Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim

[smegma]

I finally saw this, and perhaps it was a combination of low expectations and my need for a good laugh, but it was more fun to see than I had anticipated. I laughed out loud on many occasions, sometimes at the intentionally funny and sometimes at the accidental-yet-intentional funny that I think Del Toro was going for.

A few things:

- This is nothing like Power Rangers (which I hated), it reminded me more of Voltron for some reason but I know even that is not a very strong comparison at all.

- Although I think it was a successful creation and one that I'm glad exists (more non-sequel and original work, prz), I don't think it was perfect in its execution and knowing that there was an hour cut from the movie makes a lot of sense. Still more fun than the soulless endeavor that was Man of Steel

- The battles mattered and didn't go on TOO long, which is one of the biggest complaints of Man of Steel. I compare the two because they were the last two big action films I saw and I disliked MoS a great deal and didn't have fun watching it cause it was OMG SO SERIOUS YOU KNOW and really enjoyed the experience of this movie

- There were plot holes, yes, but unlike say Transformers, these didn't bother me for some reason. I think they achieved a good balance of summer-blockbuster ridiculousness with quality storytelling that didn't get bogged down with MacGuffins or extraneous characters (although I guess you could say Ron Perlman was one of those, but it worked).

- I will say that I was really shocked and pleased with the treatment of its main female character - she was not oversexualized such as a Bay film would bring, but rather a reasonably attractive woman that was good at what she did, nor was she over-exotic-fied either, although I found her accent to be a little too affected on occasion and the Australians/Russians to be a bit stereotyped. It was interesting that we see HER checking out the guy and not vice-versa. I do wish there had been more females besides her and the Russian woman, but overall they hung with the boys and weren't bent over a car in imitation of an actual mechanic. I realize there's a place for the Megan Fox-type characters but it was refreshing to not have it in a film that is so sci-fi geared.

[red snow]

I suspect the non-CGI stuff was as expensive as the computerised bits. For example coz a normal person, when needing a whole street to tremble from a giant robot walking down it, would either CGI it, or go to the actual street and shake the camera, but Del Toro build a replica of said street, put it up on shock absorbers, and created the effect by literally shaking it.

To be honest if the film doesn't make enough money then Del Toro needs to reconsider where and how he spends all of his money. It's fine to pull that kind of stuff for a single film but for what he hopes to be a trilogy that's a self-indulgent risk. Nolan got away with "inception" because regardless of whether it made money or not it was a stand-alone film.

I suspect a lot of a movie's budget actually goes to the team of accountants that can make the numbers add up so that a film only makes a profit at $1,1 billion. Otherwise the industry is far more insane than I ever thought. Can you imagine going to a bank for a loan and claiming you'd need a box office of $1.1 billion before you saw a profit on your venture and then asking for that amount.

I guess box office doesn't include peripheral sales of toys, games, lunchboxes etc? This must be massive for Superhero films and star wars/LOTR/Jurassic PArk. The Pacific rim figures seem to be aimed at collectors which while higher in quality probably means less sales to kids.

[smegma]

I agree with pretty much all of this post, but just wanted to point out that if the last 4 Jaegers had combined at the end to form a Mega-Jaeger to take down the Class 5 kaiju I might have called Pacific Rim the greatest film of all time.

Pretty sure that's going to be Pacific Rim 3!

But I agree with those that said the film was marketed poorly. There was minimal "fun" in the trailers, at least the ones that I saw - and sometimes all it takes is one or two good moments in a trailer to hook people that are otherwise disinterested or on the fence (like me). I'm glad I was not over-inundated with a lot of Pacific Rim tie-ins, but I do wish that the marketing they did do was better executed. That being said, the theater I saw it in was nearly full on a Sunday night so I think there's been some minimal good word-of-mouth at least, and maybe enough good will to have a sequel, especially if this gets onto network tv or something fast enough to garner a larger viewing audience.

[Independent George]

The problem with the US marketing was that every time I saw a movie poster, my first thought was that it was an ad for the next 'Halo' game. Once I realized it was a movie, my second thought was that it was some cheap knockoff of the game, and not an original work. I didn't even see a trailer on television until after the movie had already been released in theaters.

[Galactus]

So I saw it.

It was pretty much exactly what I expected.

I would have wanted to see more of the other Jaeger teams though.

Also, I hated most of the fight scenes Too dark! Either dark or underwater and that makes them essentially two sets of blinking lights moving around. Not good. They should've had more fights in th dayight where you could actually see the robots and the kaiju.

[RedEyedGhost]

Also, I hated most of the fight scenes Too dark!

3D or 2D?

I saw it in 2D, and I didn't have any complaints about the lighting.

[Seventh Pup]

I finally saw this... And I was disappointed. Here is what I take away from the film.

1. Del Torro should always have a child in his movies. The one scene that actually got me to connect to the story was when the young Meiko is running down the street, terrified and crying. It was perfectly shot, and quite gripping even though you know she makes it through.

2. You must want to see a movie that is about giant robots fighting monsters to enjoy this. I think my thought process going into this movie was that it would be a story, that included giant robots fighting monsters. But this movie is robots fighting monsters, that includes very minimal story.

3. The main character (I have no idea what his name was), and the jerk Aussie looked freakishly a like. As in there where times when I had to actually puzzle out who was who.

4. I was very disappointed in the writing, and felt a couple of the actors where just wasted. Seriously the canceling the Apocalypse speech was just terrible. The actress who played Meiko is a good actress, and I feel like she tried hard with the limited material given to her, I just wish she'd been given more, as that was easily the most interesting character in the movie.

5. Ron Pearlman, and Scientists where the best part of the movie.

6. By the final battle I was seriously bored with movie and felt like it had lasted about a 12 hours.

7. They shouldn't have tried to tack on a love story.

8. For just one second I almost connected right at the end when I thought the main character would go down with the ship, adding some kind weight to movie no matter how light, (and no killing off the guy who was dying, and the jerk, added nothing to movie), but no; even no name bland as hell main character gets the escape hatch.

If you really want to see this go with low expectations, maybe hit a happy hour before hand, and hopefully you will get more enjoyment out of this then I did. :worried:

[Shryke]

So I saw it.

It was pretty much exactly what I expected.

I would have wanted to see more of the other Jaeger teams though.

Agree on all this.

I was expecting the mediocre-but-pretty movie we got, but hoping for more.

It's a bad movie with pretty robot-monster fighting.

[polishgenius]

7. They shouldn't have tried to tack on a love story.

They... didn't?

[Calibandar]

They... didn't?

That, and really, Ron Perlman and the uber cheesy scientists were the best parts of the movie? How different can people see it, I thought they ruined the film every scene they were in.

[Ramsay B.]

It's a bad movie with pretty robot-monster fighting.

Pretty much all that needs to be said.

[red snow]

So I saw it.

It was pretty much exactly what I expected.

I would have wanted to see more of the other Jaeger teams though.

Also, I hated most of the fight scenes Too dark! Either dark or underwater and that makes them essentially two sets of blinking lights moving around. Not good. They should've had more fights in th dayight where you could actually see the robots and the kaiju.

The 3D lighting was fine in the screening I saw but it does raise a good point. If directors know that one of the huge criticisms of 3D (even for those who can stand it in the first place) is that things appear too dark - then they should really consider if they want the film to largely occur in the dark during storms.

[Weeping Sore]

As said above, advertising was anemic at best. Then there are some of the secondary markets that just weren't touched. This movie is begging for, say, toys and merchandise for kids. I mean, its weird. Its rated pg-13, and yet it really is an okay movie to take 12 year olds to, even younger. Like, its actually "eh, okay for a 13yo, but anyone younger should have a parent" instead of the soft R that PG13 often is. Finally, yeah, I had to work to convince my friends that it wasn't going to be Transformers all over again.

I took my 4-year old and she loved it (she did ask a lot of questions). I decided it would be ok after she had begged to see Jurassic Park in 3D and was unfazed by the marauding T-Rex. I'm actually struggling to understand why this movie couldn't have been PG, I suppose there's death but little in the way of realistic violence. I agree they missed a big opportunity in marketing this thing to the younger set, maybe they'll correct with the sequel. My daughter's take-away was it was the "best movie ever!' but she did "feel sorry for the monsters, too." (particularly the kaiju baby).

I wouldn't really make a recommendation for 4-year olds (I know I was pushing it), but I think parents shouldn't think twice about bringing a child of 7 or 8.

Side note: After seeing the flash-back with the young Mako in Tokyo, My daughter said "Oh, that's from Pacific Rim One. This must be Pacific Rim Two!"

[Werthead]

If directors know that one of the huge criticisms of 3D (even for those who can stand it in the first place) is that things appear too dark - then they should really consider if they want the film to largely occur in the dark during storms.

I think Del Toro made the movie thinking it would be 2D only, but the studio forced him to do a post-conversion. I get the impression he wasn't happy about it. They should really have had that conversation and confirmed that before making the film, though.

[Seventh Pup]

They... didn't?

I thought they kind of clumilsy added one, with Main Character telling Meiko "I never thought of the future before... I always had terrible timing." I also felt like there was supposed to be some sexual tension between Meiko and Main Character, though it never really materialized. Perhaps I'm wrong but I felt like Meiko and Main Character where supposed to be a thing. :dunno:

ETA:

That, and really, Ron Perlman and the uber cheesy scientists were the best parts of the movie? How different can people see it, I thought they ruined the film every scene they were in.

I thought they where funny. It was nice to have break from the fighting robots, where actual story took place, no matter how slight. I thought they had good chemistry. And while the character of Hannibal Chow probably would have normally annoyed me, I thought Ron Pearlman just totally pulled it off. Though I admit kind of predisposed to love Ron Pearlman.

[Shryke]

Don't they make out at the end?

[Seventh Pup]

Nope. They kind of looked like they are going to but then the camera panned up to the jets in the sky.

[Castel]

I thought they kind of clumilsy added one, with Main Character telling Meiko "I never thought of the future before... I always had terrible timing." I also felt like there was supposed to be some sexual tension between Meiko and Main Character, though it never really materialized. Perhaps I'm wrong but I felt like Meiko and Main Character where supposed to be a thing. :dunno:

And that last scene is all that prevented it. Because, really, when I see scenes like the training fight scene my mind immediately goes:"scene designed to both show off martial skills and establish sexual tension". It's just that the director at some point decided to cut it out but all the groundwork was there.

[polishgenius]

Well,

there was definitely an attraction between them but I don't think it got anywhere near 'love story'. At the end they clearly don't make out - they have an adowable Hollywood Headbutt of affection but no kissy-kissy.

It might become one, if they make a sequel, but it isn't one yet.

[Zoë Sumra]

Well,

there was definitely an attraction between them but I don't think it got anywhere near 'love story'. At the end they clearly don't make out - they have an adowable Hollywood Headbutt of affection but no kissy-kissy.

It might become one, if they make a sequel, but it isn't one yet.

Agreed.

I thought it was nice to see a film where we were left not 100% certain whether the male and female lead finished up with sibling-esque, comradely or romantic love for each other. Shading towards romantic on Raleigh's part, but not quite there.

Also, having seen it a second time, the IMAX 3D version definitely has the sound turned up too high.