Giant robots (Jaegers!) vs giant alien lizard things (Kaijus!), kicking ass in the Pacific and destroying our favourite cities. Idris Elba as a commanding officer called Stacker Pentecost. Exceptionally hammy dialogue, containing the line 'Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!'. Charlie Hunnam with his shirt off A LOT. Del Toro's Pacific Rim isn't intelligent but it gives you exceptional payback. If you go in knowing what it is, it delivers enormously. The special effects are out of this world.
The Kaijus literally pee all over Cloverfield's creature. Deliberately you're shown the 'monsters' and their hideous Godzilla/Alien/Cloverfield mash-up faces from the start; there's no shyness here. As they go on their destruction frenzy (they pop up from a crevice on the floor of the Pacific ocean, like oh gigantic 'HAIIII') they immediately face humans fighting back with MASSSSOVVVEEEEE robots - the Jaeger programme. These Jaegers don't bomb (okay, we know that's spelt differently but couldn't resist), they punch their metal fists together with a 'game on!' and kick the slime out of the the Kaijus who - quite cutely - are measured on a monster richter scale; 'We've got a Kaiju 4 here!'. The Jaegers are also way better than the Transformers. Whateves Optimus Prime.
And that, really, is all you need to know about Pacific Rim. It borrows unashamedly from Top Gun (ohhhh big death - saddddd - I can't go on. Ahhh, locker room rivalry with an Eastenders' Iceman. Yeahhhh, bogeys at 4 o clock!), Star Wars (blow up the Death Star finale), Predator (silly faces of the mean mastermind Kaijus) and some light relief courtesy of a Ghostbusters-like Rick Moranis...I mean Charlie Day...as 'Kaiju groupie' Dr. Newton Geiszler.
We could even take the romance. Charlie Hunnam as lead Raleigh Becket and co-Jaeger pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) are sweet. Both have big beef with the Kaijus, and Mako's drift flashback to what happened to her family and her subsequent rescue is surprisingly emotional. Idris Elba's Pentecost is ridiculous but is delivered brilliantly; he gets some great lines and is big enough to carry the film.
Pacific Rim delivers where the Godzilla remake, and so many others, failed. Del Toro has made this film with BLOCKBUSTER in mind, and love and affection to kaiju movies (when translated from Japanese, kaiju means 'strange beast') With a second Pacific Rim film announced for 2017 release, we can't wait to see more.
4/5 you need some WD-40 for that, love
CLAIRE BICKNELL
Giant robots (Jaegers!) vs giant alien lizard things (Kaijus!), kicking ass in the Pacific and destroying our favourite cities. Idris Elba as a commanding officer called Stacker Pentecost. Exceptionally hammy dialogue, containing the line 'Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!'. Charlie Hunnam with his shirt off A LOT. Del Toro's Pacific Rim isn't intelligent but it gives you exceptional payback. If you go in knowing what it is, it delivers enormously. The special effects are out of this world.
The Kaijus literally pee all over Cloverfield's creature. Deliberately you're shown the 'monsters' and their hideous Godzilla/Alien/Cloverfield mash-up faces from the start; there's no shyness here. As they go on their destruction frenzy (they pop up from a crevice on the floor of the Pacific ocean, like oh gigantic 'HAIIII') they immediately face humans fighting back with MASSSSOVVVEEEEE robots - the Jaeger programme. These Jaegers don't bomb (okay, we know that's spelt differently but couldn't resist), they punch their metal fists together with a 'game on!' and kick the slime out of the the Kaijus who - quite cutely - are measured on a monster richter scale; 'We've got a Kaiju 4 here!'. The Jaegers are also way better than the Transformers. Whateves Optimus Prime.
And that, really, is all you need to know about Pacific Rim. It borrows unashamedly from Top Gun (ohhhh big death - saddddd - I can't go on. Ahhh, locker room rivalry with an Eastenders' Iceman. Yeahhhh, bogeys at 4 o clock!), Star Wars (blow up the Death Star finale), Predator (silly faces of the mean mastermind Kaijus) and some light relief courtesy of a Ghostbusters-like Rick Moranis...I mean Charlie Day...as 'Kaiju groupie' Dr. Newton Geiszler.
We could even take the romance. Charlie Hunnam as lead Raleigh Becket and co-Jaeger pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) are sweet. Both have big beef with the Kaijus, and Mako's drift flashback to what happened to her family and her subsequent rescue is surprisingly emotional. Idris Elba's Pentecost is ridiculous but is delivered brilliantly; he gets some great lines and is big enough to carry the film.
Pacific Rim delivers where the Godzilla remake, and so many others, failed. Del Toro has made this film with BLOCKBUSTER in mind, and love and affection to kaiju movies (when translated from Japanese, kaiju means 'strange beast') With a second Pacific Rim film announced for 2017 release, we can't wait to see more.
4/5 you need some WD-40 for that, love
CLAIRE BICKNELL
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