Pacific Rim (2013) Review

PACIFIC RIM (2013) REVIEW
Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Writers: Travis Beacham and Guillermo Del Toro

Producers: Callum Greene, Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, and Thomas Tull

Editors: Peter Amundson and John Gilroy

Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro

Music: Ramin Djawadi

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman

Best Credit: David Fox as "Old Man on Beach"

Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (sci-fi violence, brief language)

Genre: Sci-Fi, Monster Movies, Action

Release Date: July 12, 2013

Intro: I'm going to be honest here. I wanted to see this movie for one reason and one reason only: director Guillermo Del Toro. I loved the Hellboy movies and Pan's Labyrinth has become a favorite of mine. I love his inventiveness as far as monsters is concerned and his movies I've seen have been pretty compelling. Pacific Rim isn't a perfect movie by any stretch, as it's pretty cliché-ridden and the writing is weak, but the movie never fails to entertain. It has interesting visuals, good special effects, plenty of action, and a nice dose of humor and it is a nice homage to classic monster movies.

Plot: One day, a giant monster named a Kaiju rises out of the bottom of the ocean and attacks and destroys San Francisco. After a few other attacks, the humans choose to fight back and create giant robots called Jaegers to take on the Kaiju. When the Kaiju begin getting stronger and more numerous, the Jaegers begin to be less and less useful. Earth's last defense is Hong Kong, where the best pilots out there are recruited to defend the planet from the Kaiju.

Things People May Find “Objectionable”: The biggest thing is violenc. However, most of the violence is between giant monsters and giant robots and not between two people. Still, there's a lot of it and this isn't one I'd recommend showing young kids. Other than that, there's some mild swearing, but nothing much and it isn't pervasive at all, and there's one more f-bomb contained in this review than there is in the movie.

What was Good:

     -Directing: The visuals were all pretty spectacular. Del Toro made a lot of good choices when it came to what colors were used where. Visually, the movie looks great. Also, I love Del Toro's imagination when it comes to dreaming up monsters like the Kaiju. This is seen in other movies of his like the two Hellboy movies and Pan's Labyrinth.

     -Music/Score: I liked the score. It seemed kind of similar to other blockbuster scores I've heard in the recent past, but I still liked it and it added to the movie.

     -Action/Suspense: Plenty of action to go around. It felt to me like I was watching an upscale Godzilla movie. There were giant monsters fighting each other and, as expected, it was pretty exciting.

     -Humor: Though the movie wasn't a comedy by any stretch, it was fairly tongue-in-cheek and there was a good dose of humor throughout. It was a refreshing aspect of the movie. Usually movies like Pacific Rim run into trouble because they take themselves too seriously.

Pretty accurate description of the experience of watching Pacific Rim.

     -Special Effects: Definitely a strong part of the movie and where most of the budget probably went. And it showed. All the monsters looked impressively realistic. Then again, special effects are almost always an essential part of any large-scale production like Pacific Rim.

     -Acting: Decent acting. I think all the lead actors did an adequate job, even though there were no Oscar-winning performances to be found. It was interesting seeing Charlie Day of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia doing a semi-serious role, since he's known for comedy, but he does a good job.
     -Homage to Godzilla Movies: It's pretty clear that Pacific Rim is a love letter to old Godzilla movies. It feels like a Godzilla movie while watching it because the plot structure and action sequences all seemed like the types of things you would find in one. As a classic monster movie fan, I really enjoyed this about the movie.

What Could Have Been Better:
     -Cinematography: Though the movie looked very good, I must critique the cinematography. During a lot of the fight scenes, the cuts were too fast and the camera zoomed in too close and things happened so fast that it sometimes became difficult to figure out what was going on. This is maybe just me being picky, but when there's an action sequence, I like to know what is going on, even if the filmmakers are trying to convey the insanity of the situation. I think comprehension should come before anything else when piecing together an action scene.

     -Story: The story made sense and there were no obvious plot holes, but it really wasn't very strong. It was very cliché-ridden, and it took a lot of predictable turns. It just seemed like a story that's already been told many times before and it didn't seem that special.

     -Script: Really not a great script. The lines were pretty cheesy and cliché. It's pretty obvious that writing isn't the forte of this movie.

See, I'm not the only one who thought it was like a
Godzilla movie.

     -Characters/Emotional Involvement: The characters were pretty flat and weren't the emphasis of the movie. Look, the emphasis of this movie was giant robots and monsters fighting, not good, round characters. Just don't go into this movie expecting a lot of character development because you aren't going to get it.

Worth Noting:

     -Intelligence: This is just a movie where you walk in, shut your mind off, and enjoy. It doesn't require much brainpower to enjoy.
     -Originality: It's an homage to old Godzilla movies, so it was using a lot of the same clichés and scenarios from those, so I can forgive it somewhat. Having said that, the writing is very cliché and nothing new or fresh.

The Verdict: Pacific Rim was definitely a lot of fun and entertaining if nothing else. The writing was really not the best, but the action, visuals, and tribute to classic monster movies make up for it. The movie will not go down in history as one of the greatest ever made and it may end up as a flop for Warner Brothers. Even so, it's damn entertaining and I think worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of Godzilla movies.

Liking my reviews? Like my Facebook page.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Review

PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006)

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Writer: Guillermo Del Toro

Producers: Belén Atienza, Elena Manrique, and Guillermo Del Toro

Editor: Bernat Vilaplana

Music: Javier Navarrete

Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, and Doug Jones

Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes

Rating: R (graphic violence, language)

Genre: Fantasy, War, Drama

Release Date: January 19, 2007 (US theater release)

Before Watching the Movie: Maybe read a quick summary or Wikipedia article on the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s just to get a loose grasp on what was going on at the time, since the war features prominently in the movie. Also, this is movie where the less you know going in, the better.

Intro: This is a movie I have wanted to see for a long time. I am a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's work in seeing both of the Hellboy movies and liking both of them. Then on my IMDb prowling and through some recommendations from people, I heard about this movie. Then a couple years later and earlier this year when a local blockbuster was going out of business, I bought the movie for real cheap, and a few months AFTER that, I got around to watching it. My waiting did not go unrewarded. Pan's Labyrinth, though its  is a brilliant movie in almost every way and is and a masterpiece for Del Toro as it successfully blends brutal war and mind-bending fantasy elements so seamlessly.

Plot: Like I mentioned above, it's best to go into the movie with not a lot of information, so I'll keep this section relatively short. In 1944, during the brutal Spanish Civil War, a young girl name Ofelia (Baquero) and her pregnant mother are being sent to the countryside to live with Ofelia's new stepfather (Lopez), who is a captain in Franco's army. Ofelia is obsessed with fairytales and one day she is led by a fairy into a nearby labyrinth, where a faun tells her she is a long-lost reincarnation of a princess. Ofelia buys into this and the faun gives her a series of tasks for her to prove her royalty in. She has to carry out her tasks while trying to appease her sadistic stepfather and avoid getting tangled in an escalating Spanish Civil War conflict

Things people may find “objectionable”: The main objectionable thing in the movie is the violence. Some of the violence can be pretty brutal, as Del Toro tries to capture the bloodiness of the Spanish Civil War. There are also a couple uses of the F-word, but if you don't speak Spanish and don't read the subtitles, you won't know!

Ratings:

     -Directing/Cinematography: 10/10. Incredible directing. Del Toro is a fantastic director, and it's clear that Pan's Labyrinth is his masterpiece. He spectacularly blends the fantastical and the realistic elements of the movie to the point where they seamlessly coexist.

     -Acting: 10/10. Great performances by the entire cast. Sergi López, in my opinion, gives the best  performance as Ofelia's sadistic stepfather and army captain.

     -Writing: 9/10.

          -Story: 10/10. The key to having a great story is to always keep the audience guessing what is going to happen next. This is exactly what Pan's Labyrinth's story was like. Even towards the end of the movie, it was impossible to predict the ending, or even where Del Toro was going to take the story. The story also had its share of plot twists that were completely unpredictable.

          -Script: 8/10.  Solid script, even after the translation from Spanish to English. I think Del Toro made sure the translation was accurate since he speaks both English and Spanish.

     -Special Effects: 9/10. The movie is a few years old, so the effects are not what they are today. Even so, the effects work amazingly well with the movie.

Normally I'd add a picture from the movie,
but if I did, it might spoil some of the
creepier moments, so instead, here's a cool
alternate poster I found on the internet.

     -Music/Score: 7/10. Since it's been a month and a half since I've seen the movie (I need to get a review out, that's why!), I honestly can't remember the score that much, but what I remember of it was good and fit the movie well.

     -Power/Emotion: 10/10. Since the story was completely unpredictable, as I mentioned above, it was easy to become concerned with the fates of the characters. By the end, you really get to care about the characters and feel really bad when something terrible happens to them.

     -Adrenaline: 9/10. The tension in the movie started out high and only got higher

     -Mind-Bendingness: 9/10. As this is a fantasy movie, there are definitely some mind-bending moments in the movie, and Del Toro masterfully blends them in with the more reality-grounded Spanish Civil War aspect of the movie. The most mind-bending elements are the spectacular and weird creatures Del Toro comes up with. Creating imaginative monsters is definitely a strength for Del Toro.

     -Humor: n/a. The movie is heavy and dark throughout and leaves little room for humor. Still, the movie doesn't suffer one bit from the absence of humor.

     -Final Score: Pan's Labyrinth is a fantastic movie in every way and is easily one of the best I have seen all year. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy movies or just wants to see a great film. If you can stand the violence and the subtitles, watch this movie. You will not be disappointed.

Been enjoying my reviews? Like my page on Facebook.