Time for the first review of the year. And by request of Solios, it's Guillermo Del Toro's 2013 effects extravaganza "Pacific Rim".
Now, as Solios suggested, I'm going to try and approach this review with a slightly different perspective. In my opinion, it's a very fun movie in general - giant robots fighting giant monsters - bright, colorful, generally smooth combat well presented. The plotting isn't deep, the characterizations aren't wonderful - but it's not that type of movie necessarily. This isn't exactly "The Devil's Backbone" or "Pan's Labyrinth" - and it's not an adaptation like "Blade 2" or "Hellboy" - it's just a straight up popcorn flick - done very well!
Now...personally, I would attribute some of the apparent weaknesses in the script to the fact that this was more of a collaboration project between Del Toro and another writer rather than being his completely - but I also think he knew what he wanted to make and in general it succeeds on that level.
Now to save time, I'm just going to copy/paste the plot summary from IMDB -
"When monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes - a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) - who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse."
What I wanted to try and discuss here - is that I find this movie more enjoyable and fascinating partly because it seems (like many projects by Del Toro) - the product of a real fanboy who also knows how to make a good movie. There are a lot of Japanese influences present from mecha manga anime and super sentai - among other things - but I think what's cool is the way those influences were melded with a western perspective.
One key difference here - beginning with a single movie - (with the exception of a couple side comic projects and interactive websites) - Del Toro had to cram in an entire manga run or 13/26 episode series into 2 hours. So...while there are clips and hints of 7 years of collective mecha/kaiju action (and a few flashbacks), we are left to imagine how it has been playing out through only the briefest pop culture references and images - accurate though they may be when considering our culture.
Instead, we enter the war as a mature conflict. Even on it's last legs as it turns out chronologically - we have the bitter veteran (Charlie Hunnam as Raleigh Beckett) drawn back after leaving - matched up with the junior rookie (Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori). However, we're seeing the action more from the perspective of the veteran than the rookie (more like Space Battleship Yamato - at least the live action flick) than Neon Genesis Evangelion in this case.
The supporting cast is also very strong - and more varied, compared to a lot of anime series or movies. Obviously the budget is much larger, but it's refreshing to see more than a handful of technicians servicing a gargantuan metal monster - and putting it back in service after just a few hours (looking at you again Eva!). We don't see as many key faces among the technicians as might be the case in some series, but it makes more sense to get up close and personal with Marshall Pentecost (Idris Elba) and Ops Officer Tendo Choi (Clifton Collins Jr) than down in the weeds with whoever happens to be polishing rivets on Gypsy Danger.
Speaking of Gypsy Danger...it might be a bit like a stripper name (as some other folks have joked) but the mixed code names are a lot more fun than Eva 01/02/03 or Big O or whatever else you want to work with...I mean....Striker Eureka, Crimson Typhoon, and Cherno Alpha...a lot more variety here - with subtle hints to the countries providing them. And as fighting machines, the human touches displayed like the matching pin-up art on the Jaegers (I think there was a reference to an anime using this term, but I can't recall it) is a nice throwback to WWII aircraft art too.
And honestly...I can't think of an anime I've seen that would use such a strangely a-symmetrical design as Crimson Typhoon. On a similar note, while we normally get one otaku/scientist/genius character in an anime series - it's very rare that we would see two - and generally not any as clearly polarized as Charlie Day (Dr. Newton Geiszler) and Burn Gorman's (Gottlieb) characters. While their rivalry provides most of the comic relief in the movie, they also manage to handle most of the exposition regarding the nature of the kaiju in a fairly concise manner over the course of the movie.
Which brings us back to the kaiju in general. Clearly owing a lot to Gojira and his progeny at Toho studios (and Daiei, etc) - Del Toro and his crew went a slightly different route from the generally dinosaur-ish looks of the past. Without exception, pretty much every Kaiju in Pacific Rim can be traced to a design based on a contemporary animal - and with movements also modeled along similar lines - making for a very different sort of combat in general - and much more physical. Kinda like putting a man-sized iguana, a gorilla and a WWF wrestler all in a cage match at the same time. Although upscaling the martial arts and kendo from the training room to a situation where Gypsy Danger uses a freighter as a samurai sword in downtown Hong Kong is just epic in all the right ways as well. Even though most of the fights take place at night or underwater, Del Toro goes out of his way to ensure we have a good variety of realistic light sources to clearly display the action at all times.
That said, I think Del Toro is (as always) very aware of his references and inspirations - listening to him on the audio commentary makes it abundantly clear.
Which brings us to the Blu-Ray - although the version I picked up does not appear to be available any longer at amazon. It's a pretty package from the front, but really pretty inconvenient for getting to the discs (have to open up the top, slide out the figure and open up the back....!) - not unlike the old Transformers special edition DVD I picked up from Australia. Amazing reference quality audio and video though. (haven't yet watched it in blu-ray 3D yet - only saw it on the IMAX 3D screen in Sydney).
I'll admit right now - I still haven't watched most of the special features - other than the audio commentary...Del Toro is one those directors whose commentaries I will always turn on and watch right after watching the movie the first time through. Always informative, interesting and very knowledgeable - and very enthusiastic with his projects.
So in general - this is a very fun movie worth a watch....and then another one ;p A lot of great references, an amazing amount of detail in every shot - and some very fun and epic combat. Highly recommended!
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