Pacific Rim

2013 • 131 minutes

About this movie

Acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) brings out the big guns in this sci-fi action epic about a ragtag band of humans that band together in the year 2025 to fight legions of monstrous creatures rising from the sea. Using massive piloted robots to combat the alien threat, earth's survivors (including Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day & Rinko Kikuchi) take the fight to the invading alien force lurking in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless enemy, the forces of mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes -- a washed up former pilot and an untested trainee -- who now stand as earth's final hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Ratings and reviews

It's big. It's epic. It's ambitious. It's imaginative. It's "Pacific Rim." In the former, the serious narration by Charlie Hunnam tells us that there are menacing juggernauts called Kaijus ("giant beast" in Japanese) emerging from an alternate portal called "the Breach," and they terrorize the world by creating horrific carnage. Each Kaiju is ghastly in their own ways with lethal hardware and merciless behaviors. This has been happening for years. Now, humans in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps are building giant robots that are built for combat called Jaegers ("hunter" in German) to fight the Kaijus to save the earth. Each Jaeger is controlled by two pilots; sharing a bond and blending their minds involving their personal lives to control the Jaeger. Now, Jaegers and Kaijus are at war. When I hear him narrating about it, I am instantly engrossed in a way that is worrisome, and I am already satisfied with awe and amusement with the first act. It's about teamwork, compassion, and loyalty where two-pilots control the Jaeger to fight the Kaiju to save the human race. Guillermo Del Toro (director/co-producer/co-writer) has a lifelong fascination for monsters as he pays brilliant tribute to the classic "Mecha" and "Kaiju" movie genre, and he created a personality to it that makes this fresh throwback hugely enjoyable. He also injects considerable depth to the characters, to the the themes, and even to the Kaijus in terms of information and history. Visually, it is an eye-popping spectacle with dizzying flare, rip-snorting fights, vivid colors, and awe-inspiring cinematography, from the epic large scale, to the memorable artistic imagery. There is also some clever detail. The cast did a phenomenal job with their performances, not to mention that the characters themselves are so appealing, and they have some surprising character development. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) is a pilot who takes great pride in his work with exuberant confidence, as well as taking his work seriously. Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) is Becket's co-pilot who is haunted by her traumatizing childhood memories. She also has intelligence that serves her well against the Kaijus. The chemistry between the two is utterly agreeable; they share compassion and use teamwork that will never be broken to become good friends. They also have something in common: they both have vigorous fighting skills and they both have lost their families members because of the Kaijus (Becket has lost his brother and Mori has lost her whole family when she was a child), so not only that they are fighting the Kaijus to save the world, but also to avenge the loss of their families, which provides a compelling revenge implication to the narrative. Mori has the brains, while Becket has the brawn. Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) is the commanding officer of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps who can sincerely count on his army to defeat the Kaijus for the greater good and he does it with dialogue that is both resonant and motivating. Just like his army, Marshal has compassion with persuasive delivery, he even raised Mori as his daughter since Mori was a girl. Charlie Day was great as Dr. Newton; a scientist who studies the Kaijus and finds the two brains that belonged to a Kaiju to create a machine for a scientific experiment to research the behaviors and historical biology of the Kaijus. Dr. Newton is also portrayed as a comic relief, and he is an unconventionally amusing nerd. The awesome deigns of the Kaijus makes them look genuinely intimidating. The marvelous music by Ramin Djawadi has made me speechless, because there has never ever been a film score that made me lost for words; It is a full-bodied and bombastic score that is performed by the combination of a 100-piece symphony orchestra, rich electric guitars, synthesizers, thunderous percussion, and a macho male choir. In conclusion: What I adore about "Pacific Rim" is that it pays attention to both style and substance, and it has a lot of fun taking itself seriously. Highly Recommended.

This was a great science fiction movie slash futuristic fantasy, was full of action and another movie lover would appreciate the great cast involved. The next installment of the rim battles looks epic. I sure hope it's as good as it looks. They are really gonna take it to another level. So as far as this film it's really amazing for those who love aliens and giant badass fighting machines. Check it out and leave a comment and maybe a 5 star rating. We all have the ability to influence Hollywood to make more of what we like and less of what we don't. Always let your opinion be known. Hope you like it.

No world building or buildup to introduction to beasts. No chemistry between main characters. Drift compatibility made no sense whatsoever. Mains staring at each other for no apparent dramatic reason. Mechs are able to kill kaiju with simply shooting missiles at them but for some reason they are losing war. Nothing really thrilling or intense in the battles. Just run of the mill machines hitting monsters. Monsters ripping apart machines. Yawn.... All around nothing memorable or worth second viewing.