Review: Pacific Rim Proves That Quality Comes In Different Forms
- Mar 21, 2018
- 2 min read
From the director of some of the best, serious movies around, come the biggest, dumbest, flashiest and most enjoyable film in years.
Several years ago The Rift, a portal between worlds, opened beneath deep below the Pacific Ocean. From it came the Kaiju, monstrous creatures capable of immense destruction. To counter them, humanity constructed the Jaegers, enormous, two man piloted robots. Years later the war is coming to an end, and mankind is losing. When Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) tracks down ex-Jaeger pilot Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), it is for one reason, to make one last attempt at closing The Rift. The only way to do that is by punching big aliens in the face with rocket powered fists. Obviously.
Pacific Rim will not go down in history for its deep message, it doesn't exist, its complex characters, they're not very good, or its clever storytelling, there's not a lot of it. It will however, be remembered for its unparalleled ability to display action on an absurd scale. While everything that films are usually praised for is either lacking or absent, acting, writing, all that good stuff, it's the Jaeger on Kaiju action that makes it memorable.
When the action happens, it truly delivers. The fighters are big and heavy, reflected in their slow speed and impactful hits. The arenas in which they duel, an indeed the combatants themselves, are colourful and varied, adding to the spectacle. And that's really what Pacific Rim is about. Awe inspiring scale, entire city blocks turned to dust and some nice effects and cinematography to sell the whole thing as somewhat real.
Is Pacific Rim going to top any Greatest of all Time lists? No. But there's a scene where a giant robot beats the snot out of a giant alien with a boat. It uses it like a bat. It's beautiful. And that's all it needs.
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