THE PLOT
Monsters vs. Robots.
What? You need more? How about Godzilla vs. Transformers? Or Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla?
Still need more? Fine. In the not-too-distant future, giant monsters known simply as kaiju (the Japanese word for “strange creature” or “giant monster”) periodically emerge from the Pacific Ocean to lay waste to the coastal cities along the Pacific Rim of Earth.
Something tells me “we come in peace” is not going to be in a kaiju’s vocabularly. They mostly just roar…and roar…and roar some more, dinosaur-style.
They come to us through a pathway between universes which has opened up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Eventually, humanity pools its resources and technology to create giant humanoid robots known as Jaegers to defend the coastal cities via hand-to-hand combat with the kaiju, a Mechagodzilla to their Godzilla.
One of the Jaegers, this one nicknamed Gypsy Danger. There are other Jaegers, but this is the one piloted by the film’s primary heroes.
Piloting each Jaeger are two individuals who are are mentally linked to each other and the machine through a process known as drifting. Their movements from inside the machine dictates its movements. The Jaeger program is initially effective, but eventually the kaiju adapt. Before the program is scrapped entirely in favor of simply walling off all coastal cities, Marshall Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) has a plan to pool together all of the remaining Jaegers and pilots (including Raleigh Becket, the only man thought to have piloted a Jaeger by himself) and take the fight to the kaiju. Oh, by the way, almost everything I just said is explained in the film’s opening 5 minutes.
THE REVIEW
Let’s get this out of the way immediately: Pacific Rim is unbelievably derivative of any number of other action/war movies. There is almost no single plot point within it I had not already seen done elsewhere. The mental checklist in my mind of films it was pilfering just kept getting longer, with Independence Day (ID), oddly enough, earning multiple checkmarks. Pacific Rim doesn’t even necessarily improve upon the material from other sources. For example, when it does the big hero speech before humanities’ last stand in the last act Elba punctuates it with such glaring actorly pauses that his “cancelling the apocalypse” is but a rather insistent question compared to Bill Pullman’s authoritative declaration of “This is our Independence Day!” in ID.
Elba as Pentecost, who you might be able to tell is something of a badass.
Moreover, the secondary characters outside of ostensible heroes Raleigh (Charlie Hunnan), his potential partner/quasi love interest Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), and their boss (Elba) are mostly just a collection of cliches with goofy names (e.g., Herc Hanson, Hannibal Chau). Plus, the hot-shot upstart (named Chuck, played by Robert Kazinksy) to Raleigh’s slightly more seasoned veteran is so similar in appearance to Hunnan that with such little real characterization on hand it’s very easy to occasionally mistake one for the other.
That’s Chuck on the left and Raleigh on the right. Their immense similarity in appearance is likely intentional, with Chuck a reminder of what Raleigh was like at his age.
Sometimes a collection of cliches results in nothing more than a derivative mess. On occasion, though, it can result in something truly transcendent that, though painted in broad, familiar strokes, manages to get audiences involuntarily pumping their fist in the air in response to each impeccably edited call to arms. It can be something that is simply populist filmmaking at its best and just a lot of fun. That’s Pacific Rim.
This is a film which should not work. Beyond its derivation, its mere premise is complicated enough to warrant a rather understandable “I’m sorry. In trying to understand this whole thing I just went cross-eyed” ala the way Austin Powers reacts to the explanation for time travel. Plus, once one does understand the premise they might notice the obvious holes. Part of the film’s greatest success is how it manages to convince you to stop wondering, “But, I don’t understand – why don’t they just evacuate the coastal cities and leave nuclear bombs behind or something? And why, again, do the big, giant robots have to be piloted by two people who are mentally linked together?”
Raleigh and Mako in the drift. If the film works for you that means you probably won’t stop and wonder if their proposed method is really the most logical way to pilot a giant robot.
Based upon the film’s marketing, enjoyment seemed as if it would be directly proportional to the level of excitement you felt when the film’s trailers mostly just asked, “So….want to see some monsters and robots fight each other?” There are those who would cynically argue director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Travis Beachem appear to have simply reverse-engineered the storyline from that three-word premise: monsters vs. robots. In fact, that appears to have been exactly how the original story was conceived by Beachem. There is a certain sense during the film’s second half that we are watching the equivalent of a director indulging his child-like glee with the material and using technical wizardry to bang action figures together. However, where del Toro and Beachem succeed where others have failed (Cowboys Vs. Aliens, Transformers, which is basically “Robots vs. Robots”) is managing to make the audience actually care when the two forces collide on-screen.
Holy crap, y’all. What happens next is amazing!
The story is structured in a similar manner, roughly speaking (meaning nowhere near as many flashbacks) to Man of Steel – action-heavy opening sequence which also performs a lot of expository heavy-lifting, prolonged period of world building with character introductions/interactions, non-stop action in the film’s second hour. In fact, at one point I distinctly remember thinking, “I really thought there’d be more monsters and robots in this monsters vs. robots movie.” However, that stretch of the film is crucial to its success, as it is through getting to know more about Raleigh and Mako and the secondary characters that we find ourselves shouting “Hell yeah!” when Gypsy Danger (with Raleigh and Mako inside of it) is dropped into action to defend Hong Kong from a kaiju attack.
The action sequences are predictably amazing, although they are not to immune to the Transformers problem of struggling to differentiate one CGI combatant from another. As such, there are occasions where one might respond with an understandable, “Wait, who just got hit? The Jaeger or the kaiju? And where did whoever get hit even get hit at?” Plus, any of the sequences involving Jaeger’s not containing either Raleigh or Chuck as one of its pilots are a little underwhelming because those other Jaeger pilots are no more developed than any of the nameless pledges from The Hunger Games. However, the sequence involving Gypsy defending the city of Hong Kong is easily the most thrilling thing I have experienced at the cinema this Summer.
Of course, also like Man of Steel (and pretty much all other Blockbuster films this year) there is quite a bit of collateral damage on hand. However, unlike some others this film actually has a sense of humor, albeit almost exclusively isolated to quirky scientists researching the kaiju (Charlie Day, Burn Gorman). So, when the carnage occurs the audience isn’t necessarily counting how many people are likely dying in large part because the film isn’t taking itself too seriously and doesn’t invite that level of criticism. Plus, they focus upon several characters we already know rather well who are stuck on the ground in Hong Kong during the attack, giving us a sense of scale as well as acknowledging the potential human cost of the destruction.
Raleigh and Mako, in a scene as cliched as you’d expect..and you just won’t care.
On the acting side, Charlie Hunnan is an engaging enough lead in a role which is intentionally bland, although he probably does not communicate his state of emotional torment as much as he could have. Rinko Kikuchi, the Japanese actress who was nominated for an Oscar for Babel in 2006, is a revelation as Mako, threatening to kick down gender barriers for action heroes ala Sigourney Weaver while also displaying a touching level of emotional vulnerability and adherence to Japanese tradition. Idris Elba has little more to do than glare and glower, but he does that well as well as the view moments of vulnerability the story allows him. Charlie Day and Burn Gornam make for a hilarious comic relief duo. Long-time Guillermo del Toro actor Ron Perlam shows up, although if I’m honest I found him distracting and showy in his limited role (even if he is Hellboy).
On the technical side, del Toro and his team of artists, special effects people, and editors show that none of the $190 million budget appears to have been wasted. Each environment we encounter feels completely lived in, with great attention paid to the backgrounds, and the action believably animated and brilliantly edited. Fans of del Toro’s will no doubt find themselves occasionally reminded of his Hellboy films, such as the first time we see the headquarters for the military overseeing the Jaeger program. Plus, the research lab for the two scientists is so familiar with its various encased specimens and experiments one would not have been surprised to see Abe Sapien swim by in a glass tank nearby. The rock-infused score from composer Ramin Djawadi (Iron Man, Game of Thrones) seems to feature little variation, with the main theme repeated so often even John Williams thinks it’s a bit much. Yet, like anything else I might want to criticize with this film the score absolutely works brilliantly in conjunction with the action.
THE CONCLUSION
It’s derivative. Its’ source of inspiration, i.e., various works of Asian art and cinema? Obscure by mainstream standards. Its’ cast? Mostly unknowns or at least lesser-knowns. The action? Occasionally difficult to track. Put it all together and what do you get? One of the most enjoyable action films of the Summer which paints with familiar colors but adds just enough extra into the mix to make something new. It is a film which logically shouldn’t work but is carried along by several decent and one excellent performance, an impeccable sense of pacing, fist-pumping action, and the infectiously gleeful directing of Guillermo del Toro. Pacific Rim is the first entry in what should be an amazing film franchise. Now, if only it will actually make enough money to make that happen.
See It – Stream It – Skip It – See It
Nice Touch: Fans of the video games Portal and Portal 2 can expect to hear a familiar voice in the background of several scenes. Plus, fans of the Playstation 2 classic Shadow of the Colossus should expect a couple of the kaiju to look oddly familiar.
THE TRAILER
