Pacific Rim

Kaiju is translated from Japanese to read, strange creature. However most people just give it the meaning of monster. Kaiju is a culture, a genre of film that is centered around these massive monsters. Chances are even if you're not familiar with the term, you are familiar with the genre. Recently you have stuff like "The Host" which was a Korean film where a monster came from the sea and kidnapped a small girl. Her family tracked the monster down and ended up fighting it to get her back. You have the american film "Cloverfield" which had one of the better marketing teams behind it. J.J. Abrams kept people in the dark for what felt like a eternity on this film. You have the classics like Gamera who is a personal favorite of mine. You have stuff like Kamen Rider, or Power Rangers which quite a few of us grew up with. But the most well known is undoubtedly Godzilla, who has a new movie in the works right now. Kaiju films are timeless, as are most of the stories they tell. So when I heard Guillermo del Toro was heading up Pacific Rim, I knew I had to see it.

The story to this film, is actually very simple. A rift is found in the ocean which somehow acts like a dimensional portal. It links our world to the world of the Kaiju, which is the term they use for the monsters in the film. Years ago the first attack occurred, we were unprepared for it. It was a single kaiju and it took 6 days and 3 cities before we were able to bring it down. 6 months later another attack, and then more at increasing intervals. The nations of the world come together and put aside the past to make the Jaegers, which are giant robots. The Jaeger program allows us to fight back, and for awhile it looks like the tide of the war has changed. However with no way to stop the increasing attacks, issues arise.

The next part could be a spoiler, however it all happens in the first 15 minutes of the film and as such I do not consider it as one. Still it may be worth skipping the next paragraph.

The Kaiju get bigger and stronger with each attack. The Jaeger pilots start to get beaten, and soon the world government decides it is no longer the best option. They come up with a plan that anybody can see would not work, and decide to decommission the jaeger program to build a huge wall around the sea the Kaiju come out of. The first Kaiju takes a hour to get past the wall, but the government fails to see the error, or simply refuses to admit they were wrong. The Jaeger project converts to a resistance group and continues to fight for the people without the funding and support of the rest of the world. They are weakened greatly by this, and as such devise a single plan to end the war. The majority of the film is about that plan, and takes place over the span of a few days. There is a doomsday clock ticking down, and in less then a week one side will have won.

This film thrives on emotion, in ways I would have never thought it would. While it is a great action film, and has some amazing CGI and fights scenes, the emotion is what really makes it work. Like most Kaiju films, the monsters are the draw, however the people are what the story is about. A lot of this comes from the way the Jaegers work. They require 2 pilots to operate, and use a neural interface. The two pilots have their minds basically combined in order to be one super brain. One pilot is in charge of one side of the Robot, the second takes the other side. There is a line in the film about the stronger the bond, the stronger the link is. As such most pilots are connected in some way. Father and son, or brothers for example. Adding that bond makes the characters feel more complete, and gives you another attachment to them. People die in this film, it is inevitable in war. When everybody has that kind of bond though, it gives it more of a impact. Especially since most of the characters are very likable and well done. It is weird to think a film like this can bring a tear to your eyes. But it manages to do so in multiple ways, and that was something I was unprepared for. Idris Elba delivers a great speech near the end of the movie that is the perfect example of this. He draws you into it, and after a pretty horrible battle he rallies the troops. It evokes a reaction from you, and then the film rides that into the finally.

The cast of the film is a odd thing. I would say most of them are experience actors, however they are also not overly well known. You have people like Charlie Day who has a good following, but has not really reached mainstream status. You have Charlie Hunnam who I had never heard of before, and after looking at his past work....can not remember from anything else. For me the most well known person was Ron Perlman, and he had a rather small role in the film. So when I was looking at the line up for this movie, I was a little worried. I had no reason to be however, as they all did a wonderful job with their roles. Idris Elba seemed to steal the show however. He plays the leader of the Jaeger project, Marshel Stacker Pentecost. He is pretty much what you would expect a military higher up to be, but he brings so much intensity to the role. Other notable roles are Charlie Day as Dr. Newt, the crazy researcher for the jaeger project. He is twitchy, and just really plays crazy well. He spends a good bit of time along side Ron Perlman, and they add most of the comical aspect to the film.

The CGI looks great, just watch the trailer and you can see that. The fights are brutal, and have some crazy stuff to them. Every robot fights differently, which adds some nice variety to it. You have the Russian jaeger which is more of a power house bralwer. Then you have the more precise Japanese design wich has 3 arms instead of two, each equipped with a huge buzz saw. You really do get some memorable moments from the film. Every fight seems to have something in it that sets it apart from the others. And the final two scenes in particular were simply fantastic. The movie makes it quite clear the good guys can lose, and at times you actually feel like they might.

Final thoughts.....The movie takes risks. The plot is easy enough, but some of the story is over the top. It pulls it off, however there are a few missteps. There is a small romance sub plot which felt awkward at times, however it is never fully developed in the film as it was not a major focus. The complaints though are few, and easily over shadowed by everything else. The action is intense and grand in scale. It manages to elicit emotion from the action, the dialogue, and pretty much whenever else it wants. The movie never feels forced, and the acting was great. The visuals were all amazing, and I am very happy I managed to finally see it on the big screen instead of at my house. This is the first movie I have seen in theaters in quite some time, that I know I will buy when it is released. I don't do half stars, but for this film alone I wish I did. I struggled with the score for awhile, but I finally decided on this.

It is not perfect, but for me it was pretty damn close.

Also stick around after the credits for a extra scene. It is about 3 minutes in, and lasts probably 20 seconds. Serves no real purpose, but it did put a smile on my face.