Pacific Rim: Movie Review

"Pacific Rim" is an awe-inspiring experience. An scifi epic of indefinite proportions, it also magically finds ways to be accessible to a general audience. It is this delicate balance that sets this film apart from other epics that seem to alienate its audiences most of the time. "Pacific Rim" is quick, simple and a streamlined experience but it is still able to deliver a compelling universe. Put simply, "Pacific Rim" has everything you would love in a film - serious brains, heart pounding action, stunning visuals, memorable characters, compelling dialogue - all rolled into one coherent package.

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju who seem to be evolving and adapting into stronger beings as the years go by. Soon, Jaegers are deemed outdated and the program on the brink of being shut down. The forces who defend the program's viability have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes — a washed up former pilot Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) — who are teamed up to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger, named Gipsy Danger, from the past. With the other three remaining functional Jaegers from China, Australia and Russia, they must find a way to cancel the apocalypse indefinitely as impossible and improbable as it may seem to be.

"Pacific Rim" is undeniably deep and yet it feels so easy to understand. The film had a penchant to explain things as simple as they could be defined in the fastest way possible. This means that there is less time spent on trying to understand what's actually going on but importantly, more time spent on watching what's on-screen. And watching "Pacific Rim" is something to behold visually. A few months ago, while seeing the trailer for "Pacific Rim", our biggest fear was this turning into a "Transformers" clone (with the addition of monsters). Mind you, this is far from a Michael Bay film and even comparing this film to that is blasphemy. The battles themselves are something else. Each battle seemingly epic on their own and the Kaijus specifically equally menacing and scary. The story on the other hand has the perfect mix of brains and heart. The science it uses are simple - if some are flawed, at least they are believable - and the film feels like it lives on basic rules and principles that once you learn are never unbroken in the narrative. The film also brings in characters that have are memorable and have their own grievances that affects everyone around them. In particular, the "neural link" portion adds some extreme depth into the story and character interactions and possibly our favorite idea from the film. The biggest flaw of "Pacific Rim" is probably its uninspired title but kidding aside, this is a must-watch. Del Toro didn't disappoint in fact he blew our minds.

Rating: 4 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- the battle sequences are epic and menacing
- simple and easy-to-understand and yet epic in scale

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the title seems uninspired


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