Rating of
2.5/4
Super Robot Action Lacks the Human Element
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/14/13
I had high hopes for Pacific Rim - ever since I first heard about the premise I was amped. Guillermo del Toro knows action (the Hellboy movies were well done) and also knows character and story (Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone). I was hoping he would bring those two points together and create a big-budget extravaganza that actually delivered on the dramatic department as well. As much I wanted Pacific Rim to be great, he hit the action out of the ballpark but fell short in the other departments.
If you like sci-fi action, I cannot think of a better film that has come along than Pacific Rim for delivering a home run. The giant monsters (Kaiju as they are known) and giant robots (Jaeger) are both extremely well designed and to see the two duke it out is celebration for a major nerdgasm. I mean, it's like Ultraman and Evangelion had a baby and the resulting battles are sheer delight. But the action only makes up part of the movie.
We are told that these giant monsters suddenly appeared from deep beneath the ocean using a rift to travel from an alternate dimension and invade. The early film gives us a breakdown of what has happened - they showed up, destroyed a few cities, the military was woefully inadequate so the nations of the world banded together and created awesome robots. These machines must be piloted by two people - and not just any two - these pilots share memories and so, to succeed, must be highly compatible with each other. Siblings are often recruited. And guess what, they kicked some alternate dimension butt. Of course, winning all the time means we, as in humanity, got complacent and weak - that's when the monsters kicked things up a notch.
Fast-forward and the Jaeger program is nearly dead. Only a handful of the giant robots (and pilots) remain while coastal cities are building massive walls (which really do little to keep the monsters at bay). We have our core cast - Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) leader of the Hong Kong Jaeger corps whose audacious plan to detonate a nuclear device at the rift might just save our race. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) former Jaeger pilot who is still reeling from the death of his brother during a vicious battle. Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) a potential Jaeger pilot who harbors some deep-seated memories following a Kaiju attack when she was a child. Plus you have the odd couple scientist pair of Doc Geiszler and the German Gottlieb (Charlie Day and Burn Gorman) - who provide the comic relief in this rather grim scenario. Oh, and throw in Ron Perlman for good measure.
My main problem with the film is that even thought the story is pretty well done all the characters seem so... bland. They're cookie-cutter types (the untrained rookie, the grizzled veteran, the former ace seeking redemption, the mad scientist, the cocky rival, etc.) and they just don't impress. Whenever we go from awesome battles to the character-driven parts, the film just grinds to a halt. The energy just wasn't there and using the relatively untested talents for the main roles was a risk and I don't think it payed off. Everything just felt a bit clunky when it was humans instead of robots on screen.
What it comes down to is the fighting is awesome, the human element not so much. From a strictly technical standpoint, the film was outstanding, but taken as a whole, it was a bit underwhelming.
