Pacific Rim Is A Fun And Visual Treat

Giant robots facing against aliens. Just not any aliens, but aliens from a rift in the Pacific Ocean. In a nut shell and stripped down to it's bare minimums, that was Pacific Rim. Throw in a basic storyline and some fantastic visual effects and you have a good popcorn summer movie to please the audiences. Going into Pacific Rim I thought it be like a Transformers knock off to please the robot fighting audiences, but I discovered something different. Pacific Rim was a movie that took it self seriously and made the audience take it seriously too as there was this sense of dread, defeat, and survival. With likable characters, well directed scenes, and less bull crap, Pacific Rim was something worth watching. Although the story was simple and like the frame holding the action scenes together, and the action itself was difficult to follow at times. In short, Pacific Rim got rid of anything that would take away from the action scenes and left enough to understand the lead characters. Although for casual viewers, you might not like the intense action sequences and serious plot line. The question is now, should you see Pacific Rim?

Now I'm going to try and keep it simple for this summary of Pacific Rim and not ruin any of the story that remains. So it begins with an overall explanation on what has happened about the Kaiju (the big alien things) appearing in the sea and mankind realizing they need more firepower to win. To lead to the creation of the Jaegers (the giant robots), which required two pilots to pilot it. In Alaska we find Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his brother piloting the Gipsy, defending the Alaska border. While in battle with a Kaiju, Raleigh loses his co-pilot and brother Yancy while connected, leaving a lasting memory on him. Raleigh manages to defeat the Kaiju and get to safety, but doesn't return to the Jaeger program. 5 years past, and the Jaeger program is no longer as successful and few Jaegers remain. Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) decides to find Raleigh and convinces Raleigh to return to the program to pilot once again. At the program Raleigh meets Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), the person in charge of the restoration of the Jaeger project and a pilot potential herself. There Raleigh must find a new co-pilot with a strong connection, and help Pentecost's plan to close the rift forever.

I had my doubts about Pacific Rim before walking into the theater, but walking out I had this sense of "wow" in my mind. First things first, Pacific Rim is not Transformers in any sense other than giant fighting robots. Unlike Transformers, Pacific Rim scrapped off the bull crap that could have been told and showed us what we need to see and let us fill in the blanks in between. We didn't see or know about the character's past or home, but we knew enough to get a sense of the character. Like with Raleigh, we were told he was partially good at fighting and taking a beating which tell us he is a tough guy. In other cases, like with Mako and Stacker, the story seemed to drag it out until the right moment to tell us little about them, thus creating a little bit of mystery. Not to mention a couple of laughs too. There were even a couple of moments I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat (I found the deaths of the other pilots more affecting than I thought they would be). Now we need to talk robot, or rather the Jaegers. The whole design of it was quite cool and the idea of two pilot working together to make it work was fascinating. Not only that, but these pilot needed to be connected in order to work together and defeat their enemies. This helped make the action sequences even more interesting to watch and enjoy. My favorite scene is when they used a freight ship as a sword.

Despite all the good that was Pacific Rim, there are still some issues with it. First and foremost, this is not the kind of the movie for people who are not a fan of action movies but are rather in favor of drama or comedy. Basically people who do not care for all the action, but want a story. When you go to Pacific Rim, you are basically paying for robot vs. alien fight and watch them rip away at each other. I can't mention enough that Pacific Rim's storyline is centered about this fact, and that it gives it enough substance that it doesn't feel like the writers are throwing you against a brick wall. A brick wall being a story that make you laugh and wonder what the hell they were thinking (cough cough Battleship). Although the story requires you to fill in the blanks yourself as it moves with a pace to get to the action sequences and special effects before the audience notices something. As for the fight scenes I felt at sometimes I couldn't figure out what was going on as the camera moved a little bit too fast. Now I don't really have a problem with this and I understand the nature of the scene, but could I enjoy the visual a little bit? They are, after all, very nice.

Overall I enjoyed Pacific Rim more than I thought I would as it was clearly a summer blockbuster. It was nice in 3D, but I think I would have enjoyed it just the same in 2D. Also I apologize for how many references I made to Transformers in this review. I just really wanted to point out the differences between the two. Pacific Rim proves that you can have a movie about giant robots fighting things with a story that is decent and visual effects that are to an artistic level and look amazing. So sit back and enjoy the robot mash. And what better to watch it on than the big screen. Our rating for Pacific Rim is:

The trailer for Pacific Rim below.
What did you think of Pacific Rim? What was your favorite moment?