‘Pacific Rim’ Review

Once in a great while a movie will come along and spark an interest in some genre that, either has always been niche, or became niche after a hiatus. The first X-Men movie, one could argue, sparked the copious amount of superhero movies we’ve been seeing in theaters for nearly two decades now.

Pacific Rim is now sparking the interest in the kaiju genre. Initially, Warner Bros. and Legendary (both are behind next year’s Godzilla) were going to kickstart the genre with Godzilla in 2012 after announcing they were going to produce the film in early 2010. But delays, for numerous reasons including the horrific tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, forced Warner Bros. and Legendary to go back to the drawing board.

In the meantime, famed director, Guillermo Del Toro (the Hellboy films and Pan’s Labyrinth), a fan of kaiju and mech cinema, pitched his giant mech versus daikaiju film, Pacific Rim, to Warner Bros. and Legendary. The film nearly grossed $400 million worldwide on a, roughly, $190 million budget. Indeed, Pacific Rim sparked the interest of millions and many wonder, including this writer, if there will be a resurgence in our beloved daikaiju genre.

Initial Thoughts

To say I was excited to see Pacific Rim would be an understatement. Throughout much of my life, giant monster films have been a rarity in theaters. We had 1998’s Godzilla, and Peter Jackson’s King Kong in 2005. Both films left me feeling very satisfied with the final product and hoping we would see more of such films in the years ahead. Unfortunately, due to fan backlash with Godzilla, we never got the proposed trilogy and there is only so much one could do with King Kong.

Pacific Rim set the stage for 2014’s Godzilla. It would measure how popular giant monster films are in the United States and around the globe. The end result was a very profitable film with a sequel in the works by Del Toro.

I walked out of the theater believing that the film did justice to the genre. I could easily tell Del Toro was a fan of these kinds of films due to his tremendous focus on the jaegers and kaiju. Not to mention both sets of “creatures” paid subtle homages to their respective sub-genres; both of which are mainly based in Japanese T.V. and cinema history.

The only gripes I had, at the time, were that the film tended to drag in the middle and, at times, it was difficult to tell what was going on during action sequences. Nevertheless, I was very pleased with Pacific Rim and hoped the film did well to, not only warrant a sequel, but to build anticipation for Godzilla.

On with the Review: Story

Pacific Rim brings us a premise that I have not seen in a kaiju movie ever: A dimensional drift, located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, allows kaiju to arrive in our world and to make it habitable for their masters once most of the human race is exterminated.

While the premise is simple, the idea itself is fresh and, in my opinion, genius. Sure, we saw something similar in Independence Day (heck, even the ending to this film is reminiscent of Independence Day), but we get kaiju this time. Kaiju that are created by the alien race. While the kaiju may look, fight, and act differently, their genetic makeup is the same.

To combat these kaiju, mankind came together to build human-like mechs called jaegers. These jaegers, initially, were to be piloted by one individual until it was discovered that the neural stress was too much for one person to handle. Instead, at least two people are needed to pilot the jaegers to suppress the amount of stress each individual is to carry while piloting their respective jaeger.

The jaegers proved effective. So much that the pilots gained rockstar status. But the kaiju kept coming. Not only that, they were getting stronger and more numerous. Mankind seemed doomed for sure.

The jaeger program is scrapped by the world powers to fund a wall to keep the kaiju out. Of course, the wall proves very ineffective. But a handful of jaegers are stationed in Hong Kong Bay where they are eventually sent out to combat the kaiju menaces.

The kaiju/jaeger fights are what we came to see; and Del Toro did not disappoint. Del Toro’s story provides loads of action while sprinkling in new ideas that have never been on display in this genre; such as neural drifting (even with a kaiju at a couple of points, no less!), the selling of kaiju body parts on the black market, and the categorization of kaiju like hurricanes and tornadoes are today.

The story is paced fairly well, but the film does have a few sputters at some points. Thankfully, those sputters don’t last long and we are thrown into entertaining scenes. Del Toro created a world that is simple, yet fun and sophisticated enough that anyone can follow it and is sure to be entertained by it!

Characters

Over and over I’ve heard many critics complain that the characters in Pacific Rim aren’t fleshed-out well enough. I disagree, but even if they were even more briefly touched upon in the film, those critics simply miss the point of why so many people love these types of movies.

I argue that Pacific Rim fleshes out its characters better than most daikaiju films. With that said, I do agree that the characters aren’t fleshed-out to the degree that we may see in a film that is an Academy Award Winner. But this film isn’t setting out to win Best Picture. Not to mention, some such films spend so much time setting up their characters that the producers forget what the purpose of their film was.

It’s a rarity that films that spend a lot of time with their characters are able to blend the plot and characterization perfectly. The Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is a fine example of great characterization being blended with action that is needed to move the story forward and to keep an audience engaged. Del Toro gives us what we need to know about the characters and sets the action in play around them. Throughout the movie, even, we continue to learn about some of the characters; such as Striker Pentecost and Mako Mori.

Call it a movie that is Fruit-By-The-Foot-esque, because we are continuously treated to more and more about our characters while being engaged with their actions and the jaeger/kaiju battles.

The Jaegers

I have hardly watched any of the mech movies and T.V. shows, so, for me, this is a genre that I am very much new to. The design of the mechs, or jaegers, in Pacific Rim are inventive, unique, and very well-detailed.

Del Toro designs each jaeger according to its pilots and country of origin. For example, perhaps the most visually striking jaeger, China’s Crimson Typhoon, is piloted by triplets. Not only is the jaeger colored similarly to China’s national colors, but the jaeger even has three arms; one for each of the triplets.

Cherno Alpha is visually striking as well. It is heavy-looking in its appearance; like that of a nuclear reactor. It’s a jaeger that definitely looks reminiscent of the Cold War era and the heavy personality that is associated with the Russian people.

Striker Eureka is one of the more popular jaegers. Based out of Austrailia, Stiker Eureka is the fastest and most versatile jaeger. Gipsy Danger, from the U.S., has a cowboy-ish physique that is built around a World War II U.S. fighter plane design.

The jaegers serve a unique purpose in fighting the kaiju. Del Toro wanted each jaeger to do something that the other jaegers could not do. In essence, when put together, the jaegers can bring a fighting style to the battlefield that can take out a team of kaiju.

The Kaiju

If you’re like me, the kaiju were what you were looking forward to the most. Indeed, like the jaegers, Del Toro wanted each kaiju to bring a unique set of skills and abilities to the battlefield.

What I also love about the kaiju in general, outside of each kaiju’s individual design, is that Del Toro wanted each kaiju designed in away that, if they were suits, a person could fit inside the suit of the respective kaiju. Such a stipulation is very much a homage to Japanese kaiju films where nearly all of the kaiju are designed so a person can fit inside a suit.

But the abilities of the kaiju, outside of paying some homage to Japanese kaiju, also pay homage to some of Ray Harryhausen’s creatures. Some of Harryhausen’s monsters were humanoid in their designs as well, but some also had attributes and abilities that were completely different. Many of the kaiju have that as well.

Otachi, the bat-like kaiju during the Hong Kong battle, is one of those kaiju that keeps giving the audience that “Holy Cow!” moment. Not only does Otachi prove to be a capable fighter in the water and on land, but Otachi can even unleash wings and drag its enemies into the atmosphere, crushing and tearing them apart with its strong, hind claws.

My personal favorite is Slattern. This kaiju has a hammerhead shark skull, built on top of the body of tiger, and ending with an array of tentacle-like tails.

While the jaegers are fun to watch and look at, the kaiju steal the show for me. Their physical makeup, along with their own array of abilities makes them so much fun to watch!

The Battles

Those criticizing Pacific Rim on characterization miss the point of these types of films. While characters, in some way, shape, or form, yes, need to help drive the story, they are not the essence of daikaiju movies. Anyone criticizing any daikaiju film for “lack of characterization” does not, and never will, get what these movies are all about. 

These movies are about watching fun, giant, unique creatures and mechs battle it out for the fate of the world in hand-to-hand, wrestling, and beam combat. These are creatures and mechs we never will get to see and they provide a fun means of escaping a world that is harsh, misunderstanding, uncertain, violent, and depressing.

With all of that said, Pacific Rim starts off with a bang; giving us a kaiju ravaging San Francisco, followed by various shots of jaegers battling other kaiju.

While I do enjoy the middle of the film, despite it slightly throwing the pacing off, I do admit that the battles get sparse quickly. But that is all made up with the Hong Kong battle and the underwater battle near the dimensional drift at the end. We are treated to a variety of kaiju who force the jaegers to change their fighting tactics if they wish to succeed.

One of my favorite moments in any of the battles was when Gipsy Danger pulled out its sword to slice Otachi in half. My inner child was blown away by that moment and was at a loss for words on how to describe the joy I felt in being entertained.

Indeed, Pacific Rim left me very entertained with the battles and action by the time the credits rolled.

Final Verdict

Pacific Rim is a film I find myself enjoying more now than I did when I saw it in theaters. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy then, in fact, I loved it, but being able to watch it again and again on home video allows me to see things I had missed initially and to really notice how similar, fun, yet unique this film is with the rest of the genre. To say this film is similar to the rest of the kaiju genre is not a criticism, but a compliment.

Those of us who enjoy Godzilla, Gamera, King Kong, and the like get what Pacific Rim is all about. Guillermo Del Toro himself gets what these films are and produced this film in like manner.

Pacific Rim is a wonderful film that, similarly to what I said above, left me very entertained by the time the credits rolled.

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