100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 56: Pacific Rim

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy/ Science Fiction

Runtime: 132 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Diego Klattenhoff, Burn Gorman, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., Brad Williams Henke, Larry Joe Campbell, Joe Pingue, Milton Barnes

Description: As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and a trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.

Review: Gigantic aliens, called Kaiju, have stormed the planet. They come from a big hole in the ocean. Mankind fights back in big robots, called Jaegers, that are controlled by two pilots. But the Kaiju gets stronger and often come out of the ocean. That means they have to close the hole. It’s up to traumatized pilot Raleigh and the unexperiences Mako to save mankind.

“Pacific Rim” has a simple set up. If this movie would have been made by an average director, it would be terrible. But luckily for us there is Guillermo del Toro. The robots and monsters look fantastic and are very detailed. The opening is great and with the introduction of the main characters the story also looks more interesting. Sadly Del Toro didn’t manage to create characters without any clichés. Charlie Hunnam is well cast as Raleigh, but he is a bit dull at times. But he does have chemistry with Rinko Kikuchi. Idris Elba is marshall Stacker Pentecost and impresses. Although, I’m not sure about that cheesy speech he gave.

“Pacific Rim” is an overwhelming action movie, visually spectacular. The love that Guillermo de Toro has for monster movies is clearly present and that makes “Pacific Rim” a joy to watch. I was skeptical, but it was a lot better than I initially thought.

 

Rating: 3,3/ 5