Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba,
Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day; Direction:
Guillermo del Toro; Screenplay: Travis
Beacham, Guillermo del Toro. Story: Travis
Beacham; Editing: Peter Amundson; Producer: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, etc.;
Music: Ramin Djawadi; Genre: Sci-Fi Action; Running Time: 132 minutes; Distributor:
Warner Bros; Location: USA
Moral assessment: 3
MTRCB rating: PG 13
CINEMA rating: V14
In the not-so-distant-future, earth and humanity’s
existence is threatened by “kaijus”—giant monsters who emerged from the bottom
of the sea. Men built equally gigantic robots to supposedly counter the attacks
of the enemies. However, the human-made robots called “jaegers” can only be
commandeered by two human pilots whose consciousness are intertwined with each
other. This neural bridging is
nicknamed “drifting”. Eventually, the kaijus adapt to
the weaponry and forces the governments to abandon the jaeger program in favor
of colossal coastal walls. But when
these efforts prove futile against the increasing smartness of the kaijus, the
world governments decide to recall the last four jaegers and the best remaining
pilots as their final defense. Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), a combat officer,
recalls retired pilot Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) who lost his brother,
Yancy (Klattenhoff), during one of their battles. Raleigh is teamed up with
Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), Pentecost’s adopted daughter who also lost her
family to the kaijus. Now faced in the fight for the survival of the entire
human race, the pilots must learn to trust each other, let go of past hurts, and
open up their souls for a more effective and synchronized control of the jaegers.
Pacific
Rim is a visual feast and triumph for its
genre. This is an undeniable fact
but other than the gigantic feat, the movie is a cold and emotionless as the
metals and steels constantly clashing on screen. There are two spectacular
scenes for the testosterone-filled audience—the opening scene where the entire
premise of the plot is dumped before opening credits roll, and the very
predictable final battle. Everything in between is problematic. While del Toro tries
hard to be original and to present something different, shades of characters
and situations from other successful films resonate so loudly. (Think Independence Day, Godzilla, Transformers,
Battleship, and every other end of
the world, alien attack, post apocalypse movies). The characters were given
little background stories to make the film interesting and relatable but bland
acting and overly complicated characterizations and storylines make the film
challenging to digest with all the metal clanging and explosions. The movie
pays more attention to producing ostentatious CGI action than to character development.
In spite of the director’s good intestions, the viewer may feel like he’s watching
a videogame—a very long one. The body count is high as expected yet you don’t
feel any loss for anyone of them because of the lack of emotional investment in
the characters. Overall, Pacific Rim
is visually entertaining but forgettable and inexpressive.
