Movie Review: Pacific Rim (English)
Sure enough, this season has been raining doomsday flicks in Hollywood - Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, World War Z and now Pacific Rim. But to be honest when I first saw the trailers of the film, I was not really impressed. It seemed as if Transformers and Godzilla were pitted against each other on a more grander scale, and frankly speaking, that assumption wouldn't be entirely wrong! The film opens in the early 2020s, when several cities along the Ring of Fire come under attack from Godzilla-like alien monsters called the kaiju who emerge through a portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean causing extensive devastation and loss of countless lives.
The affected nations put aside their conflicts and disputes, and pool in their resources to build jaegers - giant robots controlled by two psychically connected (human) pilots - in an attempt to fight them out. Though the program proves to be initially successful, the kaiju attacks grow more frequent and powerful, rendering the metal bipeds ineffective in battle. With the Pacific Rim governments thus beginning to seriously doubt the jaegers' ability to safeguard humanity, commander Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) decides to once and for all wage a war against these leviathans to avert a global apocalypse.
First and foremost, props to director Guillermo del Toro for thinking something new which isn't a remake or a reboot or a sequel. Having said that, the kaiju mythology is never fully explored (leaving it ripe for sequels hopefully!), and the characters that make this movie are half-baked and fail to create any sort of impact. The premise that the two pilots must function as one mind on combat is an interesting idea that could have been delved a lot deeper to reveal their strengths and weaknesses, but instead they are just discussed perfunctorily.
Otherwise, if you can get past the obvious suspension of disbelief, Pacific Rim can be unabashedly entertaining. The visual effects are spectacular, and the movie never for a minute dwells on the destruction caused during the action sequences. Perhaps the most humanistic of the destruction-heavy blockbusters this year, Pacific Rim is more style than substance, but is still fun while it lasts. You won't be totally disappointed. And yes, it's a lot better than Transformers and Godzilla!
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| Pacific Rim |
First and foremost, props to director Guillermo del Toro for thinking something new which isn't a remake or a reboot or a sequel. Having said that, the kaiju mythology is never fully explored (leaving it ripe for sequels hopefully!), and the characters that make this movie are half-baked and fail to create any sort of impact. The premise that the two pilots must function as one mind on combat is an interesting idea that could have been delved a lot deeper to reveal their strengths and weaknesses, but instead they are just discussed perfunctorily.
Otherwise, if you can get past the obvious suspension of disbelief, Pacific Rim can be unabashedly entertaining. The visual effects are spectacular, and the movie never for a minute dwells on the destruction caused during the action sequences. Perhaps the most humanistic of the destruction-heavy blockbusters this year, Pacific Rim is more style than substance, but is still fun while it lasts. You won't be totally disappointed. And yes, it's a lot better than Transformers and Godzilla!
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