Robopocalypse Now: Review of Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

By Alex Watson

Earths extinction is once again upon us this week and it again involves giant fighting robots… no wait come back! There is no Michael Bay or Optimus Prime involved in this one instead Mexican visionary Guillermo Del Toro brings us his vision of the apocalypse and in this one involves creatures coming from the sea to threaten humans everywhere in Pacific Rim which after an epic trailer campaign promises to bring action on a grand scale. But will there be anything new under the bashing of steel?

When a series of devastating attack occurs from oversize monster from beneath the ocean (nicknamed Kaiju’s) the world’s best scientists develop the Jaeger program headed by Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) which consists of gigantic robots piloted by two man teams which allows them do battle with the beasts! But as human begin to win the fights; the beasts begin to evolve which seems to doom humanity to a watery grave! Former pilot Raleigh Brackett (Charlie Hunnam) is recalled to do battle, but will his skills be enough to save the people?

Pacific Rim certainly delivers on a big scale and fans of a big and dumb blockbuster will be given more than their monies worth! Del Toro’s love of B movie action is evident from the very beginning and the action that follows is executed with glee from the Hellboy director. The scenes of robots doing battle with the various hideous monsters send a shiver down the spine as numerous cities descend into rubble during the heat of combat, in particular a stunning final showdown through a rain swept Hong Kong. But we learn these are no ordinary creatures and they might just be smarter than they appear- with devastating results!

But although tremendously entertaining, the plot is rather paper thin and seems to rely mainly the thrills that come from the fight scenes and the techno-babble that follows with such fancy terms as ‘Drift Compatibility’ are never fully explained to us. They are also saddled with a truly wooden script which apart from giving the occasional zinger fails to raise this film above the standard big budget thriller.

The development of the characters in is equally very underdeveloped and during the wave of chaos, we never truly get chance to get to know our heroes. Although the names they are given are very imaginative, we aren’t given anything truly special. Raleigh is a tough soldier but his grizzled image doesn’t add anything to the story and the standard inclusion of his losing a loved one feels like a typical clique! Pentecost has great authority buts seems to spend his duration of screen time just barking out orders, though he does get given one of the movies best line as he tells his fellow workers “Today, we are cancelling the apocalypse!” The biggest crime of belongs to other Jaeger pilot Chuck Hansen (Rob Kazinsky) who churns out an Aussie accent so ludicrous it would make even Steve Irwin squirm!

Sadly the performances in Pacific Rim match the characters on display with Charlie Hunnam giving a rather one performance as Raleigh which is a role that requires him to do nothing more than talk tough and have the occasional scrap, highly regarded off TV’s Sons of Anarchy, you feel they could have gotten more an actor like Hunnam. Idris Elba is his usual cool self throughout and does his best with the material given but Stacker is a rather stiff offering as a character and during his numerous long talking periods you really want to shout “Skip to the End” before he bores the monsters to death! Rinko Kikuchi does excel in her first English speaking role as Mako, a first time pilot with a troubled past and is able to bring up a wonderful demonstration of innocence and becomes the emotional high point of the film! And of course being a Del Toro movie, Ron Perlman makes an appearance as a sleazy black market dealer.

However all faults aside, Pacific Rim is still one of the more enjoyable films we will see this summer and with its no nonsense story line of robots fighting monsters it gives a buzz that will be felt throughout each impressive encounter. This may not have met the expectations that its excellent ad campaign had promised but it will certainly become a Friday favourite in years to come, so to all I give this message- just disengage your brain and take pleasure in the ride!