Peninsular Place



Movie Reviews

July 13, 2013
 

THE CUT | REVIEW: Pacific Rim

More articles by »
Written by: Drew Waller
Tags: ,
pacific-rim-movie-banner-striker-eureka-jaeger-vs-kaiju

FILM: PACIFIC RIM

DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro

TOWERS: 4 / 5

I remember when I was a kid standing in a monstrous line for RETURN OF THE JEDI.  The line wrapped around the corner of the exterior of the building and that anxious feeling of excitement wondering if you could get in wasn’t half as exciting as the feeling I had walking out thinking I saw something that – at that age just gleaning the way “movies are made” that I saw something at the same time formulaic but a formula that worked well.  Epic, expected and satisfying.  That is PACIFIC RIM.  Original and familiar at the same time.  But its that combo that works well for this film and really feels like the first “blockbuster” of the summer that is working to deliver a worthy franchise unto the geeks of the land; I mean that affectionately being one myself.

The world in PACIFIC RIM is a world filled with real-time “kaiju”, or monsters.  Monsters that aren’t staged in a mini recreation of downtown Tokyo like your classic Godzilla film but as real as you can get through your IMAX 3D glasses and ones that don’t care that the building may have families in it, their as disposable as a tissue from a visit to the bathroom.  To save that world as we know it, the countries of the world unit to create larger-than-life “jaegers”, or hunters.  IRON GIANT-styled robot war crafts, operated by two pilots.  These pilots fight the bad guys and win.  Becoming super-human themselves until things change, and they aren’t super anymore from failed attempts to knock down the incoming mosters from an alternate dimension.  The rules don’t apply, but in a story like this, I would expect so.

The good thing is though is that the director and co-screenwriter, GUILLERMO DEL TORO (MAMA, HELLBOY, PAN’S LABRYNTH) DOES know the rules of proper geekdom and operates well within them to deliver the right amount of fanboy laced with film box office expectation.

So much so, one of his mainstays, HELLBOY’s RON PERLMAN, makes one of the most hilarious cameos in recent big screen memory as Hannibal Chao: a profiteer who cultivates all parts of the monsters for “medicinal” purposes.

A touch of dimensional fantasy, asexual love interest (commending the filmmaker for introducing “nothing below the belt between the two main characters), proper mixtures of culture and one BAD-ASS leader in IDRIS ELBA — electrifying the troops and the screen in his quest for triumph, that all the ingredients add up to a mixture fit for leading kids (and the young at heart) into a new era of characters and films to love now and look back to longingly later.

 



About the Author

Drew Waller
Drew Waller




Peninsular Place
 
 

 
purge

The Purge

Film: The Purge Director: James DeMonaco Tower rating: 1 out of 5 There are few things I dislike more than paying to sit in a crowded theater and listen to teenagers gossip, laugh and carry on throughout the entire film (man, I...
by Treasure Groh
 

 
 
THE WAY, WAY BACK

The Way, Way Back

FILM: The Way, Way Back DIRECTOR: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash TOWERS: 5 out of 5 Nostalgia is a damn powerful thing. You never know when it will hit you and what it will do once it has you in its grip. The good news about THE WAY, W...
by Drew Waller
 

 
 
World-War-Z-screenshot-12

World War Z

FILM: WORLD WAR Z DIRECTOR: MARK FORSTER TOWERS: 2.5 out of 5 Everyone loves a good scare, let’s just put that out there. The idea of a global pandemic potentially killing off everyone you love within seconds of exposure, tha...
by Drew Waller
 

 

 
monstersu

Monsters U

[with guest reviewers EVA – age 3 and her mother AMBER] FILM: MONSTERS UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR: DAN SCANLON TOWERS: 4 out of 5 Pixar has created a true art form with the meticulous, gorgeous computer animation for the silver scre...
by Drew Waller
 

 
Peninsular Place
 
movies-man-of-steel-henry-cavill-superman

Man of Steel

FILM: “Man of Steel” DIRECTOR: Zach Snyder TOWERS: 3 out of 5 On the week of June 14th, Superman marked his 75th anniversary — an anniversary worthy of celebrating before a reboot that takes folks back to the ...
by Drew Waller
 

 

 
kings-of-summer

Kings of Summer

FILM: “Kings of Summer” DIRECTOR: Jordan Vogt-Roberts TOWERS: 4 out of 5 “Kings of Summer” makes you walk out of the theater thinking, “Why didn’t I do that when I was a kid?” The “that” being ...
by Drew Waller
 

 
 
this_is_the-end

This Is The End

FILM: THIS IS THE END DIRECTORS: EVAN GOLDBERG / SETH ROGEN TOWERS: 4.5 out of 5 Not to start this review off like a Seinfeld skit but people recently seem to have this odd add-on phrase to their way of summing their conversati...
by Drew Waller
 

 

 
Now-You-See-Me

Now You See Me

FILM: NOW YOU SEE ME DIRECTOR: LOUIS LETERRIER TOWERS: 3.5/5 Slight of hand. Nothing up the sleeve. When you hear the word. We’ve heard them all: the world of magic and illusion as popularized from the gas lamps of Vaudeville...
by Drew Waller
 

 
 
star trek

Star Trek

Film: Star Trek Director: J. J. Abrams Tower rating: 4 out of 5 towers by Jasmine Zweifler and Drew Waller When it was announced earlier this year that J.J. Abrams would not only be the man behind the Star Trek reboot but the n...
by iSPY Team
 

 
 
RateIt.TheCut.Trance

Trance [Review]

                                                Film: Trance Director: Danny Boyle Tower rating: 3 out of 5...
by Paul Kitti