Review: Pacific Rim

Review 2013 by RD Clark

Title

Pacific Rim

Written by: Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

Starring:

Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman

Rated PG-13
Running time: 131 mins

So there’s a bunch of these big monsters, called Kaijus, see? They’re coming out of a rift in the ocean and attacking coastal cities, see? So, the humans build these giant fighting machines called Jaegers, see? And then the Jaegers and Kaijus duke it out for control of the Earth, see?

This movie isn’t terrible, but it’s not that great, either. The fights are exciting enough and look pretty good, but every time the Jaegers pull out their ace, I kept wondering why they didn’t lead with, say, The Sword, or the pulse rife or the rockets. And in between the battles, we get a bunch of testosterone-overdosed soldiers who should probably be court-martialed for being assholes.

My favorite characters were the pair o’ docs who are trying to parse the origin and intent of the Kaiju; they play off each other well and have more personality than the rest of the cast put together. Ron Perlman gets an honorable mention playing a “parts” dealer, but most of the rest of the cast, especially Idris Elba are only moderately well-used.

I’ll give this a mild recommendation; would probably be fine as a matinee movie. The kids will probably enjoy the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot action. There is one hilarious mid-credits scene that is worth waiting for, nothing after that.

Flytrap rating: 5/10

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