PACIFIC RIM (2013)
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
A Warner Bros Release
MPAA Theatrical Rating: PG-13
When giant monsters appear through a dimensional portal at the bottom of the ocean, humanity is forced to fight back with giant mechanized robot suits driven by pairs of pilots. After a string of successful monster kills and a somewhat tragic defeat, the mechanical suits are decommissioned in favor of a giant wall to contain the beasts. That fails, and the men in giant suits return to mount an attack on the portal to keep the beasts at bay.
It's OK for a movie to be based on the fun and singular logline of "giant robots fight giant monsters" but that doesn't mean that the writers can take the night off. They still need to fill 90 plus minutes with stuff that makes sense, and in Pacific Rim, they don't even try.
Guillermo del Toro chooses to stage most of the mayhem at night or under water, obscuring details behind rain and shadows and a constant wash of debris. When his actors are on a set with props, the movie looks sharp. When the fights rage in the ocean at night, it's hard to see what is going on. The film offers a few amazingly fun moments, and a score that recalls classic Toho, but it strings that together with idiotic dialog, cartoonish characters, and plot machinations that work to get the film where it needs to be without much regard for the most sensible way to do that.
Even for a giant monsters and robots movie, we deserve better. -MJ
With Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and Ron Pearlman.
