'Pacific Rim' isn't going to win Best Picture like director Guillermo Del Toro's latest film, but it's still a fun time waster to sit and munch some popcorn with a friend. It's one big homage to the classic Japanese monster films like 'Godzilla' but in its attempts to homage said films, 'Pacific Rim' tends to inherit a lot of those films' problems. The story is a basic one: a strange alien race of monsters emerge from a dimensional tear at the bottom of the ocean. Nicknamed 'Kaiju' they begin to rampage through the world, seeking humanity's destruction and it's up to a special unit of pilots who operate giant robots known as Jaeger to fight the alien menace.
The film's cast is much stronger than you're average monster movie, with Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi standing out in particular along with a fun cameo role for Del Toro's good friend Ron Perlman. Charlie Hunnam is our main character, who loses his brother during the opening fight which is supposed to give him some big hurdles and strong emotions to overcome in order to become the big hero of the film, but he seems to cool and calm throughout to make this progression feel believable. Other than the opening scene in question, his character doesn't really seem to have much of an issue getting back in the saddle and fight Kaiju once again.
Hunnam's character should have conflict with himself but instead we get this in his co-pilot Mako, which in turn makes her a much more interesting character. Kikuchi gets the best character in the movie in my opinion, as she has the most conflict and the biggest progression from a character that is unsure with herself and afraid of the danger she might cause, to a strong and brave warrior willing to do anything to protect the world and avenge the death of her loved ones. The rest of the cast is more polarizing, with Idris Elba providing a decent performance to Charlie Day as the comic relief who is downright annoying even if his character has important plot details tied to him I just get too aggravated to care.
I also don't understand why these monster movies really need villainous or antagonistic human characters such as the cocky Australian man who constantly fights with Hunnam's character for no real reason other than I guess they felt it necessary to have a jackass character. I get what they're going for here and in the end you're supposed to see some sort of change in his character but I think he was simply to unlikeable for me to even care by that point. As for villainous characters, that Ron Perlman cameo is simply strange and he could have easily been replaced by more exposition. He's just a thug who sells Kaiju products on the black market...and that's it really. He's pretty throwaway which is a shame because I really love seeing the guy pop up. Point being, movies like 'Pacific Rim' or 'Godzilla' really don't need human antagonists.
But really, what you're all here for is the fight scenes and you can rest assured that they are very fun and thrilling. It's kind of sad to think that this is a better 'Godzilla' movie than the 2014 'Godzilla' movie by the same company. The Kaiju have much more unique designs than that of the MUTO, you actually get to see the monsters fight, and overall the pacing and action is more akin to the older Toho films than the 2014 reboot of 'Godzilla' so try and figure that one out. 'Pacific Rim' is a perfect way to kill an afternoon despite it lacking anything truly memorable. But if you're into Japanese monster movies, then I would recommend it over the 'Godzilla' reboot any day.
7.0/10
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