Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day
Have I Seen it Before: Oh, sure.
Did I Like It: I’m writing this review shortly after my post about <Cloverfield (2008)>, which I wasn’t very kind to.
I like this movie more, if for no other reason than it is just about the only big budget adventure film of the last decade that wasn’t based on some other property. I’m supposed to be thrilled when films aren’t based on board games, but this film actually creates a whole new world that feels lived in, not terribly removed from our own, and unique enough to not feel like every other film in the genre. The monsters of Pacific Rim are not the spindly Lovecraftian horrors of Cloverfield, or even the lumbering suited men of the Godzilla series. Instead, while wild, they do seem to have intelligence. They certainly have a plan and an agenda, which might undercut the terror one might feel, but I think only amplifies their ruthless threat.
Far more importantly, the film is not unrelentingly bleak.
That is to say, it is not totally devoid of bleakness. The film depicts the calamitous turning point in humanity’s fight with kaiju taking place in 2020, which kinda sorta figures. The world careens closer and closer to outright annihilation over the ensuing half a decade. The heroes band together, seal the breach, and win the day. While the world is still devastated from years of unrelenting onslaught, there is the hope that a new day is just around the corner.
But then there’s a sequel, which was bland, inoffensive, and a real let down from the highs displayed here. I’m not sure why Hollywood doesn’t just let del Toro do whatever the hell he wants at any given moment, but that doesn’t feel like it will change any time soon. That should have been the lesson from this film. Not more of the same. More of del Toro.