The Big Picture: Summer's End

[Drake the Dragonheart]

Good list. Keep up the good work bob!

 

[dystopiaINC]

I was just grateful that Mako and Raleigh didn't fall in love.

Thank you. The whole idea of girlfriends being handed out by the universe as rewards for surviving traumatic experiences has been done to death in pretty much every movie ever.

Um, IMHO Pacific Rim is one of the few movies that ending would work really well actually. half the movie was about the relationships between pilots, and just about all of the pilots we got to see had very close bonds. three brothers, a father and son pair, and a couple made up 3 out of the four best teams surviving. In a movie where the two on question literally have to go into each other head to work as one unit having an ending like that would not be a surprise or even be a bad way to go, it's not the "trauma" aspect, though that was part of why they worked so well together, past traumas helping them form a working bond in the first place.

TLR PR is a movie were it could have been done pretty well and not come off as an over done cliche because the kind of bond you would have to form with your partner. In my honest opinion.

OT: loved the last three, agree entirely, but I felt kick ass 2 should have made the list as well

 

[JimB]

In my opinion, Pacific Rim is one of the few movies that ending [male lead romantically involved with female lead] would work really well, actually. Half the movie was about the relationships between pilots, and just about all of the pilots we got to see had very close bonds. Three brothers, a father and son pair, and a couple made up three out of the four best teams surviving. In a movie where the two in question literally have to go into each other head to work as one unit having an ending like that would not be a surprise or even be a bad way to go, it's not the "trauma" aspect, though that was part of why they worked so well together, past traumas helping them form a working bond in the first place.

I still would have been pissed off, because it is possible for men and women to bond without romance entering the equation. To hook them up romantically is nothing but laziness paired with an at least slightly sexist repetition of the old idea that victory is accompanied by women, like they're trophies handed out by the universe for winning. I think it's much more satisfying and even bold to have their bond be that of comrades at war time.

 

[dystopiaINC]

In my opinion, Pacific Rim is one of the few movies that ending [male lead romantically involved with female lead] would work really well, actually. Half the movie was about the relationships between pilots, and just about all of the pilots we got to see had very close bonds. Three brothers, a father and son pair, and a couple made up three out of the four best teams surviving. In a movie where the two in question literally have to go into each other head to work as one unit having an ending like that would not be a surprise or even be a bad way to go, it's not the "trauma" aspect, though that was part of why they worked so well together, past traumas helping them form a working bond in the first place.

I still would have been pissed off, because it is possible for men and women to bond without romance entering the equation. To hook them up romantically is nothing but laziness paired with an at least slightly sexist repetition of the old idea that victory is accompanied by women, like they're trophies handed out by the universe for winning. I think it's much more satisfying and even bold to have their bond be that of comrades at war time.

While I certainly don't disagree with you. in this movie, with these two particular characters, I think it would have been and acceptable ending. as it it I think it's more than open to interpretation if your so inclined. That is to say that another movie would not work out that way, a good example would be Kick Ass 2. But In Pacific Rim it could have, mostly due to the way drifting works, and the interactions between the two characters. You could certainly look at that "compatibility test" in a few interesting ways. Any way, I agree it's not something that should be in as many movies it is. I just disagree that it wouldn't have been okay with this particular movie.

 

[JimB]

While I certainly don't disagree with you, in this movie, with these two particular characters, I think it would have been and acceptable ending.

I'll grant that, in this specific context, it would have been less trite and annoying than it is in most others. There's even a little bit of set-up for such a relationship; the girl (I forget her name...Mako?) peeping on Raleigh's hot back through her door. Even so, it still would have been trite and annoying, because pretty much every movie ever made has awarded the male protagonist a girlfriend at the end. This ending is just more satisfying to me personally because I've never seen a relationship between man and woman on screen in a movie like this that feels like it was made for me. Like, I know this woman, okay? For a long time, I was infatuated with her and wanted to be romantically involved, but we both realized that wasn't going to work, so we shut that down (I was surprised at how easy that was to do, but never mind). Now she and I are best friends because of all the similarities we have to bond over. That relationship works so much better than a romantic one, and is so much more fulfilling because it just feels like the right fit for us and no one was trying to artificially force the relationship to be something it's not.

That ending felt like it was made for me, because I could relate to it and because it portrayed a closeness between a man and a woman as friends that didn't have or need a romantic or sexual relationship like the closeness I feel to my friend. That's a relationship I haven't seen since Aliens, with Bill Paxton's character and uh, I think her name is Vasquez...and even then, I think the relationship in Aliens is cheapened by Vasquez's likely homosexuality. Pacific Rim made me feel less weird by showing me another man who can love another woman without wanting to be her boyfriend, and that's a big part of why I'm so adamant about its ending being better.

Well, that and seriously, "save the world = get some poon" is a pretty sexist ending.

 

[evilneko]

Burt Reynolds in a Fast and Furious movie?

BRILLIANT!

captcha agrees: awesome dude!