Review Pacific Rim film review by solomonster54
Written By solomonster54 on 2013-07-23 23:44:09
5.0
As a big Godzilla/Gamera/Ultraman/kaiju fan, I’ve been eagerly anticipating this movie ever since it was first announced, and let me honestly say, it did not disappoint. Guillermo del Toro, cast, and crew crafted an incredibly entertaining love letter to the giant monster movie genre, yet, it is also an original film with its own identity instead of being another entry in the slew of remakes and sequels Hollywood churns out.
The story is easy to understand, but that is not a criticism, and offers the perfect framework for plenty of eye-popping, heart-pumping giant-robot-versus-giant-monster action. The script and film is perfectly paced, flawlessly transitioning from one scene to the next, never slowing to a crawl or rushing through a plot point too quickly. At no point does the movie take itself too seriously, and it maintains an irresistible sense of fun throughout the entire runtime. And, as expected, watching robots and kaijus duke it out was as cool as it should be.
The cast is amazing also, with Charlie Hunnam perfectly playing a strong hero initially reluctant to rejoin the Jaegar program after the death of his brother. He is definitely on my radar now, and I will be looking forward to more movies from him. Idris Elba impressed as always, faultlessly playing the stoic leader. The real standout was Rinko Kikuchi though, nailing her role as an eager future pilot who wants to unleash her fury on the kaijus, but is also haunted by her terrifying childhood experience. Much like Hunnam, I will be looking forward to Kikuchi’s future films. All the supporting cast members played their parts spot on too, with Charlie Day being funny as usual and Ron Perlman being pitch-perfect as Hannibal Chau, which only strengthened my desire for him and Guillermo del Toro to reunite for a third Hellboy film. Overall, most of the human characters felt very real, each having very distinct personalities, and it was refreshing to see that not all the protagonists got along with one another like in so many generic summer films.
Pacific Rim is pure popcorn, blockbuster entertainment; an exceedingly fun film that excellently delivers exciting action sequences, a good sci-fi story, and enough human interaction to get you invested in the characters and plot. It is definitely worth checking out, and has only made me more excited for Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla movie!