Giant monsters, Kaijus, from another dimension invade the earth. The Kaiju come through a portal in a trench in the Pacific Rim. Humanity creates giant robot mechs, Jaegers, to combat the Kaiju.
Plot:
(There will be major spoilers– be warned)
At first the Jaeger program was extremely successful. The pilots were intense celebrities. Society embraced them and believe them to be invisible. Society treated the Kaiju as a joke after the Jaegers dominated them for a time.
Jaegers (Yeah- gers) are two man (or three man) piloted colossal mechanical weapon systems. They are essential giant manned robotic exoskeletons. The pilots have to link their minds (neural handshake) to run the Jaegers. This places the other person inside of their mind and they operate as one inside the Jaegers. The closer the person is to each other the easier and stronger the process.
We see our first Jaeger versus Kaiju action in the Pacific Rim of Alaska. The Jaeger is Gipsy Danger. It is manned by brothers Raleigh and Yancy Becket. The Kaiju is codenamed Knifehead.
Gipsy Danger intercepts Knifehead out in the Ocean in an attempt to save a boat and prevent Knifehead from hitting the land. They were ordered to hold off Knifehead from coast and not to engage until he got closer. It was not unusual for the Becket brothers to disobey orders.
The Gipsy Danger appears to make easy work of Knifehead. They celebrate their victory but it is short lived. Knifehead resurges and rips apart Gipsy Danger including ripping pilot Yancy completely out of control panel. His brother, Raleigh, survived and was able finish off Knifehead (with only one pilot). He limped Gipsy Danger to land.
Five years later, the war is going very poorly. The Kaijus are coming through the portals much faster and more often. The Kaiju are regularly larger and stronger than previous ones, according to their Category (larger the category– the bigger and stronger the Kaiju). They are destroying Jaegers at such a rapid rate that they can’t keep up production. The program is shut down in favor of creating a protective wall around the Pacific Rim.
The Wall around Australia is destroyed in an hour by a Category 4 Kaiju. This occurred shortly after their Jaeger, Striker Eureka, is decommished. But luckily for the citizens of Sydney, Striker Eureka came to their rescue anyway.
Raleigh is working manual labor on the wall in Alaska. He is having trouble dealing with his brother’s death. It was intensified by Raleigh still being connect to Yancy when Yancy was killed.
Stacker Pentecost, head of the Jaeger program, has the 4 remaining Jaegers moved to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. He recruits Raleigh and convinces him to join back up because Raleigh can either die on the wall or in a Jaeger.
The Jaeger program has lost their U.N. backing and funding. They had to make deals with other countries and underground Kaiju parts dealers (from dead Kaiju). They have a plan to seal the portal but can they close it before the Kaiju destroy humanity?
What I liked: (More Spoilers)
What is not like about a movie with giant monsters and giant robots battling for humanity? The giant Jaeger robots were KOOLer than the Transformers robots. Each Jaeger is unique and you can see the different levels with each Mark (new level of technology in creating the Jaegers). They appear to be fully functional and something science could really build.
The Kaijus are mammoth monsters with beautiful digital effects but has a feel of the old Kaijus with men in suits. Each brings a different power set and special abilities. The design is AWESOME.
The special effects are gorgeous and flawless. I never got the feel of too much green screen that some action and sci fi movies convey. Many of the scenes are dark and in the rain but don’t look too dark and dim.
The story was strong and drove the action. It is not a typical mindless action sci fi movie. The plot is not perfect nor original but well written and a ton of fun.
This movie had the feel of a traditional Kaiju movie. One of the scenes has Mako standing in the rain with an umbrella is a typical type of clip from a Kaiju movie.
I love the role of the two scientists, Newton and Hermann. Newton, who looks a lot like J.J. Abrams, is a Biologist, who has been studying Kaiju remains. Hermann (Burn Gorman –of Torchwood fame) is a mathematician studying the portal and the frequency is it now opening. These two are friends that continually bicker and try to prove their superiority to each other.
My favorite character is Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman). He is the black market dealer in Kaiju remains. People are willing to pay huge amounts for various ground parts of Kaijus. His character is a jerk but he adds a lightheartedness and a fun character. There is just something wonderful about Perlman on the big screen.
What I not Like:
There is not enough scenes with the various Jaegers. We only see 4 of the Jaegers in battle. One of the KOOLest ones, Crimson Typhoon– a three armed and three manned Jaeger, is destroyed quickly into its battle with Otachi. I would have loved to see more action with the various types of Jaegers.
Pacific Rim did a great job of developing characters but often at the expense of being slow in moments of the movie. There is a pay off with well motivated character. It would have been nice to have had more action in the middle of the movie while we are building those important characters.
Review:
I was worried this movie would not live up the my lofty expectations. It surpassed my presumption to my pleasure. This movie was a fantastic summer action movie. It would have been easy to make a corny or action driven movie with Kaijus and Jaegers but this movie was so much more. I cared about the characters and felt like I knew why each character made their choices. Pacific Rim is simply a fantastic Geeky KOOL film and my favorite movie of the year.
By the way, there is a wonderful scene after the credits begin. Don’t leave the theater until you have seen it.
Stay Geeky my Friends!
My Grade: A-
Other Reviews
IMDB: 8.0
Rotten Tomatoes/Critics: 72% Fresh
Rotten Tomatoes/Audience: 88% Fresh
