful, quirky and epic mood of the film. And the main theme can be used to make just about anything awesome.

A NEARLY FLAWLESS FILM?
I'm really trying hard to find something that legitimately bothers me about the movie and the closest thing I can think of is a strange edit in the film.
Its in the scene where Newt goes to Hannibal Chau. After Chau explains where he got his name from he says: "Now tell me what you want before I gut you like a pig and feed you to the skin louse". Scene ends.
Several more scenes pass
Then when it cuts back to them he asks again "What do you want?", and only now does Newt answer him. I feel like there should have been an extra line or two before their first meeting scene ended. Maybe Newt could've said that it needed to be discussed in private and that would give them a reason to go to the balcony over looking the Kaiju Worshipers. But really, while it's an odd edit, it's basically that piece of lettuce included on the side of a burger and fries plate at a restaurant, you wonder why it's there for a bit before brushing it aside and moving on to enjoy the main meal.

Basically, Pacific Rim has everything I could ever want in a movie. Great characters, a good story and fantastic action. It surpassed all my expectations.
I'm not sure if Uprising will be able to capture the same feelings I have when watching the first one, but it still looks awesome in its own right and I'm pretty sure I'll love it regardless.

On my way to see Pacific Rim, I mentioned how I hoped both Pacific Rim and Godzilla 2014 would help lead the way to a new renaissance of giant monster movies. And that's exactly what happened. Toho would make a few new Godzilla films. The success of Godzilla 2014 led to Legendary acquiring the rights to King Kong and creating the MonsterVerse, one of the few Cinematic Universes besides Marvel, that actually knows what it's doing.
Even though it didn't quite make its money back in the states, the international gross more than made up for that, ensuring that we would see more Jaeger/Kaiju battles in the future.
I think I speak for most Kaiju fans when I say that this is an amazing time to be alive!

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

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