PACIFIC RIM

PACIFIC RIM Review

By Darin Skaggs

     Guillermo Del Toro has made some of the most creative, smartest and entertaining films of recent years.  His debut film, Cronos was a vampire film without ever saying it.  He also made Pan’s Labyrinth which is a darker version of Alice in Wonderland.  With all that genius he brought to the film world I thought he could do no wrong.  Turns out I was wrong.  Pacific Rim, one of the most anticipated films of the year is also one of the dumbest. 

          The film opens with a rundown of what is going on with earth, complete with a scruffy “cool guy” narration.  Well, a portal to another dimension has opened up and Godzilla like creatures, called Kaiju, crawl out and start destroying our planet.  And because we’re human we build giant robots, called Jeagers to fight them.  The catch is that no one person can handle piloting these Jeagers by themselves; this is a two person job.  The catch to this is the two people have to have some sort of connection.  The main character Raleigh Becket is partners with his twin in the beginning of the film.  Another team is a father and son.  This is confusing and a downright ridiculous premise.  Why don’t they build a Jeager that can hold one person?  How come unrelated people can pilot it later in the film?

     Oh well, the rest of the film is pretty much Becket returning to the Jeager program five years after his brother’s death.  Then him and someone he just meet, Mako who is played by Rinko Kikuchi pilot a Jeager accompanied by two other Jeagers and they fight the Kaiju.  This film is familiar with movie character clichés.  It includes the hunky male lead, the tough boss who does not get along with our lead but eventually earns his respect and vice versa, the damsel who is not in distress yet still needs help sometimes and the comic relief side characters who are unsuccessfully mirroring a C3PO/R2D2 or Dr. Honeydew/Beaker (of Muppet fame) like team.  Some of the choices the characters make are roll your eyes worthy.  At one point the Kiaju have defeated a Jeager, even though the men inside are still alive.  They, for some odd reason, decide to crawl out with their flare guns in hand and shoot the ten plus story monster in the eye.  What was next in that plan?  I have no idea and neither will you.

     The movie with all its flaws has some positives.  The fight scenes are pretty cool but maybe if there was a little more character or story it would justify making a movie based around this action.  It is all special effects based and the Kaiju look really cool.

     The film looks awesome but the performances and script are only subpar.  Filled to the brim with cliché moments and characters, I cannot get behind this film.