SPOILER ALERT:
Guillermo del Toro really is one of the masters of using CGI effectively. Considering Pacific Rim is roughly the same amount of animation that James Cameron used in Avatar, and not once was I genuinely displeased with it, I have to give a lot of credit here. In a summer full of CGI, stunts, and super heros, Pacific Rim holds its own as the only action movie to not force me into saying "Thats ridiculous." Lets break it down:
- Iron Man 3: Every villain is a genetically modified super human that uses drugs to "Regulate" their condition into a manageable state. The beauty of Iron Man was that previously it was always a battle of the builders. Making the final villain in the series a scientist that can regenerate like wolverine, and heat the cells in his body up to 3000 degrees C, seems like making the human torch compete in battlebots.
- Man of Steal: The immediate arrival of Zod as soon as superman dawns his cape. I am aware that its explained away. By activating the old scouting ship to talk to his hologram father, Clark simultaneously activates a distress beacon that Zod traces. But it all just feels too convenient.
- Fast and the Furious 6: Dom jumped out of a car going 90 quickly enough to smash into Letty in between two freeway overpasses with enough force to carry them both back across the gap onto safety.
Pacific Rim is not completely free from fault however. Del Toro basically leaves it up to the audience to fill in who the evil creatures are. They are left mostly unexplained except that they are basically dinosaurs that have been genetically engineered to be better at destroying planets. The Rift they came through is a worm hole that needs to be destroyed to prevent them from coming back. How it was made initially, Why it requires Kaiju DNA to work, and whats stopping the rest of the creatures from building another one is up to you.
Beyond that though the movie begins to feel like a homage to several other pieces of film. The entire concept of the movie is based on the Gundam TV series. The only way it could have been closer is if it had been set in tokyo, instead of Hong Kong. If you accept the fact that given the entire population of the worlds resources and expertise we could conceivably build a 250,000 ton robot with a couple nuclear reactors for a core then the most difficult part of the actual Jagers to believe is the dual pilot system. Again thats explained but apparently bad neuroscience is less believable to me then a giant robot.
Secondly, the ending of the movie is almost a perfect recreation of the independence day ending. Including the look of the evil earth destroying aliens.
FINAL THOUGHTS.... TL;DR
I thoroughly enjoyed pacific rim. Well worth attending the midnight release of a visually amazing movie. I had to remind myself it wasn't made by James Cameron as the ending came a bit too soon for the epic I was used to. Right at the 2 hour mark the movie wraps up without a real growth by the characters. Maybe if it was rated R instead the story would have gone a bit more in depth on the relationships the pilots had to share and the tension that could have caused. But considering the target audience is the former 10 year old boys who rushed home to watch toonami on Cartoon network, I have to humble. I was throughly entertained from start to finish, even when some side plots and some shots seemed unnecessary or unfinished. If nothing else I'll say that if you have always wanted a live action Gundam movie, this is the best I can do for you.
Otherwise I hope to see you at the movies - Ginger
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