Pacific Rim movie review

Here's what you need to know; in it's war against a race of invading alien monsters called Kaiju, humanity built an armada of giant robots called Jaegers to combat the Kaiju. But the Jaegers are losing, and now retired Jaeger pilot Raleigh Becket has been called back into action to join the final offensive against the invading Kaiju.

I'll actually start with something that isn't the film's strong point, the characters. Raleigh Becket is a very serviceable main character, he's not annoying, but he will not have any kind of impact on you. It's actually a shame because this film has a solid supporting cast, his co-pilot Mako Mori is more interesting, and has a really cool backstory, the other Jaeger pilots that matter are the Australian pilots who's names I don't know, one of them is a complete dick, the other is fairly likable, but they, like the other Jaeger pilots, don't get all that much development. Here's something funny, I thought the scientists were ok, they make decent supporting characters, and in moderation I thought they were funny, I'm happy with the amount of screen time they got, because any more and they might have been annoying. I'm leaving the most interesting character till last, Pentecost is cool, he is just cool, and that's because he's Idris Elba, and it doesn't matter what he's in or who he plays, he'll be awesome, and he's awesome here, he has some really good lines, and an interesting relationship with Mako, he is the best character in the film. The story is also not really a strong point, it's a very straight forward story where giant monsters are attacking and we're fighting them off with giant robots, but then there's all this other stuff going on about the Kaiju being an invading force for some alien race that tried to invade before, stayed for about 130 million years and then left because the conditions weren't right or whatever shit it was, it's really dumb. That coupled with the characters makes many of the characters/story scenes are a bit of a drag, unless they have Pentecost, the scientists or Ron Pearlman, then it's pretty good.

So far in this review I've been less than favourable, but that will now change, because the characters and story really aren't supposed to matter here, they're just there to facilitate the absolutely pure fucking awesome fights. This movie has Kaiju blood flowing through it's veins, the only difference between this and <insert name of Toho film here> is that this is a big American movie with state of the art computer effects and a massive budget. This is probably del Toro's most visually stunning film to date, not because of the beautiful imagery or the cool practical effects, but because of the sheer size and scale of this film, and the colours, which are beautiful, there are times when this film literally explodes with colour, the Hong Kong fight in particular is just beautiful, how many times have I used that word today. The visual effects really are incredible, and the fights are, I don't think filmed is the right word, so we'll go with framed, the fights are framed perfectly. Because of this the fights really feel tangible, which makes the harder hits all the more glorious. This film also holds nothing back, there's a big fight in the ridiculously long prologue, and it's the 2nd best fight in the film. But there isn't just glorious Kaiju combat, this film has 1 scene in particular that I really didn't expect when I watched this film for the first time, I won't spoil what it is, obviously, but it was a really dark scene, like potentially nightmare inducing level dark. del Toro films have creeped me out in the past, but watching this scene in the cinema was the only time a del Toro film has actually scared me, and I will admit that. The design is also cool, the Jaegers look awesome, so awesome in fact that I have a figure of one on my shelf, and the Kaiju are also badass, some look cooler than others, but the cooler ones are completely awesome, and what practical effects are here also look really cool, obviously though they take a bit of a back seat.

Pacific Rim is an interesting film, if you only like films that are heavy on character and story and where those 2 elements really leave an impact on you, this film is not for you, but alternatively, if you just want some awesome fun, this film is brilliant. When Pacific Rim gets it right, you won't find it better anywhere else, and that alone, at least for me, is enough to recommend this film, definitely give it a shot.