Pacific Rim - by Guillermo del Toro

Before seeing Pacific Rim, I read a review by a buddy of mine (here: http://theboonreview.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/pacific-rimfor-real-this-time.html). His scathing assessment had me dreading the film... but, I had already bought my tickets... so off I went.

I have said before that a bad review can sometimes improve my opinion of that film upon viewing because of low expectations. This is one of those times that IT TOTALLY DID! Well, perhaps... I don't know for certain if his review helped, but I laughed my ass off the whole way through this movie. Throughout, I was reminded of the things he'd pointed out, but I found humour in them, rather than ire.

If you've never seen Starship Troopers and you liked Pacific Rim, please take a look at it. If del Toro has not been influenced in some way by this film I would be very surprised.

Pacific Rim is not as well constructed or as well developed satirically as Starship Troopers. It's messages of "two heads are better than one" and "know your enemy" aren't nearly as intelligent or insightful. But, I still found the ridiculousness of the characters extremely entertaining, given the circumstance they were placed in. Serious characters in these kinds of situations often come off as slightly pathetic and highly unrealistic and too often take action which makes no sense. I think that caricature can sometimes make it easier to forgive the ridiculous and enjoy the journey.

I am also a huge fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion. My sister and I smuggled a small television into our room at boarding school specifically so that we could watch episodes on SBS at 11pm after everyone had gone to bed, such was our devotion when the series was first released in Australia. It's hard to miss the big man made robots fighting big alien beings connection, and the name "Jaeger" (the robots) sounded an awful lot like "Eva" (if you say it with an American accent). It made me hope as I'd never hoped before that a live action recreation of the series has the potential to look awesome.

Here are a few of my favourite bits from Pacific Rim: (SPOILER WARNING)
The ridiculously bad Aussie accents.
Ron Perlman and his shoe.
The destruction of the sports stadium.
The commander and his one liners... and his yelling... and his multicultural family.
The creature and robot effects.
Akihito baby choked by it's own umbilical cord!
Beautiful Aussie father and son scene.
The pick up line.
Scientist vomiting in the blown up toilet on the street.
And, MAKO MORI! Rinko Kikuchi is awesome! I want to watch more of her.

Pretty sure this film fails the Bechdel test miserably, and it probably would have been far more interesting from the point of view of Mako, but I enjoyed myself.

3.5 out of 5 stars

With Love

Surgeon Bug