Mankind under assault in latest blockbuster – Pacific Rim
View(s):After the disappointment that ‘Man of Steel’ left us with ‘Pacific Rim’ seems a bit more promising. We’re thrown into a story where mankind is under assault. Aliens have arrived not from outer space but from under the ocean. Kaiju are Godzilla on steroids, massive monsters that appear to desire nothing more than the absolute destruction of human civilisation. When we realise they’re just going to keep coming, we build Jaeger’s – gargantuan fighting machines powerful enough to take down a Kaiju, yet only as powerful as the neural bond that holds their two co-pilots together. Pilots of Jaegers enter the drift together, melding minds to fight as one. (This is the premise for a whole bunch of interesting relationships – some more interesting than others no doubt.)
When Kaiju begins to get smarter, the powers that be, decide to explore their options, but there’s no phasing out the Jaegers and an unlikely pair of pilots must become the last ones standing. An ex-pilot who lost everything (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee with tremendous potential (Rinko Kikuchi) become the underdogs who take the seemingly obsolete ‘analogue’ Gypsy Danger to the frontline. There’s enough packed into this movie to make you wish it were a high budget T.V show instead. We’d like to have followed a few of those little sub-plots down into the dark alleys from where they came or track a character’s history and progress beyond the bounds of the movie.
There’s plenty to love about ‘Pacific Rim’ and though it isn’t exempt from accusations of being corny and over the top, it does work harder for your love than many films in the genre have. You can see the elements of several movies in there – Independence Day and Inception, but also Blade Runner and Alien, tinges of Jurassic Park and the lightest echo of the Matrix. The latter comes from the pleasurable twinge of entering a new, satisfyingly well-made universe. It’s one you wouldn’t mind hanging out in a little longer, if for no other reason than watching a Jaeger and a Kaiju go at each other is poetry in motion, and something we’d be happy to watch a little more of.
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