Guillermo del Toro has given all of us fans the monster movie AND the giant robot movie we’ve been waiting for our entire lives.
Earth is being slowly invaded by Kaiju, alien monsters coming not from the stars, but from a dimensional rift deep below the sea. Monster after monster devastate various cities, getting larger and larger as the years go by, with their attacks coming more and more frequently and there’s little that modern human weapons can do to prevent them from destroying coastal cities and wiping out large swaths of the populations. Even in death, their decaying carcasses wreak havoc.
The world comes together to devise weapons as large as and as powerful as the Kaiju: massive robots codenamed Jaegers (Hunters), machines so big and complex they need a pair of humans joined in a neural bridge to pilot and fight them. For a time, the Jaeger teams hold their own, then begin to win against the Kaiju, giving humanity hope that they can fight back and win.
But eventually, even the Jaegers begin to fall in defeat, as the attacks become more fearsome and the Kaiju themselves get larger and smarter. There’s another problem to be faced as the Jaegers fall — there are fewer people who have the right make-up to withstand the neural bridging to make the meshed pilot teams the machines need to effectively fight the Kaiju. Finally, the Jaeger program is on the verge of being shut down as the world’s leaders have turned to building massive walls to shield the coastline cities from the encroaching monsters.
But after the walls prove to be no match for the Kaiju, the few remaining Jaeger teams make one last stand at their last operational base, in Hong Kong, closest to the rift. All that remains is finding a team to pilot an obsolete but legendary Jaeger, so their commander goes in search of the one man who piloted it alone before and survived after his co-pilot, his brother, was killed in battle… to convince him to team up with a new partner and fight one last time.
Rivalries are kindled, nerves and skills are tested, beliefs are shattered and rebuilt, hopes are broken and raised again, love and sacrifice play out on both small and epic scales, and giant robots battle giant monsters.
For me this movie works on all levels.
The story is believable within the framework of the movie, with the explanation of how the invasion is being waged as well as the reasons for the increasing size of the monsters and the increasing frequencies of the attacks. The different personalities of our heroes and their resulting clashes don’t feel forced, the CGI of the monsters and the Jaegers looks amazing enough that you want the machines to be real, and oh yeah, Idris Elba is a god amongst men. He even gives his own version of the St Crispin’s Day speech!
The only thing I think they may have played a little fast and loose with was the dynamics of how to make the final assault on the rift, and maybe some of the comic relief was a little overblown, but compared with the rest of the movie, those are minor nitpicks at best.
The soundtrack is a mesmerizing mix and before the movie was halfway through I wanted to get it. It’s by composer Ramin Djawadi, who has also done Iron Man, the Red Dawn remake, and TV shows Game of Thrones and Person of Interest. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello also worked on these tracks, and it’s easily the first soundtrack in years NOT done by Bear McCreary that I felt I must have, immediately.
As my Army buddy said, “I can finally forgive del Toro for Hellboy 2, he’s given me the movie I’ve dreamed about ever since I first saw Voltron and Robotech as a little kid. I want a Jaeger now.” For me, I always wanted a either a Veritech fighter or the powered body armor of the Knight Sabers, and this movie kind of gives me both.
Both of us would have stayed and watched the movie again right then and there Monday night, but they were kicking everyone out of the theater, so we had to go. Oh, that scene where you see a Jaeger use a super tanker ship as a baseball bat? Yes, that’s even cooler in 3D on the big screen. I couldn’t stop giggling like a little kid, during that or any of the other battle scenes.
As a bonus, the official website is full of goodies, from posters and wallpapers, even a tool where you can design your own custom Jaeger. Go have fun: pacificrimmovie.com
That said, I’m glad the movie’s opening on Thursday night instead of Friday… gives me a chance to see it again first thing Friday morning, then again with more of my Army buddies in IMAX bright and early Saturday morning.
Willow Leafstorm says
I find this interesting in that this is all very similar to a movie project that was proposed 10 years ago based on the anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion#Live-action_film It was even considered to have either Peter Jackson or Guillermo Del Toro to direct the live action version. However things fell apart in the licensing end and it never made it out of development hell. For now we just have to settle for the really good Evangelion animated films coming out of Japan, but here is some of the concept art from Weta Studios: http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/neon_genesis_evangelion_concept_art_from_weta
Summer Brooks says
I’m actually glad they didn’t copy Evangelion, which was one worry I had over the past few years of production until I heard more of the story line, and saw the trailers earlier this year.
The story is different enough and the mecha different enough, and honestly, I think the story here is better than what Evangelion ended up on way back when. I haven’t seen any of the newer ones, so I don’t know which direction they went with them. Besides, options are more limited when it comes to creating stories where giant robots battle giant monsters ๐
The featurettes about how they created the Jaegers are something I want to see more of, and hopefully the Blu-ray will be chock full of those
Tonya H. says
It’s not said here, but I wanted to make sure before go see it in the theaters, Is there anything after the credits?
Summer Brooks says
Yes, there’s a little easter egg mid-credits, before the screen goes black and the rest of the credits roll. Good for a laugh.
She wasn't bonza mate says
It was a great film that was all but destroyed by the appalling fake Aussie accents by the two secondary leads. At the South Australian premiere, the entire cinema laughed loudly and often every time actors Max Martini and Robert Kazinsky opened their mouths. Their accents were so bad that they pulled people out of the film and back to the reality that we were sitting in a cinema. Out of 10 stars, it would lost 5 just for those two accents, particularly when you consider that there are so many Australians working in Hollywood now, it would not be difficult for them have had an accent coach, or to have been recast by someone who can do a decent accent (if not an actual Australian actor). In a time when everything is global, Hollywood can no longer just cater to home grown audiences who may not be able to spot the difference because the rest of the English speaking world can.
Summer Brooks says
You do realize that half of Hollywood can’t even get a Southern accent right, or a Boston one? Ever hear someone doing a Philly accent slip into a New Jersey/New York accent, sometimes mid-sentence? We all hear them do bad English, Irish, and Aussie ones, all the time, too. Join the club my friend, join the club… just sit back and enjoy the fiction ๐
Plus, some people just can’t do accents. I recall a story from Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood that they had to get rid of his vocal coach because he was spending so much time trying to get the English accent right that they were falling behind in shooting, so they eventually decided to gloss over the fact that his accent was all over the place.
Alverant says
Mel Brooks teased that in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Summer Brooks says
Saw it again this morning in IMAX 3D. It just gets better, and I think I realized how truly amazing the sound editing is for this movie, especially during the battles.
Alverant says
This movie was great. Soooo much better than “man” of Steel and didn’t have those things that brought that other movie down. I found a video review for those interested.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/7705-Pacific-Rim
One interesting note is the names “kaiju” and “jaeger” are Japanese and German words. Is this some WWII reference or just a coincidence?
Also am I the only one who was thinking of the Power Rangers theme on the way to see the movie? It wasn’t during the movie, it sucks you in so much the music doesn’t even enter your mind.
Summer Brooks says
I’m pretty sure you were the only one thinking that resembled the Power Rangers theme. There’s a rhythmic similarity for the first 10-15 seconds, but after that, Pacific Rim’s got a much better theme (yes, even including the Metallica version of Go Go Power Rangers) ๐
As for the names, I didn’t see anything in the movie that would have lent support to a WWII reference. I figured calling them kaiju was an homage to Godzilla, since they were coming from the sea and tearing up coastal cities. Just found out there’s a comic called “Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero” that has more details. It’s been out almost 3 weeks and had no idea. I must find this.
Alverant says
Well someone did a YouTube mashup of the trailers to the theme song. It worked pretty well.
For the names, using kaiju makes sense. But why “Jaegers”? Why not mechs or mecha which is more recognizable? To most people “jaeger” is something you pour into the punch bowl at parties, not a huge robot designed to kill monsters.
Summer Brooks says
I understand your question; my response was “I don’t know, but maybe they explain it in that graphic novel that I just found out about” ๐
John from Lakeland says
I haven’t read the graphic novels or anything else about it but my assumption is, Jeager, meaning Hunter is simply that. They were built to be the Hunters of these Strange Creatures. Jeager just sounded cooler than Hunter. It was just something a little different.
I saw this Saturday on IMax. I have to say it’s the first film since UP! that I felt was worth the money to see in 3D. I grew up watching Godzilla Saturday mornings on Creature Feature on my local Tampa UHF channels along with Ultraman and G-Force during the week. While watching this movie, it brought back those memories of Weekend mornings after the cartoons were done and my early weekday mornings getting ready for school. So far this Summer, this was probably the best action movie.