RESPECTIVE RETROSPECTIVE: PACIFIC RIM

So for years now I've been enjoying the summer movie season and enjoying ranking the best films among them. 2013 was a stacked year as far as movies went. There were incredible horror movies coming out, Evil Dead, The Conjuring, You're Next, and more. Super hero movies like Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Thor: The Dark World, and others. Action movies like Fast and Furious 6, The Last Stand, and Parker. Comedies like This Is The End, Hangover Part III, and Anchorman: The Legend Continues. Sci-Fi Fantasy films like Star Trek: Into Darkness, Elysium, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But of all the movies to have come out last year only one earns the ranking of the best... that movie is PACIFIC RIM.

I grew up watching Godzilla movies. My love for them has only grown with me as I age. Occasionally Godzilla would fight giant robots like Mechagodzilla, Mechanikong, Jet Jaguar, and Moguera. These giants mechs were always a treat to see. In high school and college I went a little heavy on the anime. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, and other giant robot animes rocked my world! So, as you can see, I was already in the disposition to like a film like Pacific Rim. And let's face it, in America on the big screen giant monster movies had pretty much died off with the exceptions of Peter Jackson's King Kong in 2005 and 2008's Cloverfield. My mouth was parched for a new monster movie.

My friend Clint first notified me in 2011 of a proposed movie idea by Guillermo Del Toro involving giant robots and giant monsters. The project was referred to as PACIFIC RIM. Not only that but since 2010 Clint and I had been anticipating the proposed new Godzilla movie by Legendary (originally slated for 2012 but ended up being 2014). We were extremely excited and ready for colossal films like the kaiju fair of old to finally make a comeback.

Ambitious filmmaking is all you can say for the men and women who assembled the kaiju films of the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. Knowing how difficult such a project would be, how hard their job would be to make it all look convincing. You've got to hand it to them, these people set out to show us the grandest of spectacles and the greatest of adventures and they had extremely limited resources to do it with. Credit needs to be given where credit is due, because even if they may have not been the greatest of films, even if some of them did not succeed, the biggest and brightest of the bunch helped create a genre, inspire filmmakers and audiences of all ages, and left a lasting impression on the cinematic world.


Can you see why this is so exciting now? Do you realize what it means to see these kinds of movie make their triumphant return? We have the technology. We can rebuild him. Make him faster. Stronger. The filmmaking technology of today has finally caught up with the visionary scope and grandeur of the filmmakers of yesterday. I will always love the giant monster movies of old. But I am ready to see what our filmmakers can do today and our first REAL look at what's possible today emerged with a summer blockbuster film titled PACIFIC RIM.

I sat in the theater on opening night by myself (my wife wouldn't go with me then but she went the second time I saw it) and I could hardly contain my excitement. Part of that excitement was my vain hope of seeing a teaser trailer for the following year's Godzilla. The Godzilla trailer did not happen and I started off the film feeling a little bummed. Then the movie started, quickly introducing us to a world beset with menacing monsters as tall as skyscrapers. Then I see the first glimpse of Gypsy Danger and the music starts playing (as I'm writing this I'm getting goosebumps). The soundtrack to the movie is one of the best aspects of the film (Ramin Djawadi and Tom Morello compose a memorable and strikingly epic score!).

Listen to the soundtrack! Click Here!

The special effects aren't simply good, they are magnificent! They are so good in fact that one could and can get easily lost in them and dazzled to the point that they miss everything else about the movie and ultimately see it as a hollow special effects film. You're cheating yourself if you do so. They story contains elements unique to the silver screen and thought provoking ideas that could be further explored after watching the film. I'm speaking of the two-pilot system of driving the Jaegers. Two people's minds connecting through a neural link, minds merging, bodies acting in unison. If you're familiar with Evangelion than you're no doubt familiar with the concept, but if you aren't it is another interesting and unique concept to the big screen. Mental compatibility as well as physical compatibility and the relationships formed as a result between the people involved.

The film however does have it's weaknesses too. Half the actors are amazing while half deliver a performance rife with cliche and anime hero troupes. But if you're familiar with anime you understand it. You get that it might be a conscious choice by the director to have his actors embody that head space. After all, Pacific Rim is basically a live action anime in addition to being a kaiju film. That being said I think the film's promotion worked to it's detriment. For somebody like me it worked. But there aren't enough of us to sustain a movie like this, at least not in the States. The promotion for the film wasn't as accessible to as big an audience as they hoped for.

Every now and then I'll see a movie that I'm so glad I saw in theaters. These movies have such a scope and scale far bigger than most that seeing them on a small tv screen detracts somewhat. The films are still good but seeing them on larger than life screens adds so much more. PACIFIC RIM is one of those movies. Seeing it on the theater screen transformed it from just another movie to an epic experience! An experience few films can deliver. But not many people saw it on the big screen, not in America anyway. By the end of the movie I was pumped! I felt charged! I felt like a kid again seeing something I love for the very first time. I wanted to see it again right away! I had high expectations and the movie met them in spades. It delivered.

The theater wasn't very full though. As the movie ran in theaters I kept up with it's box office totals. They were disappointing. Low box office returns means the likelihood of a franchise is low. By the end of the summer Pacific Rim was considered a flop and no chance of a sequel on the table. I was crushed. This was the kind of movie that I lived for. I shouted it from the rooftops how great this movie was and how everybody should see it. Most people told me it looked stupid (these are the same people that flock to super hero movies and transformers and star trek, the exact people who would love this film). These same people, after finally seeing the movie on cable or on dvd, told me I was right and they really liked it. The quality of the movie is there. It's just getting people to see it that's the trick.

America didn't seem to get it. But the rest of the world did. The box office returns worldwide were apparently enough. Announced this week to be released in 2017... PACIFIC RIM 2!!!!!  That was some of the best news I've ever heard! Now the long wait.

In summary... I LOVE THIS FILM. And everyone should see it.
Overall ranking: 8 out of 10.