Once again, David and I will trade thoughts on a film, debating and reviewing as we go. And once again, we did have a little time to chat after the film and are aware that we’ll both have largely similar sentiments, although different potential issues, hang ups, or thrills! So join us as we discuss Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim!
As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.
Ed: Well, I’m in love. Review logged. Thanks for reading! David?
David: This movie comes with a disclaimer that you might need to go to the hospital if you experience an erection lasting more than four hours. Ed chose to ignore this advice, and due to the lack of blood flow to his brain he is now slightly handicapped. So please forgive any nonsensical ramblings on his behalf.
Ed: Let me just come out of the gates swinging with some of the stuff I love about Pacific Rim. There will be time later to delve into more in-depth analysis and some potential minors issues that I had. But first up? Idris Elba. The guy is a legend in the making. I like everything I’ve ever seen him do with a character. Here he plays the ridiculously named, and ridiculously wonderful, Stacker Pentacost; the hard-as-nails leader of the Jaeger program and former Jaeger pilot. Despite not technically being the main character of the film, he is the heart and soul of Pacific Rim and I would be honored to be his Samwise Gamgee if I could.
But what is a Jaeger, you ask? That brings me to the next thing I love: All the robots (Jaegers) and all the aliens (Kaijus). Literally all of them. The Jaeger designs especially put all of the Transformers to shame with their scope and distinctive looks which still remain discernible when you look closely at them. The design work here is wonderful and the execution is [nearly] flawless. These entirely computer generated robots and creatures have a weight and a physicality and a gravity that I’ve never quite experienced before in a giant CGI-fest like Pacific Rim. I’d even go out on the record as saying this film has probably the best use of large scale CGI we’ve ever seen on the big screen in that it is detailed and expansive, but feels tangible and practical.
We’ll also delve more into story elements as we dig into the body of our review, but some of the core elements that I expected to love going into the film totally lived up to my expectations as well. Those two elements? The need to have each Jaeger piloted by two psychically linked pilots (this link being called “The Drift”) was a great spin that was utilized well for drama and character development. And the fact that the story was set “on the edge of our hope” amidst the final stand of the Jaegers, as opposed to the “origin story” slog we expect these days. It easily could have told the early story of this crazy intergalactic war… but instead it tells what could be the final chapter! I love that.
I also love when Jaegers punch Kaijus in the face.
David, what stuff did you love?
David: I pretty much agree with everything Ed said. So… is that it? Do I need to write more or can you just keep talking?
Ed: Stop trying to make me do all the work. Then again, I do love talking quite a lot, so now that you mention it…
David:Fine. Let me get a bit negative here to help you, dear reader, temper your expectations a little bit. This movie is silly — usually in the best ways possible — but some of the silly beats don’t quite land. There’s some traditional blockbuster stereotypes that this movie doesn’t deviate from, which I was kind of hoping for after the genius of Hellboy 2. I never connected with the lead actor, Charlie Hunnam, and his wooden performance really hurts the movie. There’s some dreadful exposition written in, and when characters regurgitate it you’re nearly taken out of the movie.
But I was absolutely thrilled and loved most every second of the experience. How is this possible? Two words: Star Wars. Star Wars also suffered from a bland, wooden lead actor, plot developments you can see coming from a mile away (although, to be fair, it was the foundation for many of these tried-and-true story formulas), and some awkward exposition. But the overall tone, world-building, secondary characters, and amazing action elevated all of these things to make it one of the most successful movies of all time. And while I don’t think Pacific Rim is as good as Star Wars, it does the exact same thing.
Guillermo del Toro elevates the proceedings with this eye for intricate detail. His fetishism for monsters and their anatomy shines. He populates this world with incredibly distinct secondary characters that you understand 100% even though they have mere seconds of screen time. The action is clearly choreographed and feels authentic and weighty without necessarily feeling “real.” Star Wars did this with practical effects perfectly, and Pacific Rim does it with CGI. CGI that might honestly be the best use of it since Jurassic Park. These three movies aren’t concerned with verisimilitude and making the audience believe that what they’re seeing is real (something that Avatar did) but rather they’re concerned with making the CG work in the context of the picture and give the effects enough weight and dynamism to where you can be invested in what’s going on through the characters.
Ed: Now, here is where I might have to disagree with you slightly regarding the exposition. Yes, there is a lot of set up and voiceover going on in the opening act of Pacific Rim. But I’m not entirely convinced it was clunky. And in general I think sometimes we’ve come to just believe that ANY exposition or voice-over is bad these days. Often this kind of thing IS clunky, but I felt it was very effective here. I was so invested in this world and this story, and so quickly, that I was shocked when an opening title card came up and opening credits started rolling. I was so pulled in by the break-neck world building and epic scope on display BEFORE THE CREDITS even happen that they actually pulled me out of the moment a little bit. Narration and exposition can often be a nice way to streamline and trim fat off of your film if used right, and I think Guillermo used it right here. After all, he had to set up a very high concept world, filled with monsters and giant robots that mainstream audiences have to suspend their disbelief to accept. GDT threaded the needle here quite masterfully in my opinion. Although I would certainly agree with you that lead actor Charlie Hunnam came across as flat more often than not and it is possible that another actor could have elevated that opening narration significantly.
But all that aside, you alluded to the elevation of the material that Guillermo Del Toro brings to Pacific Rim, and I couldn’t agree more. The trailers of Pacific Rim sell a Transformers knock off, which is clear to me since every “normal” (read not movie-obsessed) friend I have comments to that effect. But I’ve always had faith that Del Toro would bring a core humanity to the proceedings and I believe he did that. Sure, the characters are broad strokes or archetypes, even down to the jerky Jaeger pilot who warms up to our leads and eventually plays beach volleyball with them and says “You can be my wingman anytime.” (Note: This does not actually happen.) But, working within broad strokes, screenwriter Travis Beachum and GDT totally invested me in the characters and the world they were defending. I’ve never been a fan of the Transformers films for many reasons. And the weightlessness of both the CGI and the world-building are the key reasons. Pacific Rim entirely fixes those problems and, in fact, knocks them out of the park. The core trio of Charlie Hunnum’s Raleigh, Rinko Kikuchi’s Mako Mori, and Elba’s harsh commanding officer/father figure was totally the core of the movie and it worked for me consistently.
We have really already covered most of what minimal issues I did have with the film. Charlie Hunnam is flat at worst and serviceable at best here as the young lead. And there were just a couple of brief moments where I couldn’t quite understand what I was seeing in some of the big fight scenes. But that very well could have been the dimly-lit 3-D projection at our screening. [See this movie big, and in 2-D if possible!]
Anyway David, what did the doctor ultimately say to you about that debilitating and unsightly erection?
David: Ed, come now, my mom is probably reading this. Hi mom! But yeah, some of the exposition is done well, particularly the opening; however (minor, minor spoiler barely worth mentioning), there’s a scene where our two leads catastrophically experience each other’s thoughts for the first time through The Drift. We see all we need to infer their new bond through some wonderful visual storytelling — but then they sit down to eat lunch and talk about what we just saw in detail. We didn’t need that, dudes, we just saw it, which is much more powerful! There are several clunky moments like this that, to me, weren’t on del Toro, but rather Beacham’s screenplay. And I get this was probably to be explicit and clear for younger kids (who will go apeshit over this movie), but I don’t think we give enough credit to the kiddos — they can follow along to visual cues better than a lot of adults I know.
Anyhow, it is honestly a minor quibble. I was hoping for a near-perfect movie, and this is far from that. It was silly for me to raise my expectations so high; that’s my fault. But what I got was still a total and complete joy, and even though I’m complaining a bit all of these tiny minor issues only bring the film down a notch from perfect to “simply” amazing.
There’s this major fight scene in the middle of the movie where the bulk of the film’s ass-kicking takes place. At one point during a particularly astonishing shot, I realized that everyone making this movie “gets it.” They set out to do this exact thing I’m watching, and accomplished it with flying colors. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that perfectly distills exactly what it wants to do and throws that up on the screen.
I briefly touched upon the incredibly distinct secondary characters, but they really seal the deal. You have Ron Perlman and Charlie Day stealing scenes left and right, other Jaeger pilots populating battle scenes with extremely clear and unique design choices, and flushed out background extras that are a part of a living, breathing world. Big tentpole movies forget that films like Star Wars didn’t really start out with a huge lead star. I feel like every movie nowadays thinks they need Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp to star in their film. This didn’t used to be the case — Harrison Ford grew into Harrison Ford because of Star Wars. Pacific Rim gets that, and while I complained about Hunnam I’m glad he didn’t steal the show because it gives secondary characters room to breathe and thrive.
So, Ed, want to start wrapping this shindig up? Everyone thought your tiny heart couldn’t handle the wave of awesome that crashed over you while watching the movie — at one point I thought you had died. Instead, you’ll just have to live with irreparable brain damage, though I’m not sure anyone will be able to tell. Was it worth it?
Ed: People really did assume that MY geek brain specifically was going to go nuts over this movie, and they were correct. Then again, people always tell me I am exactly like Charlie Day, so apparently I’m really grating and overbearing and easily excitable. Thanks guys. Speaking of Charlie Day, I don’t think we’ve really highlighted how fun and crucial to the plot our two main scientist characters (Day as Newton and Burn Gorman as Gottlieb) really are. The science of the film is just as crucial as the action, and although this isn’t earth-shattering, it is really appreciated. That is the kind of thing Guillermo Del Toro just gets. Details like that are essential to him, and it really elevates the final outcome.
I feel like we’ve been a little scattershot here. Part of that is the nature of our back and forth dialog… but the more exciting reason is that this movie reduces me to a childlike state in which I just blurt out the various awesome things that pop into my brain with little-to-no filter or regard for social cues. And I’m mostly okay with that. I just hope you readers are able to get a cohesive and uniform concept of what we are trying to say about Pacific Rim. Which is that it rules the Summer of 2013.
Any final pearls of wisdom or closure for us, David?
David: If I were ten years old, Pacific Rim would be my favorite movie of all time. Whether that sounds good or bad to you will probably indicate how much you’ll like the film. I can only hope you fall into the same camp as me, because if so, that means you’re still capable of some childlike wonder.
