Review - Pacific Rim

Not a Slam Dunk, Pacific Rim...Rims Out

Monsters, robots, destruction, violence, it all seems too good to be true that all of these great action movie elements are in one movie. But they are in Pacific Rim.

 

Here’s the basic plot of this summer monster spectacular.

We’ve been looking to the wrong place to see these invaders. Instead of looking to the sky they are coming from within the sea. And they are destroying the Pacific Rim at a rapid pace.

From Seattle and San Francisco to the other Hong Kong and Toyko these monsters or Kaiju as they are called are wreaking havoc with our world. It is only when the human race figures out the way to combat these beasts that things calm at all. To combat them they must find a way to have two individual become one to pilot the Jaegers (robots).

Just when the world thought they had stifled the Kaiju (by building a giant wall on the coastlines) the stark reality comes home. The Kaiju are getting through the walls and have created a need to have someone stop them.

The last remaining Jaeger pilots will have to be the ones to save us from disaster.

But can they? Or is it too late?

This is a monster movie. The stars here are the monsters, but I was challenged by that fact. Despite wanting to enjoy the monsters and their robot foes, much of the film was dizzying and shot in darkness that you never really were able to enjoy the classic creatures. This is a film that I wanted to admire the creations.

My other concern here had to do with the roles they give to folks. There was never a compelling feeling to care about what happened to the characters in this film. While I generally like most of the folks that had roles here, I just don’t feel the characters were written with the depth that would allow them to create that feeling within the viewer.

But criticism aside, this is a monster movie – and it deserves to be seen on a big screen with a crowd and a giant bucket of popcorn. I just wanted more.

Instead of slamming it home, Pacific Rim just rimmed out with me.

B-

Pacific Rim

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief language.

Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes