Ever wonder what a kid who wanted to write a story about monsters and robots fighting would write? Pacific Rim is that movie.
Pacific Rim shows us a not-too-distant future where our world, specifically the countries on the Pacific border, is being attacked by other worldly monsters called Kaijus. The Kaijus emerge from a trench deep below the Pacific Ocean and look like classic Japanese movie monsters ala Godzilla. It takes a few years after the first wave of attacks to develop a weapon against the Kaijus. These weapons are known as Jaegers and are massive robots controlled by two pilots who drift (basically like a mind meld) with each other.
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The Jaegers prove to be an effective weapon against the Kaijus and the pilots of these massive machines become modern day superheroes. The Kaijus are soon seen as less intimidating and, as often happens in pop culture, they are turned into toys and games rather than threats.
Fast forward roughly a decade and the Kaijus have evolved and become able to beat the Jaegers in fights. The Jaeger program is being suspended rather than invest any more money in the technology. The world leaders are instead putting their faith in building a massive sea wall between coastal cities and the ocean to keep the Kaijus at bay. They are giving Commissioner Stacker Pentecost (played by Idris Elba) eight months to fully decommission the program through the Hong Kong headquarters, despite his protests to the contrary.
Another summer movie with my older kids! #PacificRim
— Scott Wells (@63Wells8) July 13, 2013
Upon the announcement of the end of the program, Australia experiences a high profile attack from a Kaiju that takes only a few hours to break through the sea wall before finally being defeated in downtown Sydney by the last Jaeger in the country. This sparks protests by the populations, but to no avail.
Pentecost goes to Alaska to locate a former Jaeger pilot, Raleigh Becket (played by sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam), who is hiding from his past career by helping build the sea wall there. Pentecost brings Becket to Hong Kong to pilot his former Jaeger, but first he needs to find a compatible co-pilot to drift with.
Pacific Rim was awesome. What more can u ask for? Fighting, Giant Robots, Monsters, Explosions. Go see!
— Doug Martin (@DougMartin22) July 13, 2013
In Hong Kong we meet the rest of the main players involved in the program, including rookie pilot hopeful Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), Kaiju researchers Dr. Newton Geiszler (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman), Australian father-son pilot team Herc and Chuck Hansen (Max Martini and Robert Kazinsky, respectively), the Wei Tang Triplets’ pilot team, and the Russian Kaidanovsky pilot team. These teams represent the last four Jaegers in the world. They have a plan to take a nuclear bomb and detonate it in the trench to end the Kaiju attacks forever.
Pacific Rim is a must see!!!!!
— Kyle Arrington (@Arr2Five) July 13, 2013
The process of picking Becket’s co-pilot becomes complicated, as he defeats every cadet Mori and Pentecost scheduled for him. Knowing that Pentecost cares personally for Mori and lets his feelings get in the way of letting her try out, Becket openly challenges Mori to a match and Pentecost relents. Mori and Becket have the best chemistry in their challenge and she finally gets her shot as a pilot.
Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) wrote, produced, and directed the epic film. Visually, the film is stunning. The monsters, robots, and scenery are all beautifully shot. The battle scenes make you feel like you are involved in them personally; feeling each hit the Jaegers take from the attacking Kaijus. However, the spectacular visuals do not totally distract from the lackluster script. The plot is very one-sided, with a forced romance that seems to be an afterthought, thrown in for the benefit of the girlfriends and wives that get dragged to the film.
The strong, independent female character of Mori is a testament to del Toro, who recently said in an interview, “I wanted a female lead who has the equal force as the male leads … it’s going to be a real earnestly drawn character…” These values are evident from start to finish in her storyline.
Pacific Rim is a Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures film, rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief language. The running time is 132 minutes.
