Pacific Rim the movie (2013) - Guillermo del Toro

[Sume Gai]

@Amion: Doubtless this is also part Kaiju movie; beyond the giant robots it's also a chronicle of giant monster invasion. If someone in your life has a soft spot for cheesy creature features that seems an obvious way to pique their interest in Pacific Rim.

[LightningCount]

however, they don't really reach the heights that the genre has shown itself to be capable of in things like RahXephon or The Big-O, for example.

I hated RahXephon, but loved Big-O. So far I have a 50 percent sync rate with you. I'm guessing we aren't drift compatible

Yeah...sorry about that.

Certainly RahXephon takes some getting used to, and I admit being skeptical about halfway through my original viewing of it, before the ending tied it up nicely and made me realize what they were doing skillfully all along. Without spoilers, there are probably three main reasons why I note RahXephon with The Big-O. First, it carefully uses its mecha/giant robot action as punctuation to the characters and story, rather than always for its own benefit, allowing greater emphasis on character interaction and development in a fairly naturalistic manner. Two, in tandem with that, the characters feel very natural and sympathetic, even in a world setup that is so arcane. Three, I'll quote wikipedia in how it cleverly blends world culture in a story that engages with its mysteries, which is no easy task: "…The series shows influences from philosophy, Japanese folklore and Western literature, such as the work of James Churchward...The cultural background of the series is dominated by Mesoamerican and other Pre-Columbian civilizations.” (Oh, and they forgot to mention the musical references!) That blending of elements alongside traditional military like Macross with planes and such was just plain cool, and the ending it sprouted felt like something The Big-O might have done if it had gotten its canceled 3rd Season.

The genre is wonderful though to be fair we're comparing something with ~10 and a half hours run time to a film with 2 and a half. While I'd agree that more fleshed out characters would be needed to sustain a series spectical works well enough in the context of a movie. Very few mecha anime movies truly stand alone as great and genre pushing films. Most are either part of a series of movies (Gundam) or linked to a previous series or meta-verse (Gundam 00 AoT, Char's Counterattack, Macross DYRL, Be Invoked, etc.)

Pacific Rim did a lot of things right especially as a Hollywood movie, bucking some bad trends. The action was shot in a way that made it comprehensible, a huge majority of the cast were not pretty white Americans. It's exactly what I wanted and I welcome sequels if they put the same amount of earnest love into them and who knows, perhaps we'll get some more complex characterization along the way.

Yeah, I said as much that it isn't truly fair to compare series and movies, and that it gave us more than Hollywood usually does in big-budget films. But I'm not sure a sequel is required, either. With the initial buzz worn off, I imagine a sequel would lose some audience rather than gain--or break even in its audience leaving and returning. The way this movie ended with the death of so many key and supporting characters, and the main conflict neatly resolved, I think the best it could do would be repeats and gimmicks. I expected an alien hybrid Jaeger in this movie, and it sounds like the director wants to give us that in a potential sequel. There foresee that there could be aerial battles, as well. But in the end, these are the sorts of things that might be better explored in new robot-based or adapted movies, if possible. (I sometimes wonder if Pacific Rim made the whole genre superfluous for Hollywood visually, though). Pacific Rim was pretty compelling and fresh for one Hollywood movie, but I feel like it largely stayed just long enough without wearing out its welcome. Aside from the use of characters, the last battle wasn't quite as tense as the previous Hong Kong one, for example. And the aliens' source of their portal was wiped out by a nuclear blast. I doubt they'll rebuild that fast enough for Raleigh and Mako to see action when their specialty is clearly in big\o-engineering in-story; and if they had more of those portals ready, they clearly would have been using them to speed up their plan. Plus, let's not forget that Godzilla is relaunching relatively soon by the same company, which might steal more of the fire.

...On a larger point, I don't know what it is, but there are a lot of places in the Western world that just can't take robots seriously unless its done like Asimov or done in a comedic or sporty way, in which case it's taken as pulpy fun. The West accepts rock-em-sock-em, but doesn't love it. Pacific Rim actually tried to balance this, as it had some over-the-top/jarring comedic elements that didn't suit its overall tone; but even that wasn't enough it seems to satisfy doubts.

[phillosmaster]

So...we're getting a sequel?

That sounds like a very real possibility when you read the recent interviews with Guillermo del Toro. It's made about 225 million already so it's not an unprofitable franchise (and it hasn't even been released in Japan yet. I'm curious to see how it does there). I'm sure it will do decently well with DVD/Blu-ray sales as well.

Certainly RahXephon takes some getting used to, and I admit being skeptical about halfway through my original viewing of it, before the ending tied it up nicely and made me realize what they were doing skillfully all along.

This may be my problem. I did not stick it out to the end of RahXephon. Perhaps I should give it another shot.

[nacho-wan]

I was afraid to look up this thread. I thouth it would be gazillion pages long. A bit dissapointed by that. However I'm not dissapointed by Pacific Rinm. Not at all. Four weeks from release and i have seen it 4 times; I saw it opening Friday and then on Sunday. Last week I saw it on IMAX. God this movie is amazing on Imax. My girlfriend came out of the theater more pumped that me -and I'm the mecha fan.

Spoiler

I was blown away by Gipsy Danger using the shipping containers to hit the Kaiju. And the boat. Jesus, the boat. I came laughing so hard. I could believe how was to see the Jaeger dragging a boat into Hong Kong.

I'm spending so much money on seen it on the theater, buying the books and everything except the toys that I'm likely to fund the sequel.

I just have to get a Gipsy Danger molde kit. If not I'm scratch building one from a Frame Arms Architect or something...

[Antares]

Both thumbs up for the unquestionable popcorn summer blockbuster of 2013!
It's a rare treat for me to be this entertained at the movies, throughout the movie. Pacific Rim doesn't much require you to think, but hey, it's about giant mecha smacking down with godzillas. I had been carefully hopeful, and del Toro really blew my expectations out of the water.

The action was good and plentiful, the Jaegers looked, sounded, heck, FELT like the metal monsters they were, and so did the Kaijus. The soundtrack rocked, and the movie got extra points for the underdog-element. If it had ended with an overwhelming, flag-waving victory for mankind, I wouldn't have been at all impressed. Instead, del Toro forced the audience to claw and bite their way to the (even somewhat questionable) victory with the protagonists. I swear, at times I was feeling like punching lizard heads alongside Becket and Mako.

The OST also went in to my "must-have" list.

[Amion]

My friend who thought the glorious battle between Jiart and Izuru from MJP was boring (and generally dislikes mecha) saw Pacific Rim and loved it. So there's hope! Glad everyone's reactions are so good, when this comes out on DVD, I might manage to get my closer relatives to see it.

Oh, and Thundermuffin has returned.

[nacho-wan]

Both thumbs up for the unquestionable popcorn summer blockbuster of 2013!
It's a rare treat for me to be this entertained at the movies, throughout the movie. Pacific Rim doesn't much require you to think, but hey, it's about giant mecha smacking down with godzillas. I had been carefully hopeful, and del Toro really blew my expectations out of the water.

I agree with you the movie doesn't feel two hours long! It such a fun ride from beginning to ending.

[Wingnut]

A song that I believe is worth a listen, and a video worth a watch.

[Shinji103]

So there's all these Youtube videos and AMVs out there.....

Where's our little homemade video of Kouji Kabuto's voice shouting out "BREAST MISSILE!", ""ROCKET PUNCH!", and "BREAST FIRE!" to the respective attacks from Gypsy Danger and Striker Eureka?

Just take some audio from the SRW games. There's plenty of "All Mazinger Z attacks" videos on Youtube.

[sweet-d]

So I was on youtube and I came across this video with Del Toro, Mana Ashida, and Rinko Kikuchi doing promotional stuff for Pacific Rim in Japan. The visit a Gunpla shop and they do comparisons of Guncannon and Coyote Tango


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5va1sep ... e=youtu.be

[nacho-wan]

Seems like a lovely interview; wish I could understand what is happening.

[zerogradius]

however, they don't really reach the heights that the genre has shown itself to be capable of in things like RahXephon or The Big-O, for example.

I hated RahXephon, but loved Big-O. So far I have a 50 percent sync rate with you. I'm guessing we aren't drift compatible

I wonder how well a live action Big O movie would be received. If Pacific Rim is successful enough, it could lead to more big robot movies being released.

[nacho-wan]

Considering the lastest box office the report, all of the world except the US would welcome more mecha movies. So the odds of seeing giant robot adaptations aren't that good. So much for my dream of a real action Macross DYRM

[Wingnut]

Pacific Rim: The video game. For the Nintendo Entertainment System. (Or Famicom actually I suppose.)

[LightningCount]

In case anyone hasn't heard (or is interested), Pacific Rim on DVD/BD comes out October 15th.

[nacho-wan]

I'm about to count the seconds for the release!!!
Now supposedly there are three versions: DVD, Bluray, BluRay ultimate (with 3d version) and Collectors Edition. This last one has an extra disk that the other blurays. What is on that disk?

[Peter the Game Guy]

I liked this movie alot.
I love it so much, I've even seen it 7 times. I'll proably see it another 5 times before the end of the year.

[Cyberstorm]

Both thumbs up for the unquestionable popcorn summer blockbuster of 2013!
It's a rare treat for me to be this entertained at the movies, throughout the movie. Pacific Rim doesn't much require you to think, but hey, it's about giant mecha smacking down with godzillas. I had been carefully hopeful, and del Toro really blew my expectations out of the water.

Yeah, I liked it very much. But when the last kaiju appeared I really, really hoped it would look more like Godzilla, as much as possible, without it beeing the real thing.
Still amazing designs, great movie!

[Antares]

Actually, now that I've seen the movie three times, it gets a little less awesome. As you would imagine, of course. You get to experience the coolness of the flying Kaiju unfurling its wings only once.

The acting and the dialog between the fight-scenes is a little less convincing when you're no longer sitting at the edge of your seat, willing to forgive everything for just another taste of sweet, sweet mecha smackdown.

[Peter the Game Guy]

Here's a good PR gif:
http://heardless2012.files.wordpress.co ... 25p25h.gif