Movie Review - Pacific Rim

 Pacific Rim  $$ 1/2    

 

 

PG-13

131 Minutes

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, and Ron Perlman.  

Director: Guillermo del Toro.  

 

            Giant monsters fighting equally super-sized robots. What else could you ask for in a movie? And the good news is that if the above is all that actually you do ask for in a movie—you are in for a treat. 

            In the future, a rift opens up at the bottom of the ocean and belches out a Godzilla like monster that wreaks havoc in San Francisco. Then the same happens in Tokyo. In response to this trans-dimensional invasion humanity develops robots to give battle and protect the cities.

            The problem is that monsters are coming out faster than the humans can build robots. Not only that, but the monsters are getting tougher. With the extinction of humanity on the near horizon, veteran robot-jock Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) has to come back to pilot his old mech and help close the rift.

            First off, I enjoyed the movie. Then again, that shouldn’t be much of a surprise—I enjoy the low-budget Godzilla movies of yesteryear. For everyone else this may fall short of their normal film expectations.

            The acting was reasonable. Even though I didn’t find myself rooting for Raleigh, I did like several of the other characters: Raleigh’s co-pilot for the big mission, Mako (Rinko Kikuchi); the geeky scientists Newton (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman); and most of all  Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) who turned in the best performance of the film.

            Special effects were quite good and makes this a movie you really need to see in on the big screen. If you ignore the silliness of the whole concept I think you might enjoy the behemoth slugfests that abound in the film. And then we come to the story itself. Let me just say that there’s a reason why I gave a movie that I enjoyed so much only two-and-a-half Movie Bucks. The plot is really that humans in robots fight big monsters. Okay, I admit that they attempted to give it some depth with Raleigh and Mako having to face their own personal demons before they can suit up and bash baddies. But I didn’t care about that.

            If you can ignore the plot holes and continuity flaws in the film I think you might enjoy watching it. And even though I gave it a lower rating I suggest you catch it as a matinee.

                        Randy’s Rating System 

$$$$   = Full Price    See this movie right away and pay full price, it’s worth it.

$$$     = Matinee      Catch this as a matinee or other discounted showing.

$$        = Discount     Wait until this movie reaches a discount theater near you.

$          = Rental         Wait until this movie reaches your local video rental outlet.

0          = No Sale       Don’t see this movie at any price.