Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro’s tribute to everything that succeeds — and fails — in a classic Godzilla film. It reminded me of my ritualistic television marathons when I repeatedly watched the king of all monsters wreak havoc on — or occasionally protect — his cinematic homeland of Japan during each film’s opening and closing moments. I always retreated for snacks and beverages during the film’s midsection, which encompassed of boring, monster-less sequences in which a bevy of uninspired, uninterested human side characters connected the plot dots. In Rim, there are lofty moments of downtime, but, unfortunately, there are no commercial breaks that allow us to retreat for a sandwich before the mayhem resumes.
In Pacific Rim, del Toro has those lofty human moments that falter into action-movie cliches. There’s the hot-headed pilot, Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy) who disobeys his superior’s (Idris Elba from The Wire, Prometheus) direct orders, which causes dire consequences and forces him to resign. That’s just the pre-title opener.
When a rift in the Pacific Ocean opens a gateway between Earth and an alien dimension, 100-meter-tall creatures, known as the Kaiju, began a worldwide tirade of mass destruction. Earth’s nations begin assembling giant, robot bipeds, the Jaegers, to combat and defeat each beasts as it appears. But, in order to successfully operate a machine of such scale, two operators must form a neural bridge so their individual minds can function as one.
The threat grows more frequent; the monsters begin arriving in pairs and in larger size (each Kaiju is given a numeric category, just like a hurricane. They keep encountering fours!) Naturally, years pass since Raleigh’s incident. Now retired to working as a builder on a giant wall (Possibly an immigration parallel here?) to fend off the aliens foes, he’s re-recruited back by Stacker Pentecost (Elba) for one last, desperate horrah against the growing Kaiju threat. Naturally, there’s a cute girl involved…who has a past.
The human drama between bouts is all riddled with familiar formula. My favorite always remains the final rallying speech: the ones in which a faction’s leader makes one final grandiose morale booster before the final battle ensues. (“The apocalypse is cancelled!”) It didn’t work for me with Indpendence Day, or Return of the King, or Braveheart, or Pirates of the Caribbean Part III or, well, you get the idea. There’s also moments in which our subcharacters have a moment to bolster tears and heart-felt farewells, but there are no establishing precursor moments (which were either cut in the final draft or never conceived). There’s a father-and-son relationship, but I didn’t even realize they were related until the film neared its end — nor did I really care.
But the real reason to see Pacific Rim is the in-you-face monsters-versus-robot battles. The alien threats are treasures for our eyes and ears. The creatures look and feel big. Each villain possesses their own unique del Toro signature. They even illuminate a surreal neon light pattern that helps us distinguish friend from foe during the frenetic brawls. Del Toro avoids the mistakes made by Michael Bay and Zack Snyder: his fights are framed at a pleasant draw distance and the editing is relaxed.
Every blow has a sense of weight and impact to it. Soon, the Kaiju unleash their own staple super powers, which look dazzling and imbue a sense of power. Del Toro even incorporates some brief moments of suspense rather than cater mind-numbing nonsense, such as those hectic moments when the Jaegers lose electric power and remain helpless prey to their beast opponents or when our human protagonists wait and hide while being powerless but to listen for the subtle sounds of pending menace.
Rim contains some of the most dazzling special effects money and technology can afford. The numerous monster/robot duels are bombastic and gleefully enthralling, with both sides taking turns at exchanging blows, dismemberment and demolishing skyscrapers and cruise ships (which is even used as a weapon!). The fights mostly occur on the surface of Pacific Ocean and almost always contains rain, which splashes and ricochets off the smooth metal surfaces and coarse, scaled skins with the utmost realism. It’s only during the film’s final (and unnecessary) 30-minute final stretch that the film falters into chaos and opaque action.
There were moments when I gleefully rejoiced in del Toro’s world. But the film pressed on, even after I felt the tang of satisfaction. The film begins to grow tired as it attempts to tie all loose-ends, which undercuts the sense of awe and severity from the penultimate battle. The final brawl simply doesn’t work as well and the speckled bits of human sacrifice and loss are wasted on us.
Other than Pan’s Labyrinth (a film I’ll forever treasure), del Toro has always displayed more confidence with his monsters — whether they contain multiple eyes, massive claws and jaws, or carry gallons of an unpleasant gooey substance. But he hardly conveys the same level of detail to the emotional side. This would be more tolerable had del Toro settled on a singular premise, but he’s clearly attempting to invest in something that never reaches fruition.
I believe Pacific Rim lends itself to more installments. The idea of having two humans connect into one conscience lends to an idea grander than merely two giant beings fighting. If del Toro and I could form a neural connection, I can imagine I’d see his brain filled with creatures beyond my own comprehension and imagination. The human cast would probably not even turn up. Del Toro would find my mind is swirling with moments of glee and bliss, but ultimate disappointment. He teases some enticing ideas. Example: There’s a beautiful sequence when the humans conduct a Fantastic Voyage excavation inside the carcass of a dead Kaiju in the hopes of finding a preserved brain so they can form a neural bond with it and uncover vital clues. That’s the stuff del Toro excells at! For going big in scale and budget, del Toro got small where it counts the most.
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