Pacific Rim Review

Last night I wasn't feeling too great. A bit of a sore throat, extremely tired and the realization that my 10 days off of work was soon to come to an end on Monday morning. I kept thinking about waking up to the sound of an alarm again. Putting on those uncomfortable clothes again. Getting stuck in traffic again. Sitting at a desk listening to the same company controlled pop hits and the rhythmic tapping of keyboards again.

Bummer. I needed a distraction. I needed to watch something fun and entertaining, something big and exciting. I needed something awesome.

"Today. Today...at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other."

This was literally my tenth viewing of Pacific Rim. That isn't just a randomly number chosen from thin air, like when people say "I have seen that, like, ten times.". No, this was ten glorious viewings of one of my favorite examples of what defines the summer blockbuster for me. Guillermo del Toro pours his obvious passion for the material into an epic battle between Jaeger and Kaiju and the first time I saw it I was overwhelmed by his vision on a gigantic screen. It doesn't lose any steam at home though, as it blasts through my living room and pulses a rejuvenated sense of enthusiasm into me.

"Today there is not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door and bring the fight to them!"

Sure, the monsters and the robots and the effects are fantastic and fun, but the true joy I feel from this picture lies with the underrated and under-appreciated screenplay that perfectly melds new and inventive science fiction concepts with a delicious layer of necessary cheese. I admire the way the character of Mako is handled, a strong female role that isn't reduced to sexy outfits and needing a man to swoop in to save her helpless self. Her relationship with Raleigh is also handled with maturity and class, as they share a sort of physical attraction yet their bond is far deeper than that. There is no forced sex scene or even a lame closing kiss. They clearly love each other but it feels platonic in the end, like their minds were meant to meet in the drift and save the damn world.

"Today, we are cancelling the apocalypse!"

Hell yes we are, Stacker Pentecost. Speaking of which, Stacker Pentecost? Gipsy Danger? Herc Hansen? Hannibal Chau? 

Awesome names. Awesome damn film.

5/5