I can't say I'm a big fan of Guillermo del Toro. I think of him as the awkward guy you knew in school who had the type of weird imagination that was mistaken for creativity: quirky and different but nothing overly mind-blowing.

When I think of his films I think of paper-thin characters, one-note plots, silly visual style, dialogue that makes Lucas look like Shakespeare, absolutely zero comedic timing and terribly awkward direction (as in, I feel awkward watching these actors pretend to play terrible characters). Suffice to say, I don't know what the fuss is about when it comes to this guy.

And so there's Pacific Rim: the AICN-hailed "geek film of the summer" and it's getting tons of love from their writers and even some good buzz from the more level-headed folk.

The prologue to Pacific Rim is the most tightly directed sequence of the entire film. It felt like I was transported to this great and exciting world in the way the best sci-fi can work it...and then it becomes a Guillermo del Toro movie. The one thing I will say is that for a movie that wasn't shot in 3D, it had fantastic use of it. As a fan of visual effects, there's a lot to love here even if del Toro decides to stage almost every action sequence in the rain at night.

Overall, I liked it fine but when I hear things like "Pacific Rim is this generation's Star Wars" it makes me want to pull the plug on the internet. It's as paper-thin, clumsy and awkward as his Hellboy movies; it just has giant robots fighting monsters...at night and in the rain.

1st, why you're trusting anything that's said on the internet sites, I will never know.

2nd, it's a fscking summer movie, why are you expecting shakespeare?

3rd, it's giant fscking monsters fighting giant fscking robots. Why do you need anything else. Sure, there are tons of movies that try to be perfect movies, but you need movies that are just going to be there for this purpose.

4th, Ron Perlman.

To that end, I saw it. I loved it. It's not a sequel. It's not a prequel. It's an original'ish idea with new characters. It's not a book that someone's adapted, or a comic book that sheep are going to piss and moan about, so I'm happy that there is a new avenue opening up, instead of the same well tread aspects and properties being run down. The Visual FX are stunning, and I much agree that the 3D aspects were very nice, probably the best use of it I've seen in a while.

The Kaiju and Jaeger designs were equally fantastic. While you may not like del Toro movies (which is obvious that you don't), I quite enjoy them for what they are. He may not be the best writer, but he has a knack for the visual aspects of the industry, and the scenes he pieces together are fantastic.

No, there isn't a lot of plot in this. No the dialogue is not shakespeare. Yes, there is some cheese to it. But the Audience laughed, the audience clapped. My 6 year old, who feel asleep in Iron Man, Star Trek and Man of Steel wouldn't stop talking about it (and she loved the action). Just take it for what it is, and don't try to heap a ton on to it.

By the way, if you see it, stay until the mid Credits scene.

Shame on me for seeking the opinion of others before I spend my money and time on a movie I was on the fence about. If only I could live my life as you do, free of knowledge and informed decision-making.



Who says I was? I love dumb action flicks as much as anyone on Earth and summer blockbusters are my favourite kind. I don't need the logic to be perfect or the narrative to be earth-shattering. I just need characters I can invest in and an adventure thats gets me excited.



Hey, I love the first Transformers. In my opinion, it was one of the most crowd-pleasing blockbusters I've seen in 10 years. Perfect? Absolutely not but entertaining as hell. But you know why I dislike the second and third movies? Because they're a jumbled mess from a character and story standpoint. Suddenly watching 50 foot alien robots fighting each other became less entertaining.



What happens? I left after it ended.

Ron Pearlman's character survives in the end credits scene

I saw this last night in 2D and damn, what a movie! LOVED IT. The dialog is hokey, the acting is ... absent, and there's hardly a recognizable face in the whole movie, and I LOVE it!

It's a giant robot vs giant monster movie, WTF do you want??! The effects from ILM are insane, absolutely INSANE. Nothing is out of focus in the backgrounds, everything is alive, moving, filled with something cool going on. The designs are fantastic, the world feels lived in, it borrows tons of cool ideas from all those monster movies from the old days but updates them with bleeding edge special effects. This is oscar level effects work right here. It drips with it.

And when that one mech pulled out the sword, SHIT!


The sequel needs to have combining robots and mecha-monsters.

GO SEE THIS BECAUSE WE WANT MORE OF THIS IN THE THEATERS!

Internet as a source of "INFORMED DECISION-MAKING" an you mention that as you have based it on AICN reviews. Oh shit man, are you 13?


If this movie didn't you excited, shove a wired 12 volt battery up your ass. Honestly, I'm not saying that to be mean, but maybe it will jump start you back to life.


Yeah, that's why this isn't Robots fighting Robots in blurred shaky cam....this is Robots fighting Monsters, where you're not worried about 3000 ancillary characters while dodging Bay explosions. You're worried about 5 characters....tops. No, they aren't developed, but it's a lead in, I want to know more about them now. I want to know about the Marshall's exploits in the MK I Jaeger. I want to see some of the other battles. Hell, I'd love to see the army fight the first Kaiju without a Jaeger. It has created a world that is boundless in stories.


BV got it....I'm sure youtube of it will be out soon.

At the very, very end, there's a Kaiju roar, I guess giving us the promise that it may not be over, after all, if they can breach dimensional planes previously, what stops them from doing it again?

But, there is a dedication to Ray Harryhausen and Ishiro Honda. Nice to see the Fathers of monster movies honored in such a way.

[quote="bearvomit"]
The sequel needs to have combining robots and mecha-monsters.
[quote]
I was thinking the next would be a prequel. Some of the fights they talked about seemed intense. I'd love to see Typhoon go up against something and not get its ass kicked so easily.

I used AICN as an example to cite positive geek reaction and mentioned that the general critical consensus was positive. You're ripping me yet you share their exact opinion. Boy, you're a genius.



I'm deeply offended by the mouth breather from across the web.

The action of course was fantastic and the special effects were incredible. But who cares if I don't give a shit about any of the characters? I've seen giant robots fight before. I've seen cities be blown to shit. I've seen that in movies this summer for hell's sake.



That's where we disagree. I couldn't give a shit about any of the characters. I gave kudos to the prologue, which I thought offered the most immersive sequence in the film. The world was exciting until the main characters got introduced...then I stopped giving a shit.

http://www.complexmag.ca/pop-culture/20 ... al-effects

Taking a break from message board pissing match, I thought this was a good article.

nice artlicle... going to see it monday.

you guys have the most interesting takes on movies and the level of detail in some of the critique is amazing, especially the soundtrack conversations...

yet, you still call each other fat and ugly. boggles, educates and entertains my mind!

I think his work is hit or miss. You can really tell when he's putting his heart and soul into something (Pan's Labyrinth) or when he's just going through the paces, biding his time to get to the neat stuff (Blade 2, Hellboy 2). Pacific Rim falls into the latter category.

Pacific Rim works as spectacle and works exceedingly well as such. Saw it in IMAX 3D (real IMAX, not a digital screen) and was glad I upgraded.

This has been the summer of the massive bombs. The big three:

- Pacific Rim
- Lone Ranger
- White House Down

I thought Star Trek was one of the best movies of the summer and it under-performed.

Update - add RIPD and Turbo to the list of summer bombs.

This movie looks so stereotypically "right up my alley" I cannot believe I haven't seen it yet. Stupid life, get out of the way of the fun stuff damn you. Me. Whoever.

Anywho, thanks for the review-ish posts. I was afraid that no one would say anything about this movie and I'd get "Skylined" on my next day off. It doesn't sound as bad as Skyline, so I'm still kind of excited. Word.

I also was very happy to see CoGro and Cryostar battling it out above in what one can only guess is some alliterative recreation of the action in the film. Nice duel gentlemen, but one question remains. Which one is the giant sea monster and which one is the directly uncredited descendant of the Shogun Warriors circa 1970whatever? Not that it matters, but I'm trying to visualize. It's like reading Penthouse Forum. Except it isn't.

I like giant freaking robots. I will see this and buy the dvd regardless of what gets said about it online. Reading about it in advance just gives me someone to call a dumbass when I've made up my own mind. And I like being able to call someone a dumbass. It's a win-win for me. Thanks for posting!