[Movie Review] Pacific Rim (2013)

Posted on July 12, 2013 by thegrandshuckett in Movie Reviews // 0 Comments

Plot Summary: When an alien attack threatens the Earth's existence, giant robots piloted by humans are deployed to fight off the menace.

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Writer: Travis Beacham, Guillermo del Toro

Runtime: 131 min

Main Cast:

Charlie Hunnam as Raleigh Becket
Diego Klattenhoff as Yancy Becket
Idris Elba as Stacker Pentecost
Rinko Mikuchi as Mako Mori
Charlie Day as Dr. Newton Geiszler
Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau

Review: by Anthony and Lee

When news broke at Comic con 2012 of a giant robot vs. giant monster movie, we were interested. Doing more research into the movie, we learned it was from the mind of Guillermo del Toro, director of the Hellboy movies, Blade II, and Pan's Labyrinth, and we started to get excited. Finally, when the casting announcements were made, we knew that this was a must see.

What We Liked:

Pacific Rim was a solid start to reintroducing Kaiju (Japanese Giant Monster) and Mech (Giant Robot) movies into mainstream cinema. Guillermo del Torro, paired with head creature designer Wayne D. Barlow, who has designed for such films as Hellboy, two of the Harry Potter movies, The Hobbit, and Avatar, produced a movie loaded with unbelievably fantastic creatures in a way that opened the genre to the general public.

The creativity of the movie was off the charts. When it came to the Kaiju and the Jaegers, no two were the same. In regards to the Jaegers, each was different and was representative of its country of origin in its name, color scheme, and fighting style.

It was packed with action. There were giant robots fighting monsters in the ocean, the air, and the middle of the city, destroying everything in their paths, and there were even some good old-fashioned fist fights between the human characters.

The acting was pretty good. Idris Elba, although he had a terrible haircut and a 70’s porn mustache, was rocking his military commander wardrobe and nailed the role of Marshall Stacker Pentecost. No one delivers an encouraging speech quite like him. Charlie Day was another star performer. We have yet to see him appear in a movie or TV show and not make us laugh. He is spectacular in every role he plays.

What We Didn’t Like:

The fighting did not make much sense. If they had the advanced technology to build Jaegers with plasma cannons, why were they punching the giant monsters? Where were the energy swords, rail guns, and 50 caliber machine guns that all of the other Mech animes and movies had?

The plot did not make much sense either, but we were not expecting much in the case of giant monsters versus giant robots.

4.5

Summary

It was a very thrilling, action-packed movie with great visual effects, fantastical creatures, and decent acting. Who are we kidding? It was giant robots fighting giant monsters! What’s not to like?

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