Monsters versus robots. For any fanboy, that statement alone is worth at least a strong consideration. Fortunately for all the people forced to be dragged along to this film, Pacific Rim does enough character work to fill time between the spectacular robot and monster warfare. Despite its plot holes and untested leads, Pacific Rim emphatically delivers on its battles and alien design. Plus Ron Pearlman shows up in human Hellboy outfits.
The film lets us know that after a portal is opened up under the sea, the Kaiju have come across and started attacking cities on the Pacific Ocean. Enter the Jaegers: mechanical robots piloted by two team members since both need to form a bond with the machine to operate effectively (usually a family combination). After a tragic battle taking his brother’s life, Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) drifts into the background of society to forget his past. He is summoned back to the forefront by Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) his former commander of the Jaeger program who now operates the machines as a resistance movement. Raleigh is assigned a new partner, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), the best student in the program with no real machine experience. The two must overcome their tragic pasts and grow their connection to successfully fight the increasing number of Kaiju coming through the “bridge.”
The highlight of Pacific Rim are the battles between the Jaegers and the Kaiju, and boy are these battles massively entertaining spectacles. The introduction and first battle emphasize the importance of a theater viewing, as the grandeur of the spectacle is impressive. The Battle of Tokyo 2/3 of the way through the film is by far Pacific Rim’s highlight, making fun use of the attacking powers of the Kaiju and Jaegers alike. The one minor misfire is that the final battle takes place in a dark underwater location and does not prove to be as entertaining as the Tokyo battle. That being said, Pacific Rim delivers on the promise of very cool battles of titanic creatures.
There are too many plot holes that keep Pacific Rim from entering rarefied sci-fi air. The scientist subplot makes logic leaps to solve plot issues for the humans in the Jaegers. The battle savvy of the Miko/Raleigh pair grows exponentially after a shaky trial run when the plot needs them to step up. For the most part, Pacific Rim simplifies the plot to keep holes more miniscule, but there are enough questionable justifications to leave the audience scratching their head a little.
The character development and subplots are ok at best and middling/useless at worst. Raleigh and Miko’s haunted past is an easy enough story; Miko’s is more affecting since we get to know here before her story unfolds (and it happens when she’s just a child). The dual scientist subplot about Kaiju-human mental connections is mildly funny but becomes irritating when given too much screen time. Pacific Rim’s characters never quite achieve three dimensions, but effort is given to give them some depth with mostly positive results.
Some of the result of the character development goes to the actors. Charlie Hunnam leaves the Sons of Anarchy to pilot his Jaeger solidly, if unmemorably. Rinko Kikuchi is the heart of Pacific Rim; her confident exterior melts behind anger and fear with good results. Idris Elba gets to give the big speech and does well with it; he gets better as the movie goes on. Charlie Day, Ron Pearlman, and Burn Gorman get some good comic relief, and would be fun to follow in an odd couple sort of way.
Pacific Rim lets director Guillermo Del Toro deliver his love of monster films to the audience and leaves them mostly with a smile on their faces. If the Tokyo battle doesn’t leave you at least a little impressed with how fun a robot vs. monster battle can be, you have a stone cold exterior. One question I do have for Mr. Del Toro though: how much FX do you watch (Charlie Day is in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Charlie Hunnam and Ron Pearlman are in Sons of Anarchy)? Hopefully, Del Toro keeps going back to the FX well: the acting is good and can add something extra to a great special effects film like Pacific Rim.