Pacific Rim

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
Pacific Rim
Released 7/12/13, now in theaters

Otherworldly monsters battle giant robots for the fate of humanity in an epic smackdown this weekend.  No, it's not Michael Bay's latest Transformers film.  It's Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim starring Sons of Anarchy alums Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman.  I had a strange journey to finally seeing this film as I was initially unimpressed with the trailers for it.  I gradually began to come around to having this as a "must-see" for the Summer.  So, I was hoping with everything I had my newfound faith would be rewarded. 

In the future, horrific monsters have risen from a dimensional portal located in the Pacific Ocean.  These highly destructive creatures become known as the Kaiju.  When tanks, bombers, battleships, and missiles prove useless, the countries on Earth put aside their differences and begin to mass produce a new kind of war machine.  These giant machines, extremely powerful robots known as Jaegers, are piloted by two humans sharing a neural link to make them more efficient fighters.  With the use of the Jaegers, the tide of the war is turned and the Kaiju are driven back or destroyed.  Jaeger pilots become the new rock stars on the planet.  All is good until the Kaiju mount a second offensive.

Sibling Jaeger pilots, Raleigh (Hunnam) and Yancy Becket, are called into action one fateful night when a new Kaiju enters through the dimensional rift.  Although the Beckets have taken down more than their share of Kaiju, this particular beast is different. It's stronger and has adapted to the Jaeger fighting style.  In an enormously destructive battle in the middle of the ocean, the beast is eventually defeated, but at the cost of Yancy's life and severe damage to the brothers' Jaeger.  Having a mind link at the time of his brother's death, traumatizes Raleigh and causes him to leave the defense program for the next several years. 

Meanwhile, Kaijus are coming through the dimensional rift at faster and alarming rate.  Jaegers are becoming less effective against this new breed of monster and the united-Earth governments are losing faith in the program.  The program is actually shut down in favor of a fortification called the Wall of Life, huge metal walls designed to protect the cities and keep the Kaiju out.  The four remaining Jaegers are sent to Hong Kong to protect the unfortified coastline until the wall is finished. 

Jaeger commander, Stacker Pentecost (Elba), has other ideas about how to stop the Kaiju for good.  But he needs to coax Raleigh out of retirement and find a suitable co-pilot to work with him.  Through illegal means, Pentecost has acquired a destructive weapon to use against the Kaiju in a last gasp effort to win the war.  Through unsanctioned experiments on Kaiju organs, Jaeger command may also now know how best to use the weapon as well.  The question is can the plan be set in motion before an all-out Kaiju attack destroys humanity altogether?

The first thing I thought of as I was watching Pacific Rim was that this story involving robots vs. monsters is coming from the vision of what a 12-year old boy would think is cool.  Albeit it's a vision pumped up on steroids.  And, that's not a bad thing.  Pacific Rim is cool and will make the 12-year old in almost everyone giddy.  Del Toro's inner child has produced a movie that, while not a masterpiece, is very easy to like.  I believe Pacific Rim might be the first big budget movie he has made and, in baseball terms, it's a solid triple. 

When you have a feature of this scale, the important thing is the look.  The Kaijus look fierce and awful.  Awful in this case means scary as Hell!  So, in turn, you need a nemesis equally impressive.  And the Jaegers are badass!  Optimus Prime is still the most butt kicking robot ever, but the Jaegers are easily in the team photo.  When a Jaeger wields a battleship like a club, what's not to like?  And when Kaiju and Jaeger collide, it's a bone crunching good time.  The battles are what you would expect when titans lock up, highly destructive and highly jaw-dropping.  No expense (or city) was spared in making both combatants look as awesome as possible

Hopefully, Pacific Rim is a beginning for Charlie Hunnam.  To date, he's starred in many low budget movies.  His biggest claim to fame is starring in Sons of Anarchy (and if you're not watching THAT show, why aren't you?).  With SOA allegedly scheduled to end in the next two years, Hunnam could definitely benefit from a bona fide Hollywood hit.  He plays the thoughtful, brooding badass quite well. He's made for super hero movies (he turned down Thor).   Since Hollywood tends to typecast, I hope he'll be allowed to show us something different.  He's an interesting actor.

Pacific Rim offers some comic relief among the constant bickering of Charlie Day and Burn Gorman as Drs. Geizler and Gottlieb.  Day has been turning up a lot lately.  If you ever need a manic cartoon character on speed, he's your man.  Ron Perlman adds a little bit of comedy, but mostly a lowdown skankiness as black market dealer Hannibal Chau.  Perlman is probably a very nice guy in real life, but he just has a look that screams, VILLAIN!  Idris Elba brings the hokey as the commander.  And I say hokey because every film depicting humans on the verge of extinction has to have that stern, steady voice that makes the big speech to rally the troops.  It's not a bad thing, especially as Elba brings a grace to the role, and he has the best quote of the Summer so far in, "Today we are CANCELING the apocalypse!"  But it's a hokey role nonetheless.

Pacific Rim could have gone horribly wrong in incapable hands.  But, Del Toro has a solid grip on what's awesome and what's cheesy.  This could have easily turned into something as banal as Independence Day (sorry, if you liked that one).  Pacific Rim rumbles and rages with the fury of a volcano erupting sometimes.  It's big, it's bad, and most of all, it's as much fun as just about any film released this year.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

**** stars

And, in the interest of Baseball season and the upcoming All-Star game, I've tweaked the ratings a bit.  Enjoy!

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Strike out on three straight pitches
1/4*= Strike out.  Caught looking
1/2*= Strike out swinging
3/4*= Strike out.  Pushed pitcher to a full count.
1 *= Slow dribbler to the pitcher's mound
1 1/4*= Pop-up
1 1/2= Weak fly ball
1 3/4= Soft line drive
2 *= Double play ball.  Rally killer!
2 1/4 *= Average hit ground ball in the infield
2 1/2 *= Sharply hit ground ball in the infield
2 3/4 *= Solidly hit line drive.  But still an out.
3 *= Walk
3 1/4 *= Solid single
3 1/2 *= Double down the line
3 3/4*= Double in gap; ground-rule double
4 *= Triple down the line
4 1/4*= Triple in the gap
4 1/2 *= Triple against the wall.  Just missed the seats.
4 3/4 *= Inside the park home run
5 *= Home Run.  A 400+ foot blast!