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  • Pacific Rim Discussion Thread

    I just watched the movie. I give it either an 8 on 10. I was not going to see it, but then I was swayed by Analee Newitz' review at io9.com, I thought it would be some Godzilla vs Transformers flic. I watched it, it was a lot more like Neon Genesis Evangelion meet Independence Day, which is fine.

    Below: A lot of spoilers.

    What I liked most about the film, and the reason you should all watch it, is that these are simply the best monster fights I've ever seen. I know, I know, we all like plot, character, etc... but we also like monster fights. These are simply the best, even better than the T-rex vs King Kong fight from King Kong. There's a lot of originality to them, a lot of pacing, unexpected turns, and a lot of diversity. The musical score is really good and really matches the fight scenes.

    The plot is relatively original. At its core, we're seeing Neon Genesis Evangelion in plot, though not the same in terms of themes. We do have human robots built as a response to giant alien organic beings, and we have neural networks between human beings and the giant robots, which requires a special skill, and human society commandeers a lot of resources to building these robots. That's where the similarity ends, I think. The themes, and the world building, are less interesting in Pacific Rim, which is acceptable because matching Neongenesis Evangelion is a tall order that should not be demanded.

    What Pacific Rim does right in terms of world building is the gravity of the threat is well-portrayed (I think) -- it's obvious that a lot of resources are commandeered to fighting the invasion. It brings the countries of the world together, and they feel the pinch of all these resources. It's nice to see some of the consequences on display. We hear about the effects of the neural networks on people, and we see that there's a subculture. There are also no obvious plot holes in the movie, the sequences of events seem to move forward in a coherent manner. The threat is legitimate, it's here in a semi-plausible way, the response makes sense, as does how the attacks and counterattacks happen.

    Where it fails is in terms of characterisation. A lot of moments are simply too cliche, and thus pulled me out of the movie. The two scientists are caricatures: we have one biology specialist and one physics specialist. Both are poorly-groomed 5'6" dweebs with poor social skills. Neither of these two characters have any staff to help them out. We see them work things out on a giant blackboard but not on a computer, an appeal to outdated cliches. One of them later accesses the neural network technology without any prior training or assistance -- by stealing it. I have to give the movie props though: A lot of Hollywood films or productions have a single expert for both biology and physics. Here, they recognise the need for two experts, it's a step in the right direction.

    ]All of the military people are in the range of 6'1" - 6'4" except for one female, in spite of the fact that neural networks is a special skill that shouldn't select for being on the high school basketball team. They get into brawls with each other, to let us know they're tough. Every character in this movie is an archetype.

    A huge number of characters have British accents. This is a cheap trick Hollywood uses to make us feel like we are on some great adventure far away -- they use British accents. It doesn't work on me anymore, I just notice the trick, and that Hollywood has a comparable concentration of british accents to the UK.

    When Idris Elba's character is about to go an important mission, he gives "the speech". This is where a large crowd surrounds an alpha male as he gives a monologue about the stakes being high, about how we need heroism, and about how we're going to win. When he's done, people cheer and clap, kind of like after the president speaks in "Independence Day".

    On gender and race, an important issue to me, performance is mediocre. The one female character of note turns into a love interest for the primary male character. She is the only female characters with lines and a name. She is also asian, and she makes stereotypical remarks against creativity and risk-taking to the white, male, American character. At least she has a productive arc ...

    For the one Black character, I'm satisfied. He is put in a position of authority, and respected rather than undermined/humiliated like in other Hollywood films like Contagion. He has a positive, productive, arc.

    All in all:

    10/10 for monster fights, the score, the special effects
    9/10 for world building, plot
    4/10 for characters and dialogue
    Last edited by DA_Champion; 07-14-2013, 05:24 AM.

  • #2
    This new Cineplex SuperTicket I just heard about is a reasonable priced full ticket package. I'll be getting one for Pacific Rim, "Go Big or Go Extinct!"

    http://superticketcineplex.com/pacificrim1

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    • #3
      Has no one else seen this?

      You guys should definitely watch it. It's not the best movie ever, but it is fun.

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      • #4
        I've been to see this!

        Originally posted by DA_Champion
        Has no one else seen this?

        You guys should definitely watch it. It's not the best movie ever, but it is fun.
        I have and plan on going again, been reading a similar discussion thread on the Giant of the Playground site where someone has linked an article about some points I missed about some visual clues to some of the characters.

        Namely involves the Russians and Mako herself.

        Currently reading the novelisation which expands on several points from the movie even as the discussion thread notes how some of their funding committee votes in accordance to how close they are to the breach.

        Made me wonder how this movie would have fared if it had been called Atlantic Rim because of the Mid-Atlantic Rift but this is a giant robots versus giant monsters movie so of course it has to be pacific as I recall all those movie I remember back when I was a kid involving a certain Godzilla...

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        • #5
          This film was a pleasant surprise, much better than I thought it would be.


          *SPOILERS AHEAD*

          Originally posted by DA_Champion
          I thought it would be some Godzilla vs Transformers flic. I watched it, it was a lot more like Neon Genesis Evangelion meet Independence Day, which is fine.
          Or as I like to call it, G.I. Joe meets Independence Day meets Battlefield Earth meets Armageddon meets The Matrix. heh Heck even a bit of Star Trek Into Darkness from this year as well, like when Raleigh talked about his experience of being connected to his brother when he died, and how he never wanted to experience that again -- very similar to when Spock talked about being mind-linked to Pike when Pike died. And in terms of "giant monsters", I remember being reminded of Cloverfield while watching, and also the Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie, especially with the whole "pregnant monster" thing.

          The musical score is really good and really matches the fight scenes.
          Yeah a really great score. And given that pilots were described as being like "rock stars" in the film, you knew they had to step it up in the music department. Great guitar/rock element to the scoring.

          All of the military people are in the range of 6'1" - 6'4" except for one female, in spite of the fact that neural networks is a special skill that shouldn't select for being on the high school basketball team.
          I remember thinking something similar at first, but then I thought it sort of made sense that the people needed to have actual fighting skills in real life to be able to apply them with the robots. And I suppose because "bigger dudes" are more likely to have a fighting background it makes sense that the candidates were comprised of them. Or something.

          When Idris Elba's character is about to go an important mission, he gives "the speech". This is where a large crowd surrounds an alpha male as he gives a monologue about the stakes being high, about how we need heroism, and about how we're going to win. When he's done, people cheer and clap, kind of like after the president speaks in "Independence Day".
          Totally Independence Day for sure. Also a bit of Morpheus and his "We are still here!!!" speech.

          There are also no obvious plot holes in the movie
          One thing I do remember bugging me after the movie (I saw it last weekend) was the ending where Raleigh not only saved the world, but also made sure to save himself too. lol You'd think given the stakes (I mean this was like humanity's last shot at survival here) he would have stayed to the very end to make sure the damn thing blew up. They gave us the whole "timer countdown" thing but who knows, something could've went wrong, or maybe the aliens could've managed to deactivate the threat somehow after he abandoned ship, who knows. A Battlefield Earth style self-sacrifice would've made a lot more sense. But the audience needs its happy ending I guess. And the character needs sequels I suppose.

          The movie should've ended with Optimus Prime waking up from a very long nap and realizing he missed the whole damned war. Then we'd get one of his iconic speeches: "Earth. Birthplace of the human race, a species much like our own. Capable of great compassion... and great violence. And now, with their ability to make their own giant robots, I fear my kind may soon be obsolete... This, I'm afraid, means war." (Pacific Rim 2: Revenge of the Autobots)
          Last edited by Xanderman; 07-26-2013, 02:08 AM.

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          • #6
            I just went to see this yesterday and was very surprised. I knew going in that it would be a great monsters vs. robots action movie. I was pleasantly surprised by the plot and somewhat logic the movie took. The special effect were great and like you all have said, the music fit the scenes perfectly. I thought it did a wonderful job of showing how the world might come together when faced with a threat like that. And I also agree that Raleigh should have sacrificed himself and made sure the explosion went off. But of course everyone needs a happy ending.

            Funny side note: During the battle with the monster in the city, when the monster suddenly sprouted wings and took flight, I turned to my brother and said, "Oh you've gotta be f**cking kidding me" I then started laughing out loud which caused a few ppl to stare at me but I thought it was hilarious .

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            • #7
              Twitter's saying.... biggest box office opening in China's history.

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              • #8
                really awesome review share man. like it and also like the Movie also.

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