I’ll admit when I first saw the trailer for Pacific Rim I wasn’t entirely sold on it. It came off as another Battle: Los Angeles with a hint of GLaDOS (same voice actor Ellen McLain). After hearing some talk about it, I finally gave in and went to see it. Oh boy, I slipped up on this gem.
Pacific Rim to me loosely resembles a mix of Godzilla, Evolution, and Zoids/ Transformers all well blended and brilliantly directed by Guillermo del Toro. The soundtrack and acting are at the same par. While the actors Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba absolutely delivered their characters roles; the song ‘Drift‘ written and produced by RZA and Ramin Djawadi added a subtle undertone to the suspense. Everything hits right on cue like an excellent piece of machinery. One could say, just like Gypsy Danger (giant robot in the top picture).
The movie takes place in our current era, where Earth has become invaded by hell-bound sea monsters referred to as Kaiju, who are from another dimension. Without ruining the movie too much for anyone, the giant robots are known as “Jaegers” are produced to destroy this threat and ultimately protect humanity. These Jaegers are unique in the fact they require two pilots due to the mental payload it takes a control such a weapon. These two Jaeger pilots control one being via a neural bridge with interconnected thoughts, which proves some difficulty. The whole movie revolves around these giant mechanical beast built in no time at all, who from an engineering perspective probably could not even stand upright with building materials available. But in reality, this was made for entertainment, not factual oversized lizard slaying.
In such a chaos filled and apocalyptic time, one theme heavily maintained throughout Pacific Rim is death accompanied by characters letting go of loved ones. On the opposite end of that, there is a love interest sparked that is the glue that holds this movie together. Some action movie enthusiast may disagree with it, but PR would be a lot drier without it. With that said and how this film ended, it clearly sets the way for a sequel to be made, which could go in a handful of directions from here.
Pacific Rim without a doubt is Guillermo del Toro’s best production to date hands down. If you are deep into hell-bent action filled movies with love, death, and sci-fi, this is for you. I was left in awe at how well executed this film is. I’m sure a sequel is bound to be produced based on the open-ended ending, so I would be sure to watch it so you don’t miss the next one with a few friends.
