Would-be Hobbit director Guillermo Del Toro has been tinkering with his Pacific Rim robots for quite some time and fans have been getting impatient. Now he has served up his big bots for their big screen pleasure.
As the voiceover tells us (a little too hurriedly) in the opening minutes, Planet Earth has been under attack from some big-arse sea dinosaurs. They’re more mutant Godzilla-like creatures really, aliens in fact, who have invaded earth via a portal from the planet’s core.
Keeping up so far?
Idris Elba (The Wire) is robot big boss stacker Pentecost, charged with building these massive robots - called jaegers - and use them to defend the coastlines from the gargantuan aliens. He must find and train the pilots, two per jaeger, who must merge their brain power to drive them.
Still with me?
Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) is Raleigh Becket, one such soldier, nursing the grief of losing his brother and fellow pilot, and who is called upon once more for one final assault to try and save all mankind.
I loved the whole look of Pacific Rim, it has a dark almost dreary aesthetic which adds to the feeling that civilization as we know it is indeed doomed. And the robots felt real (unlike Transformers), like they could totally exist in an army hanger down the road.
But it was the been-there-done-that feel to the story which really let me down, and the frequently dire dialogue.
I do love Idris Elba, but his climactic rousing-the-troops speech “today, we’re cancelling the apocalypse” - are the accountants about to try and save the world?
The big bot versus big creature fight scenes though? They’ll certainly keep boys - and some girls - of all ages happy enough. They just weren’t enough for me.
Two-and-half-stars.
Pacific Rim
:: Director: Guillermo del Toro
:: Starring: Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Ron Perlman, Clifton Collins Jr
:: Running Time: 131 mins
:: Rating: M - Violence
:: Release Date: July 11, 2013
:: Trailer: Watch here
source: newshub archive
