Janine McCaw's Blog: SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL - Posts Tagged "pacific-rim"
PACIFIC RIM (The Movie)
This week, Supernatural Central's review is brought to you by guest host Markus Turner, better known as @MarkusRex82 . This is reprinted with permission from his blog, The Nerdasaurus Rex.
So, the long wait finally came to an end on Friday evening for The Nerdasaurus Rex my friends. The film that I have been looking forward to more than pretty much any film since the last Ninja Turtles film came out back in 2007.
That’s right – PACIFIC RIM finally debuted and audiences around the country are getting a chance to see if big, effects-driven movies about Godzilla-esc monsters battling with Voltron-like robots will sell at the box office. Can a far-fetched idea like alien monsters traveling across time and space using a portal found deep in the Pacific Ocean and to bring about massive destruction on Earth until mankind builds giant robots to turn the tide make enough sense to people to where they will buy tickets to see it?
And more importantly, can a movie live up to the hype that it has created for itself when so many recent movies have been destroyed by the pressure?
Hell – can it live up the expectations of The Nerdasaurus Rex, the guy who has intentionally made sure not to read news articles and watch all the trailers on television for the film? That’s MONTHS of keeping my nerdy curiosity at bay, my friends.
Well, after going out on the opening night and shelling out nearly $20 for an IMAX 3D ticket…
Oh… My… GOD!!
It was everything I could have hoped for!
THE GOOD
First off – I was sold back when I saw the initial trailer months ago on the concept of watching robots and monsters fight it out on the big screen. I didn’t know the plot. I didn’t know who was directing it. I didn’t know anything about the movie except for the snippet of action I saw in the teaser trailer and it was enough to get my nerdy brain to glow like an addict sniffing neon paint.
I loved how it looked then, but NOW after seeing the whole film and getting a chance to let the Jaegers and the Kaiju do their dance of destruction… I can say the film was truly like watching living art. Del Toro’s style was prevalent while still showing something new as the director evolved his usual trends and choices to bring us more grit and metal and less fantasy and steam punk.
In all, the grand battle scenes were amazing, but so were the little touches like the dings and battle scars of the Jaeger robots; the atmosphere of Japan in the not-too-distant future; the way that water and light reflected off the outer, metal shells of the Jaegers; the way that all of the Kaiju were different, yet definitely seemed to come from the same species and were developed using the same inspirations.
Second – While the story was fairly basic and didn’t really do much as far as twists, I don’t think it detracted from the film at all. This is a summer thrill-ride film, plain and simple. There’s no attempt at winning someone an Oscar (although, the special effects Oscars better at least have Pacific Rim nominees) with this film… It’s fun, it’s loud, stuff gets destroyed, you don’t have to think too hard and you can cheer for the good guys.
PACIFIC RIM doesn’t try to pretend to be anything it isn’t. It’s people using giant robots to fight and kill giant monsters. Yes, the major characters all get some flashback/background moments and lots of characters get to grow and develop as the story moves along… but there wasn’t much that was too heavy-handed or felt forced. It really feels like it’s perfectly balanced between the action, the humor and the moments that get us to the next big time fight.
Third – I liked that this film was full of actors who weren’t bigger (if you forgive the pun) than the robots and monsters that are supposed to be the focal point. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Green Street Hooligans) played the film’s main protagonist while Idris Elba (Thor, RocknRolla) and Rinko Kukuchi (Babel) helped round out the main trio. Beyond that, the supporting cast were nearly all excellent (even the two scientists who some are saying were a bit over the top were okay in my opinion).
I just think that if a big-name actor like, say, Tom Cruise or someone on that level was in this role, it wouldn't have been about the story and the sheer awesomeness of monster-vs.-robot... it would have been the next Tom Cruise film (and I think it would not have been nearly as good).
Honestly, though, everyone needs to give Idris Elba a serious pat on the back for helping this movie be amazing. His performance was the driving force in the film and the way his character, Pentecost, seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as he did everything he could to lead mankind’s last hope against unspeakable odds truly made you understand what human civilization was up against. As his teams went into battle and some of them didn’t come home, you could feel the weight of that loss as he reminded everyone to start preparing for the next kaiju attack.
He was great (and even had some of the funniest exchanges in the entire film) and was completely believable – so if giant monsters start popping up out of the ocean depths, we gotta get us a guy like Pentecost.
Finally – I absolutely loved the soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi. So much so that I downloaded it on my way home after the movie and have been jamming to it since I started writing this. The main theme is going to be on heavy rotation on my playlist for a while.
THE BAD
First – in a real shocker for me, I found that the one thing I didn’t really care for was the role that Ron Perlman (who is almost always spot-on in every role he does) as Hannibal Chau. I know he’s one of del Toro’s go-to actors and he usually can do any role you give him… but something about him as Hannibal Chau just felt a bit forced. I think they could have cast someone else in that role and it would have been better, but Chau really wasn’t all that important of a character in the end, so it’s just a minor thing.
Second – In this not-too-distant version of the future, there is a great deal of unrest and turmoil happening for people living under the constant threat of kaiju attacks. This is all hinted at and how in brief flashes of news footage throughout the story, but there isn’t much time devoted to showing the audience how tough life is for people living in an age where you’re only source of protection is a giant robot.
I think that was a missed opportunity and could have been used more in the story, but doing so may have weighed down the film, which (as I mentioned before) is already an excellently edited film and finishes right around two hours in length.
Third – I didn’t like the ending, but it’s still a good. But I can’t get into that until the spoilers section.
SPOILERS (don’t read this section if you don’t want things ruined)
Okay… so it’s starting to get to the point where you all can see where I’m going with this review. However, I do want to point out that while I enjoyed the hell out of this movie, I didn’t like the ending.
Not that the ending is bad – heroes sacrifice themselves to allow others to use a nuke to close the portal that has been allowing the kaiju to come to earth and our two main heroes jettison to safety before their trusty jaeger self-destructs to take out the monsters on their side of the portal.
It’s all wonderful-looking and pulls on your heart strings a bit, for sure… but because the heroes succeed, I cannot see how they’re going to make a sequel to this movie now. I mean, you nuked the source of the monsters AND you destroyed their way of getting here – that’s pretty final as far as an ending goes.
I’m sure they can think of a way for the kaiju to return (possibly they had started spawning young kaiju while terrorizing the planet or while swimming in our oceans? Who knows – but any way of doing a sequel is going to feel like it’s just being done to get more money from movie goers (which I will gladly pay if it means two more hours of monster-on-robot action).
I thought that the “bridge” concept that allowed two humans to pilot a jaeger was a cool one and made for good plot elements. I mean, it makes sense that something that big would be too much of a strain for just one person to sync up with and pilot.
It also makes for a handy way for characters to show us back story, motivations, revealing secrets and letting the comic-relief scientists come up with a solution to beat the monsters.
FINALLY
What can I say people? Is this film perfect – no, it is not. There are a few things that keep it from being a perfect film, but they are in no way big enough to keep it from being a ton of fun and EXACTLY what I was hoping to see.
I’m giving it a 5-star rating because it was just so damned cool to see. I had a ton of fun and found myself shouting at the screen for the heroes to pummel the crap out of the monsters. I laughed. I cringed. I high-fived my buddy Luis when the jaegers brought the pain and took out a kaiju monster. Those factors all add up to a top rating in my book.
I will also go as far as to say that PACIFIC RIM was so enjoyable and so completely the kind of movie I have wanted to see for a long time… that it is officially in my Top 10 Favorite movies.
I don’t know if I can give it any higher praise than that.
Anyway – Please take a few hours out of your weekend and go see this film. If you can’t make it this weekend, then definitely find time to go see it soon because it deserves every dollar we give it. Also (and I don’t normally do this), but I definitely recommend a 3D viewing as the 3D special effects were some of the best I have ever seen.
So have you seen PACIFIC RIM yet? If so what did you think? If not, are you going to? Let me know in the comments.
Until next time!
Turner at 2:00 AM
We'll translate that into five out of five howls! To go to the original post and leave Markus a comment, go here:
http://www.thenerdasaurusrex.blogspot...
So, the long wait finally came to an end on Friday evening for The Nerdasaurus Rex my friends. The film that I have been looking forward to more than pretty much any film since the last Ninja Turtles film came out back in 2007.
That’s right – PACIFIC RIM finally debuted and audiences around the country are getting a chance to see if big, effects-driven movies about Godzilla-esc monsters battling with Voltron-like robots will sell at the box office. Can a far-fetched idea like alien monsters traveling across time and space using a portal found deep in the Pacific Ocean and to bring about massive destruction on Earth until mankind builds giant robots to turn the tide make enough sense to people to where they will buy tickets to see it?
And more importantly, can a movie live up to the hype that it has created for itself when so many recent movies have been destroyed by the pressure?
Hell – can it live up the expectations of The Nerdasaurus Rex, the guy who has intentionally made sure not to read news articles and watch all the trailers on television for the film? That’s MONTHS of keeping my nerdy curiosity at bay, my friends.
Well, after going out on the opening night and shelling out nearly $20 for an IMAX 3D ticket…
Oh… My… GOD!!
It was everything I could have hoped for!
THE GOOD
First off – I was sold back when I saw the initial trailer months ago on the concept of watching robots and monsters fight it out on the big screen. I didn’t know the plot. I didn’t know who was directing it. I didn’t know anything about the movie except for the snippet of action I saw in the teaser trailer and it was enough to get my nerdy brain to glow like an addict sniffing neon paint.
I loved how it looked then, but NOW after seeing the whole film and getting a chance to let the Jaegers and the Kaiju do their dance of destruction… I can say the film was truly like watching living art. Del Toro’s style was prevalent while still showing something new as the director evolved his usual trends and choices to bring us more grit and metal and less fantasy and steam punk.
In all, the grand battle scenes were amazing, but so were the little touches like the dings and battle scars of the Jaeger robots; the atmosphere of Japan in the not-too-distant future; the way that water and light reflected off the outer, metal shells of the Jaegers; the way that all of the Kaiju were different, yet definitely seemed to come from the same species and were developed using the same inspirations.
Second – While the story was fairly basic and didn’t really do much as far as twists, I don’t think it detracted from the film at all. This is a summer thrill-ride film, plain and simple. There’s no attempt at winning someone an Oscar (although, the special effects Oscars better at least have Pacific Rim nominees) with this film… It’s fun, it’s loud, stuff gets destroyed, you don’t have to think too hard and you can cheer for the good guys.
PACIFIC RIM doesn’t try to pretend to be anything it isn’t. It’s people using giant robots to fight and kill giant monsters. Yes, the major characters all get some flashback/background moments and lots of characters get to grow and develop as the story moves along… but there wasn’t much that was too heavy-handed or felt forced. It really feels like it’s perfectly balanced between the action, the humor and the moments that get us to the next big time fight.
Third – I liked that this film was full of actors who weren’t bigger (if you forgive the pun) than the robots and monsters that are supposed to be the focal point. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Green Street Hooligans) played the film’s main protagonist while Idris Elba (Thor, RocknRolla) and Rinko Kukuchi (Babel) helped round out the main trio. Beyond that, the supporting cast were nearly all excellent (even the two scientists who some are saying were a bit over the top were okay in my opinion).
I just think that if a big-name actor like, say, Tom Cruise or someone on that level was in this role, it wouldn't have been about the story and the sheer awesomeness of monster-vs.-robot... it would have been the next Tom Cruise film (and I think it would not have been nearly as good).
Honestly, though, everyone needs to give Idris Elba a serious pat on the back for helping this movie be amazing. His performance was the driving force in the film and the way his character, Pentecost, seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as he did everything he could to lead mankind’s last hope against unspeakable odds truly made you understand what human civilization was up against. As his teams went into battle and some of them didn’t come home, you could feel the weight of that loss as he reminded everyone to start preparing for the next kaiju attack.
He was great (and even had some of the funniest exchanges in the entire film) and was completely believable – so if giant monsters start popping up out of the ocean depths, we gotta get us a guy like Pentecost.
Finally – I absolutely loved the soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi. So much so that I downloaded it on my way home after the movie and have been jamming to it since I started writing this. The main theme is going to be on heavy rotation on my playlist for a while.
THE BAD
First – in a real shocker for me, I found that the one thing I didn’t really care for was the role that Ron Perlman (who is almost always spot-on in every role he does) as Hannibal Chau. I know he’s one of del Toro’s go-to actors and he usually can do any role you give him… but something about him as Hannibal Chau just felt a bit forced. I think they could have cast someone else in that role and it would have been better, but Chau really wasn’t all that important of a character in the end, so it’s just a minor thing.
Second – In this not-too-distant version of the future, there is a great deal of unrest and turmoil happening for people living under the constant threat of kaiju attacks. This is all hinted at and how in brief flashes of news footage throughout the story, but there isn’t much time devoted to showing the audience how tough life is for people living in an age where you’re only source of protection is a giant robot.
I think that was a missed opportunity and could have been used more in the story, but doing so may have weighed down the film, which (as I mentioned before) is already an excellently edited film and finishes right around two hours in length.
Third – I didn’t like the ending, but it’s still a good. But I can’t get into that until the spoilers section.
SPOILERS (don’t read this section if you don’t want things ruined)
Okay… so it’s starting to get to the point where you all can see where I’m going with this review. However, I do want to point out that while I enjoyed the hell out of this movie, I didn’t like the ending.
Not that the ending is bad – heroes sacrifice themselves to allow others to use a nuke to close the portal that has been allowing the kaiju to come to earth and our two main heroes jettison to safety before their trusty jaeger self-destructs to take out the monsters on their side of the portal.
It’s all wonderful-looking and pulls on your heart strings a bit, for sure… but because the heroes succeed, I cannot see how they’re going to make a sequel to this movie now. I mean, you nuked the source of the monsters AND you destroyed their way of getting here – that’s pretty final as far as an ending goes.
I’m sure they can think of a way for the kaiju to return (possibly they had started spawning young kaiju while terrorizing the planet or while swimming in our oceans? Who knows – but any way of doing a sequel is going to feel like it’s just being done to get more money from movie goers (which I will gladly pay if it means two more hours of monster-on-robot action).
I thought that the “bridge” concept that allowed two humans to pilot a jaeger was a cool one and made for good plot elements. I mean, it makes sense that something that big would be too much of a strain for just one person to sync up with and pilot.
It also makes for a handy way for characters to show us back story, motivations, revealing secrets and letting the comic-relief scientists come up with a solution to beat the monsters.
FINALLY
What can I say people? Is this film perfect – no, it is not. There are a few things that keep it from being a perfect film, but they are in no way big enough to keep it from being a ton of fun and EXACTLY what I was hoping to see.
I’m giving it a 5-star rating because it was just so damned cool to see. I had a ton of fun and found myself shouting at the screen for the heroes to pummel the crap out of the monsters. I laughed. I cringed. I high-fived my buddy Luis when the jaegers brought the pain and took out a kaiju monster. Those factors all add up to a top rating in my book.
I will also go as far as to say that PACIFIC RIM was so enjoyable and so completely the kind of movie I have wanted to see for a long time… that it is officially in my Top 10 Favorite movies.
I don’t know if I can give it any higher praise than that.
Anyway – Please take a few hours out of your weekend and go see this film. If you can’t make it this weekend, then definitely find time to go see it soon because it deserves every dollar we give it. Also (and I don’t normally do this), but I definitely recommend a 3D viewing as the 3D special effects were some of the best I have ever seen.
So have you seen PACIFIC RIM yet? If so what did you think? If not, are you going to? Let me know in the comments.
Until next time!
Turner at 2:00 AM
We'll translate that into five out of five howls! To go to the original post and leave Markus a comment, go here:
http://www.thenerdasaurusrex.blogspot...
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