Review of 'Pacific Rim'
In the future giant alien nasties come out of a dimension rift at the bottom of the pacific - Kaiju - Humans quickly realise they will have to fight the Kaiju with bigger weapons - giant robots known as Jaegers that require two pilots, mentally linked, to control. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) is a pilot linked with his brother when an encounter goes badly and his brother is killed. Five years later the battles with the Kaiju are going badly so nations are building giant walls that prove to be ineffective so the hope of mankind rests on Raleigh who has been in hiding for all the years…He teams up with Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) who the former-general in charge Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) sees her talent but is reluctant to allow into battle…
Let's not beat around the bush - This is a summer popcorn movie aimed squarely at the young male age group. The effects are spectacular and truly unbelievable. Amazing set pieces throughout - The money spent is all on the screen. Having said all of this I have heard this movie described as “emotionally lacking” but I found this not to be the case with likeable characters with more depth than you might imagine - Each has a reason for the way they act and respond as events unfold.
Me and my fellow cinema-goer really enjoyed this and much more so since we saw it in 3-D IMAX (on the biggest screen in Europe at BFI IMAX in London) - This is movie that really has to be seen on the big screen to be appreciated. We found Transformers impressive but difficult to follow the large-scale action - Here this is not a problem and we were able to follow easily. A lot of “WWF”-style action between the monsters and the robots does occasionally stretch things a bit but still can be appreciated.
Though the ending may not really ever be much in doubt (it is an American movie after all) it is still impressive and never seems entirely like a “sure thing”. Great fun.
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2013-07-20
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Year: 2013
Length: 131 minutes
Genre: Science Fiction
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/
Other reviewed films by Guillermo del Toro:
- Hellboy (2004)
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
- The Shape of Water (2017)