Del Toro's Fantastic 'Robots-versus-Monsters' Epic

Tectonic movement under the Pacific Ocean, creates a fissure, but this is no ordinary fissure, it's a portal, a bridge between our world and another world populated by beings bent on exterminating humanity and taking over earth. To achieve their goal, the hostile alien beings, send gigantic creatures known as Kaiju, to wreak large scale destruction on land. To counter this attack, humanity pools its resources and creates monsters of its own -- equally gigantic robots known as Jaegers, piloted by two people through a neural link, and capable of destroying Kaiju. The battle for earth escalates, culminating in a final confrontation deep under the ocean.

 'Pacific Rim' is a Guillermo del Toro film alright. Long time collaborator Ron Perlman is in it; there are massive, highly unsual creatures in it; it has dimly lit visuals, in which a golden yellow colour tends to appear; it was photographed by long time collaborator Guillermo Navarro; a Catholic rosary appears on screen; there are shots that are so detailed that they have to be seen more than once to be fully appreciated, and so on.

The immensely exciting choreography of the human-to-human and Jaeger-to-Kaiju fights, was a great deal of fun to watch. There was grace, power and clarity. My most favourite Jaeger-to-Kaiju fights are the ones where jaeger Gipsy Danger (piloted by Raleigh Becket [Charlie Hunnam] and Mako Mori [the beautiful Rinko Kikuchi]) goes head-to-head with the Kaiju that I have nicknamed 'Electro-Disabler' and 'Spitter', after Electro-Disabler has disabled jaeger Striker Eureka and destroyed jaeger Cherno Alpha, and Spitter has destroyed jaeger Crimson Typhoon. Ohh maan, both fights are uber-fantastic! The camera briefly focuses on Gipsy Danger's right heel, while she's fighting Electro-Disabler, and we catch a glimpse of the Jaeger mechanics at work -- giant gear-like devices turning, seemingly playng the same role that the achilles tendon does, in the human body. Impressive! If the giant 'articulated' sword that Mako uses to slice Spitter in half, isn't an homage to Voltron, then I don't know what is!

I enjoyed the intense fist-fight between Raleigh and the arrogant Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky), co-pilot of Striker Eureka, who made an offensive  remark towards Raleigh's co-pilot Mako. Raleigh landed some impressive blows. Chuck got a satisfying comeuppance. I also enjoyed the balletic stick fights between the various pilots in (what I will call) the 'Jaeger Corps', whose purpose was to determine 'drift compatibility' -- whether the two participants could pilot a Jaeger together or not. I wondered how this 'drift compatibility' could be determined through stick fighting, and came to the conclusion that that was merely an excuse to include more exciting fight sequences in the film. :)

Charlie Hunnam reminds me of Garrett Hedlund, who played Flynn's son in 'Tron: Legacy'. Both bear a strong resemblance to one another.

I like Raleigh's monologue, at the beginning of this film. It's well-delivered and effectively ushers the viewer into this brilliant fantasy.

The two Scientists -- Gottlieb and Geiszler (played by Ben Gorman and Charlie Day respectively) -- who made up the Research Division of The Resistance, struck me as this film's equivalent of the signal analysts in the first 'Transformers' film -- something to cut to (a filler) when the Jaegers and Kaiju were not on screen. I liked Charlie Day's character but I also found him a little annoying. His high-pitched voice and the hyperactive, sort of ADD nature of his character, were a little annoying.

At first, I couldn't accept the side story that linked the leader of The Resistance, Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), to Mako. It just didn't ring 'true' to me. I just couldn't accept that Pentecost had raised little Mako as his own, after her family had been killed in a Kaiju attack. And that memory of Mako's, where, as a little girl, she's pursued by a Kaiju, that is then killed by a Jaeger piloted by Pentecost, who triumphantly steps out of the 'cockpit' and smiles at Mako, who smiles back in relief -- I couldn't buy that. For me, it lacked 'truth'. But after three viewings, it seems far less implausible.

Another thing that didn't sit well with me in the first viewing, is the sentimentality that precedes the final battle in 'Pacific Rim'. It seemed out of place to me. I'll give two examples. There's the scene where the father-and-son pilots of jaeger Striker Eureka, Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and Chuck Hansen, respectively, have to bid each other a final farewell, as Chuck goes off to help mount a final offensive against the aliens. And the scene in which Pentecost and Mako also have to part, for good. At first I wasn't moved by either of these scenes. But now, I'm starting to appreciate them. I now get moved, somewhat.

I noticed two references to old age, in this film. I wonder if they were of special significance. In the first 'drift initiation' sequence of 'Pacific Rim', brothers Raleigh and Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff), decide who's going to initiate the neural link, and Raleigh jokingly says to his older brother "Age before beauty, old man". And when jaeger Striker Eureka is rendered inoperable by a Kaiju energy burst, and Herc is flung to the far side of the 'cockpit', by the force of a Kaiju blow to Eureka's hull, Chuck rushes to his father's aid, and says "Come on, get on your feet old man!" as he helps Herc up, to which Herc replies, quite annoyedly, "Don't... call me that!".

'Pacific Rim' is an excellent film, a technological marvel. I have never seen anything like this before. This film is a great deal of fun to watch. It's a fitting homage to Monster Masters, Ishiro Honda and Ray Harryhausen. WOW.