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naomikritzer has a theory that the way "Inglorious Bastards" was pitched by Quentin Tarantino was that he was sitting around at a bar with a bunch of Hollywood types and started saying, "You know what never gets old? Killing Nazis!" I now have a similar image of Guillermo Del Toro selling "Pacific Rim" by saying, "You know what would make Gozilla better? Giant Robots!"
By happenstance I ended up going out with my movie buddies,seanmmurphy and Eleanor Arnason, to see "Pacific Rim" last night (in 2-D). I actually called Murphy last night to hear about his baking bread date with a five-year old and somehow in the course of that conversation I ended up on a movie date with my two movie besties.
I have no regrets.
Eleanor, I think, might have preferred to stay home and play Solitaire on her Kindle.
The fun of "Pacific Rim" can be summed up pretty simply: "There were monsters! There were robots! They fought!" I think Del Toro let you know that was the kind of film he was making in the ten minute introduction/montage at the very beginning where our big set up to the world of "Pacific Rim" was simply: alien monsters are coming out of a rift/wormhole in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, we called them kaiju. We built giant robots to fight them. We got really good at killing the kaiju, and then suddenly things were different and it got harder...
That's all the plot of the entire movie, except like any good shonen action storyline: when things get harder, we FIGHT harder. The kaiju power up! Oh, no! We must power up! This cycle is on repeat until someone wins (hint: it's always us.)
If you go into this film expecting even ONE IOTA more than this, you're sure to be disappointed. Snappy dialogue? Nope. Amazing world-building? A little. As has been discussed on io9 and other places, there's some science in this fiction. The way that the robots are operated has a lot of fun world-building thinky-thoughts. Compelling characters? One: Mako Mori (played by Rinko Kikuchi), but she's not the main character--though, IMHO, she should have been, as her backstory is the most compelling AND her moment of honor and revenge is by far the more satisfying (and involves a sword!)
Like the original "Godzilla" import that Mason and I watched (see my review here: http://lyda222.livejournal.com/255084.html), "Pacific Rim" should really be about the Japanese character(s, in the case of the original.) The Western story feels a bit pasted on. That would be a weird intentional homage, so I have to simply assume that the bad storytelling was a mistake.
In fact, Eleanor argued that "Pacific Rim" was dull and could never be called a "good" film. I think we were arguing semantics last night because, for me, "Pacific Rim" was more fun than good. I had no expectations of good. (There were monsters! There were robots! They fought!) More to the point, a film like this can never be "good," though I thought it was tremendously fun (There were monsters! There were robots! They fought!) The visual effects were, sadly, occasionally muddy (it would have been AWESOME as Anime), but there were monsters....
You get the idea.
I would totally recommend the movie to any Godzilla fan. It you can shout out Gamera! or Mothra! with glee, this film is for you. If this....
...makes you unaccountably happy or brings back fond memories of late night movies as a kid, "Pacific Rim" is for you.
Because, there were monsters! There were robots! And they fought!
naomikritzer has a theory that the way "Inglorious Bastards" was pitched by Quentin Tarantino was that he was sitting around at a bar with a bunch of Hollywood types and started saying, "You know what never gets old? Killing Nazis!" I now have a similar image of Guillermo Del Toro selling "Pacific Rim" by saying, "You know what would make Gozilla better? Giant Robots!"By happenstance I ended up going out with my movie buddies,
seanmmurphy and Eleanor Arnason, to see "Pacific Rim" last night (in 2-D). I actually called Murphy last night to hear about his baking bread date with a five-year old and somehow in the course of that conversation I ended up on a movie date with my two movie besties. I have no regrets.
Eleanor, I think, might have preferred to stay home and play Solitaire on her Kindle.
The fun of "Pacific Rim" can be summed up pretty simply: "There were monsters! There were robots! They fought!" I think Del Toro let you know that was the kind of film he was making in the ten minute introduction/montage at the very beginning where our big set up to the world of "Pacific Rim" was simply: alien monsters are coming out of a rift/wormhole in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, we called them kaiju. We built giant robots to fight them. We got really good at killing the kaiju, and then suddenly things were different and it got harder...
That's all the plot of the entire movie, except like any good shonen action storyline: when things get harder, we FIGHT harder. The kaiju power up! Oh, no! We must power up! This cycle is on repeat until someone wins (hint: it's always us.)
If you go into this film expecting even ONE IOTA more than this, you're sure to be disappointed. Snappy dialogue? Nope. Amazing world-building? A little. As has been discussed on io9 and other places, there's some science in this fiction. The way that the robots are operated has a lot of fun world-building thinky-thoughts. Compelling characters? One: Mako Mori (played by Rinko Kikuchi), but she's not the main character--though, IMHO, she should have been, as her backstory is the most compelling AND her moment of honor and revenge is by far the more satisfying (and involves a sword!)
Like the original "Godzilla" import that Mason and I watched (see my review here: http://lyda222.livejournal.com/255084.html), "Pacific Rim" should really be about the Japanese character(s, in the case of the original.) The Western story feels a bit pasted on. That would be a weird intentional homage, so I have to simply assume that the bad storytelling was a mistake.
In fact, Eleanor argued that "Pacific Rim" was dull and could never be called a "good" film. I think we were arguing semantics last night because, for me, "Pacific Rim" was more fun than good. I had no expectations of good. (There were monsters! There were robots! They fought!) More to the point, a film like this can never be "good," though I thought it was tremendously fun (There were monsters! There were robots! They fought!) The visual effects were, sadly, occasionally muddy (it would have been AWESOME as Anime), but there were monsters....
You get the idea.
I would totally recommend the movie to any Godzilla fan. It you can shout out Gamera! or Mothra! with glee, this film is for you. If this....
...makes you unaccountably happy or brings back fond memories of late night movies as a kid, "Pacific Rim" is for you.
Because, there were monsters! There were robots! And they fought!
no subject
Date: 2013-07-24 04:34 pm (UTC)I think Pacific Rim is better than you say. It's a *HUGE* set of nods to multiple things all tied together with awesome. There were scenes lifted from Mazinger Z, Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam, Evangelion, and other anime and sentai shows. The whole PLOT was lifted from Independence Day (but I think done better). The kaiju were very Go-Nagai in appearance. Hannibal Chau's end (and subsequent reappearance) is a direct nod to Ron Perlman's stint as Hellboy (when he did the same thing to a supernatural monster).
It's not, of course, a scientifically accurate film. If such monsters DID start showing up, we would build walls covered with gargantamongous guns and anything that came in sight of the walls would be torn to shreds, much cheaper than trying to invent ludicrously impossible mecha-warriors. Fish killed underwater do not fall and flop on the ground. Mecha like that are physically impossible. So are giant monsters.
But IT DOESN'T MATTER because you have Idris Elba giving an awesome speech and then you have powerful theme music helping to launch your awesome gigantic robot that you're controlling through a mind-link. The Pacific Rim universe is obviously similar to that of Gurren Lagann, where everything runs on Rule of Cool.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-24 05:35 pm (UTC)I've seen Hellboy and, though I haven't watched the anime on your list, I TOTALLY recognized the vibe and the look of it. Hence my reference to the shonen storyline.
But, I think this shows that you can be a casual fan and still enjoy the fuck out of "Pacific Rim." My discussion about the films goodness was in reflection to Eleanor's reaction to it. It's not Shindler's List. But, my point is that it was never meant to be, and that it should be judged by what it IS, which, as you say, is a whole ball of awesome wrapped in kaiju.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-24 05:55 pm (UTC)Naturally anyone from the late 60s on could have *SOME* version of Godzilla in their childhood, given reruns of the Showa-era Goji movies, but not of *THAT* Godzilla, because he didn't EXIST then.
Heh. It's a good thing it's not Schindler's List; I wouldn't pay money to see Schindler's List. Pacific Rim hits all my criteria for "Good movie", possibly even "great movie".
no subject
Date: 2013-07-24 07:00 pm (UTC)I agree, I think Pacific Rim is a good movie. (And a fun movie.) It's not, perhaps, a serious movie, but that's an entirely separate axis. I think it will reward repeat viewings. I don't think it's disposable cotton candy summer fare at all. I think it's sweet, and earnest, and really loves its robots and monsters, and that's so uncommon nowadays that we're inclined collectively to pat it on its head condescendingly and assume it's kid stuff. But kids are often smarter than we give them credit to, and so's this movie.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-24 07:02 pm (UTC)I agree, I think Pacific Rim is a good movie. (And a fun movie.) It's not, perhaps, a serious movie, but that's an entirely separate axis. I think it will reward repeat viewings. I don't think it's disposable cotton candy summer fare at all. I think it's sweet, and earnest, and really loves its robots and monsters, and that's so uncommon nowadays that we're inclined collectively to pat it on its head condescendingly and assume it's kid stuff. But kids are often smarter than we give them credit to, and so's this movie.
(sorry for the anon version of this comment earlier. Don't drop my cookie, LJ!)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-26 12:40 am (UTC)I'm hoping there's an actual extended version planned.
I'm GOBSMACKED by the fact that it's (relatively speaking) tanking at the box office; everyone I know has gone to see it, or is GOING to go see it, some of them more than once, and the overall buzz I've heard seemed about equal to that for The Avengers.
no subject
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