Susan Granger’s review of “Pacific Rim” (Legendary/Warner Bros.)
When Mexican-born filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (“Hellboy,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”) tackles a high-tech giant-robots-vs.-giant-monsters, epic adventure with the tagline, “Go big or go extinct” – you know the waves will be huge.
“To fight monsters…We created monsters,” the titles proclaim. Sci-fi action begins on K-Day, as legions of immense alien creatures, known as Kaiju, start rising from
the Pacific Ocean, igniting a horrific war in which millions of lives were sacrificed and humanity’s resources were drained for years. To fight the relentless, oppressive behemoths, massive 25-story-tall robots, called Jaegers, have been deployed. Each individual Jaeger has its own distinctive design, ability and personality and is controlled by dual pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge (whatever that is). All seems lost until two unlikely and, unfortunately, rather uninteresting heroes – former pilot Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and untested trainee Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) – team up to defend mankind, maneuvering a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger.
Published by Legendary’s comics branch, Travis Beacham (“Clash of the Titans”) wrote a graphic prequel novel, “Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero,” as a supplement explaining the entire back story. Working from Beacham’s script, Guillermo Del Toro has devised a unique mythology. His inspirational references include “The War of
the Gargantuas,” “Godzilla,” “Transformers,” Francisco Goya’s painting “The Colossus” (depicting a terrifying giant towering over a valley), ‘80s and ‘90s kids TV programs, Power Rangers video gaming and Japanese Mech culture.
In addition to Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, veteran actors Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky and Ron Perlman lend support. But it’s the awesome visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic that will appeal to the fanboys. In addition to the CGI, “Pacific Rim,” which reportedly cost $150 million, utilized 101 sets, most built on nine stages at Pinewood Toronto, including two of the largest shooting stages in the world.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pacific Rim” is a facile, fast-paced 5. Since
everything becomes a franchise these days, Travis Beacham and Guillermo Del Toro are already working on a possible sequel.
