Pacific Rim: Movie Review

Pacific Rim: Movie Review

Cast: Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, Rinko Kikuchi
Director: Guillermo del Toro

It's been a difficult twelve months or so for the globes' buildings and tall structures.

They've taken one hell of a beating since the Chitauri landed in The Avengers, got bashed to pieces in Man of Steel recently and now, once again, worldwide sales of concrete and architects are going to be extremely popular as an invasion comes-a-calling.

Basically, in this latest from the visionary Guillermo del Toro, an alien force known as the Kaiju have invaded from under the sea via a portal. In order to try and survive the onslaught, humans have created giant robots (aka Jaeger) to take the fight to the Kaiju. But seven years into this war, millions have been killed, cities destroyed and defeat stared right in the face.

All that stands in their way is Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh Becket, who's already lost his brother to the fight to the Kaiju when their robot got smashed to pieces. Leading the charge is Marshall Stacker Pentecost (!) aka Luther's Idris Elba - when the government decides to close down the Jaeger programme, he alone decides to fight on rather than to decommission the robots....

The movie Pacific Rim is simply giant robots vs giant sea monsters - a kind of Godzilla vs Transformers (and woe-betied any piece of masonry which gets in the way).

It's clearly a passion project of del Toro's and a lot of suitably impressive work's been put into the creature features and the battle sequences. So much so, that the semblance of any kind of in depth story or human character / development has gone by the wayside - although, cheesy dialogue a-plenty is there in spades.

And the characters are pretty predictable too - the wounded soldier on a path to redemption, the rookie scientist whose desire to satiate vengeance is her driving goal, the scientists who are a bit kooky and a comedy double act (with Charlie Day channeling Rick Moranis and Torchwood's Burn Gorman going all limpy as the theoretical yin to Day's practical yang) and a commander-in-chief who has the ability to deliver a killer speech when it matters most.

But here's the thing - the sense of spectacle and well-realised technology actually gives Pacific Rim something  creditable and credible as it plays out; when the Iron Giants smash the Kaiju with their robotic fists, the CGI work and the fact the pace of the battle sequences is not frenetic (a la Man of Steel) mean that it's actually quite enjoyable to watch - even if there's plenty of logic-defying going on elsewhere. Of all the cast, it's Idris Elba who brings some dignity and gravitas to the fore with yet another role showing his talents - he alone stands as tall as the robotic creations which inhabit this world (despite delivering a rousing speech to the troops that we've all seen before). The creatures are relatively impressive, splicing together rhinos, sharks and turtles in one scaly acid-barfing monstrosity.

With throwbacks of B-movies and plenty of the Godzilla vs series, del Toro's crafted something which is immeasurably dumb but incredibly action-packed, which will satiate the appetite of those simply searching for a big serving of spectacle. By easing up on the OTT nature of the destructive scenes and fight sequences, del Toro's given the eye time to adjust and the senses a chance to gorge on the CGI feast before the eyes. It wears its influences proudly on its sleeve and del Toro's clearly pulled together a labour of love and deserves commendation for the creature feature. It's a movie of second chances and of gung-ho testosterone - and little more.

Sure, Pacific Rim is big but not clever, but as blockbuster spectacle goes and for its genre as an FX fest, it's certainly nothing more than it says on the tin.

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