Pacific Rim Review

Go big or go silent.
Full, spoiler-free review by Isaac Handelman

Guillermo del Toro has proven himself capable of melding creative, over-the-top science fiction/fantasy elements with well-crafted narratives and endearing characters. With Pacific Rim, the director hits the former category with a greater impact than he (and anyone else in recent memory, for that matter) has before. As far as the latter -- well, it doesn’t fare as well. All things considered, though, Pacific Rim delivers exactly what is promised, and that’s all that most viewers will care about.

In the film’s alternate reality universe, gigantic, trans-dimensional abominations, dubbed “kaiju,” have been invading Earth through an underwater rift in the titular Pacific Rim. In order to combat the beasts, humanity constructs hulking super-robots called “jaeger,” each piloted by a team of two elite combatants whose minds are together fused to the steel body of the jaeger. The base narrative of Pacific Rim isn’t anything too special, but it does take a couple of interesting turns along the way and turns out to be a perfectly acceptable outline for the tremendous action on hand.

The only real thing you need to know about the story to understand Pacific Rim is that it’s about giant robots fighting giant monsters. If that doesn’t sound appealing to you, then stop reading now, because nothing I can say will convince you to see Pacific Rim if that basic idea doesn’t sound like something you’d like to see onscreen.

The calm before the storm.

If that concept does strike a chord with you, then odds are Pacific Rim will do little to disappoint you. The gargantuan beasts that threaten Earth’s existence are visual marvels, showcasing Guillermo del Toro’s signature knack for twisted, unique creature design on a scale that the director has never been able to achieve before. The human-created robots are not quite as visually enthralling, but they are animated spectacularly and feel satisfyingly weighty throughout the film’s duration. Each punch they throw has a tangible impact on the target, and each movement of their enormous joints brings with it suitable screeching and shifting of mechanical parts.

When the human characters are onscreen instead of the CGI behemoths, things get decidedly less interesting. Performances are acceptable at their best and gratingly over-the-top at their worst, with the exception of the ever-awesome Idris Elba and his grand, booming voice. The matter isn’t helped by a shaky screenplay that never quite finds a comfortable middle-ground between dire, inspirational speeches, intentionally hammy dialogue and sudden outbursts of ludicrous humor. This problem would be less noticeable if del Toro hadn’t tried to craft a memorable cast of characters in the first place, but he devotes such a large portion of the film’s running time to character development that this gaffe is most definitely a swing-and-a-miss rather than a complete disregard for character development, which actually ends up working against the film.

But when the robots and the monsters start to fight, that issue becomes less and less prevalent. I found myself forgetting about del Toro’s missteps when he stopped focusing on them and instead delivered what all viewers of Pacific Rim undoubtedly desire -- the action. “Action” is truly not a suitable term for what Pacific Rim contains -- it’s more like complete and utter mayhem bigger than anything that has been realized before on the big screen. That’s a mighty large proposition, but after viewing Pacific Rim, I can almost guarantee you’ll agree with me. The huge punch-outs between Jaegers and Kaiju are breathtaking and expertly orchestrated. They never feel choreographed, though. The fights contain a hard-hitting rawness that elevates them even further, leaving me with the shivers during some of the film’s more climactic (read: insane) moments.

Each Kaiju is terrifying and one-of-a-kind.

And thanks to the unrelenting spectacularity of the action, Pacific Rim is a film that truly gets ones’ blood pumping. Its characters may be unappealing to root for, but its robots are incredibly fun to cheer on, rousing a genuine audience response when they emerge victorious, and genuine concern when they face a sticky situation.

With Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro screws up in the character department, but I find myself not caring in the slightest. Whenever a fight scene came around, I had completely forgotten about these issues. The only real complaint I have is that del Toro’s hackneyed attempts at development of the characters leads to less onscreen time for the Jaegers and Kaiju, both of which I wouldn’ve been perfectly happy to watch for a little while longer in Pacific Rim’s reasonable two-hour runtime. But to say that Pacific Rim fulfills the promises it made to those interested is an undeniable truth. If you want to see giant robots fighting giant monsters in truly spectacular fashion, don’t hesitate to go see it now, on the biggest screen possible. If you don’t want to see giant robots fighting giant monsters in truly spectacular fashion, then stop kidding yourself and go see it now, on the biggest screen possible.