Escape to the Movies: Pacific Rim

[Olas]

Why the hell is everyone acting like something fresh? Isn't there a huge budget movie about robots playing fisticuffs like every summer? (Transformers, Real Steel etc.) This is supposed to be a creative new idea for a movie because this time the robots are punching lizards instead of other robots? I'll probably end up renting it because I like Del Toro, but the premise seems boring to me.

I honestly don't get the hype for this movie.

Dude, the Reel Steel robots were like 10 feet tall, and really it was a boxing movie with an otherwise down to earth setting and characters. It's not even comparable to this on any level. And Transformers isn't even an original IP. This seems fresh because it's increasingly rare to find movies this unabashedly outlandish, with original IPs, and that don't use gritty realism.

If you're saying it's like every other movie because it has robots in it you're missing the point.

 

[MorganL4]

The Guillermo del Toro equasion for Summer Blockbuster epicness:

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shinji + Idris Elba + Ron Pearlman^2 = TOTAL EPICNESS

I wish people would stop making comparisons with Eva...this is a GOOD film, not 17 hours and some change of annoying people i hope the monsters kill.

Thats like wishing people would quit comparing Star Trek and Star Wars.... With out one the other CERTAINLY would not exist.

Are you implying Eva is the only reason Pacific Rim exist as opposed to every other Mech and Monster movie/anime out there?

I refuse to believe Eva is that damn influential.

The Guillermo del Toro equasion for Summer Blockbuster epicness:

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shinji + Idris Elba + Ron Pearlman^2 = TOTAL EPICNESS

I wish people would stop making comparisons with Eva...this is a GOOD film, not 17 hours and some change of annoying people i hope the monsters kill.

Thats like wishing people would quit comparing Star Trek and Star Wars.... With out one the other CERTAINLY would not exist.

Are you implying Eva is the only reason Pacific Rim exist as opposed to every other Mech and Monster movie/anime out there?

I refuse to believe Eva is that damn influential.

Look, I am not going to have this conversation twice.... It is pointless.... If you want to read it just go over the back and forth I had with knight4light.

No offense or anything, but I don't feel like repeating the EXACT SAME WORDS over and over and over again every time someone reads what I post.

 

[Mister K]

I was hearing everyone as I walked out, they all seemed dissapointed. I think it was the camp acting.

I was very tempted to yell "Alright guys, if you really want a show about giant mechs fighting giant monsters with Edgy themes and character development

But trust me, you guys aren't ready for this."

I went for robots punching monsters in the face

I got robots punching monsters in the face, and bonus, I didn't have to deal with another ***** like Shinji Ikari.

Ikari Shinji. The person, that even in "manly heroic pose" looks like a wuss.

OT:
Just came from the movie. It is good. No, wrong. It is GOOD. I had not had this much fun since Avengers. My only gripes are that "non-main" bots had really little screen time and that I didn't see gigantic robotic arm flippin a bird at the end.

P.S. As usual, the Russian robot is the most badass one.

 

[MeisterKleister]

I hear from some reviews that the only major downside of watching this movie (which isn't actually this movie's fault) is that the 3D version often is too dark to see anything, especially all the fights that happen during nighttime.
Because apparently most theaters do use the 2D light bulbs for screening 3D movies instead of the more bright bulbs that are necessary, so that they can save money.

So I'd strongly recommend seeing this in 2D, unless you *know* for sure that your theater uses the right light bulbs for the 3D.

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Best opening ever...of all time...For once, I agree with Bob, just go see it.

 

[endtherapture]

ak93]Another week, another rip on the Dark Knight Trilogy. I'm really getting tired of him shooting those films down.

OT - It's giant robots fighting giant monsters! Messing that up would take a lot of skill. Looking forward to checking this one out.

I'm getting him sick of bringing The Amazing Spider-Man down in every single video he makes on this site too, and then thinking The Avengers is the height of film-making somehow.

Anyway...probably won't be seeing this, cos cinema is expensive, I wasted £6 seeing a disppointing World War Z, I want to save up and see The World's End, and also Bob compared it to The Avengers.

I've found out films that Bob gushes about, I generally dislike (The Avengers, Raimi Spiderman films ), but ones he is unfairly critical of (The Amazing Spider Man, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight trilogy) end up being my favourites.

Lone ranger is a bomb
Man of steel has peaked
No one is watching this is the end or heat
Monsters has peaked
WWZ has peaked
Pacific Rim has little to no competition in terms of summer blockbusters

This Is The End had the most crowded cinema of any film I've been in for a looong time.

 

[Ferisar]

I'm getting him sick of bringing The Amazing Spider-Man down in every single video he makes on this site too, and then thinking The Avengers is the height of film-making somehow.

That's not it, though. He rips on spiderman and batman and whateverman because their existence and success has this unfortunate ability to give the "everything is gritty and realistic" traction which, frankly, movies have enough of right now. Why do you go to see a superhero movie for "complicated (please, ahahaha)" characters with "real" issues? This isn't to say the BEHTMEHN MOVIES are bad, but since they are good everything starts seeing this weird need of "let's also be gritty like batman!" despite the grit having a substantial point to play with the plot of the movie and the character in question.

Man of Steel, prime suspect. What? Superman movie? Pf. Keep the cape, but drop the outerunderpants. Capes are srsbsns. Also, drop everything into a color-sucking filter. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Well, he rips on the new Spiderman because he legitimately didn't like it, but that's not a can of worms I'm touching right now.

Also, the idea was to make a stark contrast, I imagine, not so much hate. Where the Dark Knight is gritty and dark, Pacific Rim is goofy and fun. It's not so much a rag on gritty and dark inasmuch as it's a comment on needing some variety.

 

[endtherapture]

I'm getting him sick of bringing The Amazing Spider-Man down in every single video he makes on this site too, and then thinking The Avengers is the height of film-making somehow.

That's not it, though. He rips on spiderman and batman and whateverman because their existence and success has this unfortunate ability to give the "everything is gritty and realistic" traction which, frankly, movies have enough of right now. Why do you go to see a superhero movie for "complicated (please, ahahaha)" characters with "real" issues? This isn't to say the BEHTMEHN MOVIES are bad, but since they are good everything starts seeing this weird need of "let's also be gritty like batman!" despite the grit having a substantial point to play with the plot of the movie and the character in question.

Man of Steel, prime suspect. What? Superman movie? Pf. Keep the cape, but drop the outerunderpants. Capes are srsbsns. Also, drop everything into a color-sucking filter. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Well, he rips on the new Spiderman because he legitimately didn't like it, but that's not a can of worms I'm touching right now.

Also, the idea was to make a stark contrast, I imagine, not so much hate. Where the Dark Knight is gritty and dark, Pacific Rim is goofy and fun. It's not so much a rag on gritty and dark inasmuch as it's a comment on needing some variety.

Well the most recent Spider-Man was definitely not gritty and realistic. It had all of the cool comic book poses, lots of comedy, fun fight scenes etc.

TDK trilogy was supposed to be dark and gritty. That's an artistic decision and in the name of consistency. Imagine if TDK Rises was a goofy, fun, comic book film. It would have been an outrage and a terrible way to end the trilogy.

The Man of Steel was also not ashamed of it's comic book roots. The first half an hour was an sci-fi film for crying out loud, and the artistic direction was great, it definitely wasn't ashamed to be a comic book film, it just took a different appraoch to it.

In my opinion there is a place for goofy, fun, comic book films, so that's Marvel's Avengers franchise. then there's also the DC films which take a more serious, introspective route. That's fine too. Variety is good!!

Just Bob doesn't need to say it every single episode. It's old, he doesn't like Spider-Man. We get it. But stop it because it's getting old and he looks like a whining, annoying, petty fanboy now.

 

[PuckFuppet]

I actually prefer that Bob continually reminds everyone what he considers to be good or bad, from his point of view, as a way to give perspective to the points he raises. Making the point that the relatively grit and angst free approach to story that Pacific Rim takes makes it a good film is inferring that things that use a superfluous amount of grit or angst in their plot as a primary character motivation device are, based on that criteria, bad. He specifically calls out examples of it instead of trying to avoid bringing those up just in case they offend the sensibilities of a few of his viewers.

Has he been making those comparisons more of late? Yes. Due to the fact that comparing one summer blockbuster to another just makes sense. It actually smacks of integrity, not petty fanboyism, that he is making points that people disagree with and then sticking with them without constantly feeling the need to continually justify those points.

 

[Warforger]

Why don't you tell us how you really feel about it Bob?

Anyway, it's nice to hear that not every movie that looks like a Michael Bay film has to have the quality of a Michael Bay film. Thank you Del Torro, now make Hellboy 3!

Actually, how cool would it have been if it turned out this movie secretly was Hellboy 3 all along, and he was just messing with us by not revealing it in the title or trailers.

Why do people like this movie so much? I thought it was horrible. The story was bland as shit and incredibility predictable, lots of things are left undeveloped and the action scenes were boring. No offense but I had more pleasure watching Transformers and that wasn't even that good. The reason being was that i could at least tell what was going on there and in the combat the people weren't being complete morons. By this I mean the Jaegers have alot of weapons that are effective against the Kaiju but rarely use them. In fact their first form of attack is to wrestle the monsters.... Ok this is unrealistic, not in the science way that would be retarded, but in the human way. The Jaegers could have easily killed alot more and kept more people alive if they had used their weapons. Hell two Jaegers insisted on not using any weapons other than their giant metal fists and were destroyed. That kind of thing just kills the point of the movie, there's no strategy or thought going into the fighting and it's unconvincing that these people know any fighting techniques at all much less complete masters at martial arts. Maybe that was the point, every time they find a weapon it appears to just be a convient plot device so that the Jaeger could win, the biggest case is the sword. It's able to slice right through each Kaiju and the main character doesn't use it until they're in the atmosphere, had they deployed it earlier they could've easily killed their enemy. So it seems like the people are intentionally made retarded for the sole purpose of making the Kaiju more threatening while keeping the Jaeger formidable. Hell the first time they do the Neural Handshake with generic white guy and Mako WAS IN A LIVE ARMED SUIT! They've had this program for 20 years by then surely they would've known to have some outside test module. That would be like if Nasa didn't have their test launch training with the thing that hurles their pilots thousands of miles per hour in a circle and just had their pilots actually launch the rocket into space over and over again as training. I understand the movie has to do things like that which if you thought about it made the people look retarded, the Dark Knight is like that, and that's fine since you shouldn't be putting that much thought into the movie. That works up to a point, if the whole organization consists of retards as the Jaeger division seemed to be then that starts getting in the way of the story because they create half of their challenges.

The end finale was the worst part as the characters didn't seem to know what they were doing nor did the audience. When they were approaching the rim a Kaiju was circling them and they were told of this but they didn't do anything because "it was moving too fast". I'm not sure if that thing even came in at all. But there is one thing I'm sure of, the Category 5 Kaiju was given this massive entrance which dwarfed the Jaeger right? What happened after that? Nothing, it disappeared it seems. The big bad boss simply stopped existing I think, or the director forgot about him? Was he fighting the Black colonel or something? Because I was sure a smaller Kaiju was attacking them. After he exploded himself did it die? The earlier fight scenes were bad enough as they were so boring. They could've been better if they zoomed out to show the scale better, or if the combat wasn't so confusing.

As for the story, well let's start with the black guy. The black guy in particular is a really inconsistent character mostly because of the attitude he had when re approaching the main character (see how boring this was? I don't remember their names outside of Mako and Newton), he says "you either die here or die fighting" which convinces the guy to go back. But then everything after that he seems to contradict himself, he shoots down Newtons idea because "Humans can't handle a Kaiju brain" and he tells his Australian team to stand down because he needed them for later or something. That doesn't sound like it's the same person. The main character was instantly forgettable. Now Mako and Newton I thought were pretty good, mostly Newton because he's Charlie Day. I only know Charlie Day from his awesome casting in Always Sunny in Philly and I laughed when he got on and he still had the same voice (ok c'mon, Hugh Laurie transitioned from Comedian with a thick Irish accent to a serious American actor with a hoarse American accent just fine) but I was surprised how well he pulled off being in a serious movie, although he didn't seem like an idiot just weird. Ron Pearlmans character seemed useless for the most part and seems to just be for the sequel. Mako did just fine being the stereotypical shy Japanese girl. Everyone else though were just boring characters. Which is a fitting description for this movie; Boring.

Although that's all my opinion, sorry i just needed to vent my impression somewhere. The people I watched the movie with thought that same as I did and so I was surprised to see Movie Bob say "just see it it's good".

 

[Makabriel]

Good SciFi? Not even close. A wormhole is a doorway. If monsters can come in, water can go out. Since all oceans are connected it would be a global catastrophe.

Funny you should mention that..

http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/

The doorway wasn't constantly open. And the Oceans are a lot larger than you think..

@Warforger: You think too much

Honestly the only thing that bugged me was Mako practically vanished after her plot thread was resolved. For the rest of the movie she's was just a background character. I honestly expected her to start helping him fight the Australian kid after the incident in a show of how well they were linked, but she just sat back and gaped..

 

[Chessrook44]

Oh hey, the Box Office numbers are in. Good! So how'd Pacific Rim do?
Third? Well I suppose that's not too bad. Who beat it out?
Despicable Me 2 in first? OK fine, that's understandable. The first was great, it's a good family movie, more kids would be taken to it... makes sense. What came in second?
Wait... this... this can't be right...
GROWN UPS 2?!?!
Pacific Rim got beat out by GROWN UPS 2?!

WHAT THE GODDANG HELL AMERICA?!?!

 

[Clankenbeard]

I just saw the movie. I enjoyed it, well, because there were giant robots. I agree with many of you, that:
1. The characters seemed to be made of cardboard, largely overacted and still uninteresting. I felt no connection to anyone.
2. The battle techniques seemed dodgy. There was some "Voltroning" going on. Lead with the damned sword!
3. The tactics for stopping the Kaiju seemed dumb. A wall? Along the entire West coast of North America? Good plan.
4. The technology of the world and robots did seem very mismatched. The main power disconnect to the giant nuclear powered robot and the mind link to the pickled kaiju brain fragment are both the same 480Volt 60Amp 3Phase plugs that we use today. (Mind links are apparently very "agricultural" in the future.) Yeah. This is nitpicking.

But all-in-all I got a decent Independence Day vibe from it. Not as good mind you (Independence Day had likable characters), but still worth my $6 to see. And there were some little comedic touches in there from Del Toro which were well received by the audience. The bits that I did like:
1. The battered look of everything when the film starts. The "this has been around a while" feel of the initial mechs and the pilot suits conveyed the "we've done this a bit" feeling just right.
2. The fight scenes did a great job in making the world seem "brittle".
3. The kaiju were reasonably diverse and well designed. Same monsters--different adaptations.
4. When they snuck in at the end and uploaded the computer virus to the mother ship, that little laughing skull was a nice touch. Wait. Wait. I may have a couple movies confused.

 

[PuckFuppet]

If you factor in the International Gross then Pacific Rim thrashed Grown Ups 2, I imagine they'll start reducing the NA locations and focus on keeping the thing alive in Europe/Asia. It is doing fantastic business in Ireland, UK, and Malta. As well as supposedly booked out cinemas in Germany.

Haven't heard anything specific from Asia but as we all know, Japan has never favoured films about mecha.

4. When they snuck in at the end and uploaded the computer virus to the mother ship, that little laughing skull was a nice touch. Wait. Wait. I may have a couple movies confused.

I thought the bit with the giant tidal wave was much better.

 

[Jegsimmons]

The Guillermo del Toro equasion for Summer Blockbuster epicness:

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shinji + Idris Elba + Ron Pearlman^2 = TOTAL EPICNESS

I wish people would stop making comparisons with Eva...this is a GOOD film, not 17 hours and some change of annoying people i hope the monsters kill.

Thats like wishing people would quit comparing Star Trek and Star Wars.... With out one the other CERTAINLY would not exist.

Are you implying Eva is the only reason Pacific Rim exist as opposed to every other Mech and Monster movie/anime out there?

I refuse to believe Eva is that damn influential.

The Guillermo del Toro equasion for Summer Blockbuster epicness:

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shinji + Idris Elba + Ron Pearlman^2 = TOTAL EPICNESS

I wish people would stop making comparisons with Eva...this is a GOOD film, not 17 hours and some change of annoying people i hope the monsters kill.

Thats like wishing people would quit comparing Star Trek and Star Wars.... With out one the other CERTAINLY would not exist.

Are you implying Eva is the only reason Pacific Rim exist as opposed to every other Mech and Monster movie/anime out there?

I refuse to believe Eva is that damn influential.

Look, I am not going to have this conversation twice.... It is pointless.... If you want to read it just go over the back and forth I had with knight4light.

No offense or anything, but I don't feel like repeating the EXACT SAME WORDS over and over and over again every time someone reads what I post.

the redundant irony in this post is amazing.

also, may i point out that Del Toro HIMSELF SAID HE HAS NEVER SEEN EVANGELION!!!

 

[Tanakh]

And I would say this movie is a child of Pilot Candidate and Transformers. The action shots carry almost no impact, and the in-universe explanation of how things work is broken a half dozen times.

I think you are reading it wrong, after the first 3-6 mins the movie makes clear the universe physics and logic makes shit sense, that is the cue for your brain to stop worrying about it following any logic and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

For me it works because the movie is totally unapologetic about it and focus on big ass robots. If anything I wish the spanish translation was better done, they did a terrible work at acting and the japanese phrases were butchered most of the time, that's what i get for going with my young siblings and letting em pick the language.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

definitely a spectacle movie; it's essentially a GOOD version of Transformers or basically any Roland Emmerich film. I actually wish Kikuchi got more to do in the film as Mako feels a bit underdeveloped compared to Raleigh (whose character arc pretty much ends by the time he goes into battle again). Furthermore, it is at the end of the day, just a popcorn flick that there's for pure entertainment. A GOOD popcorn flick, but one of those nonetheless.

Fun fact: Mako in the Japanese dub is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, Rei Ayanami herself.

P.S. Somebody needs to get to work making a GOOD game based off this.

 

[Olrod]

This review missed the three most important words in the history of Pacific Rim.

"Voice. Of. GLaDOS."

Seriously, want me to rush out of my house to the cinema and watch this movie over and over again? "Voice. Of. GLaDOS."

Want to emphasise that this is an epic and awesome best movie of the year? "Voice. Of. GLaDOS."

I don't care if she only has like two lines in the entire movie (not seen it, hoping more) but to get me excited to see this film? "Voice. Of. GLaDOS."

Guess why I'm going to see Pacific Rim this weekend?

 

[80sboy]

Yeah, I agree, definitely a movie that seems like it came from a different era. And definitely awesome.

 

[scbunchy]

snip

first off what makes you think i'm a dbz fan? i've watched it when i was little but i would hardly call myself a fan. its not even that good an anime.

secondly. i understood all the underlying things going on in eva. what annoyed me to the point of hating the series is that no matter how long things went. how much i hoped he would finaly reach that mature stage and whatnot. it never came. It went to the point where i just got fed up with his crying. maybe i stopped reading too soon. i dont know. but dont you ever assume someone doesnt know the main things in a story. also i'm not japanese.

and third.... you think to much. its a movie where 30 story tall robots fight 30 story tall monsters. live a little. tbh.. i think aside from the macrosses these are kinda the biggest robots in any anime/manga/scifi story. i may be mistaken but even gundams and transformers arnt that big. just by the fact that two people pilot from in the head with plenty of room to spare compared to the one person cramped chest compartments of conventional mecha.. *w*

we need to make a list.. find out where gipsy danger lands in the scale of mechas.


edit: aww. gypsy isnt as big as i thought. 79m.

http://pacificrim.wikia.com/wiki/Gipsy_Danger

about on par with eva in terms of this chart at least. still awesome though :3


http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/a/image/1366/50/1366501090755.jpg

also.. i thought big o was bigger as well ;.;

Now I know they're exceptions rather than rules but Primus and Unicron are both transformers the size of planets. I know I can't think of any one that's larger than that.