Second Opinion – Pacific Rim (2013)

Pacific Rim, 2013

Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Written by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro.
Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and Ron Perlman.

SYNOPSIS:

When an alien attack threatens the Earth’s existence, giant robots piloted by humans are deployed to fight off the menace.

Guillermo Del Toro’s career is a fascinating one. He’s equally as comfortable making art house critical hits such as Pan’s Labyrinth and Cronos as he is crowd-pleasing summer blockbusters of the likes of Hellboy and Blade 2. His ability to mix exciting action and eye-popping visuals with true heart and wonder, no matter how much money is being thrown up on screen, makes him one of modern cinema’s greats.

Pacific Rim is an even bigger step towards the mainstream than his comic book adaptations, focusing on epic-scale battles between giant robots called Jaegers and giant monster’s called Kaiju (the Japanese word for ‘strange beast’). Despite the substantial budget increase, there’s no doubt the man behind the camera has lovingly crafted yet another tribute to the monster’s he loves and respects so much.

Beginning with a detailed prologue (not as fancy or unique as Hellboy II’s animated opening, but equally as fascinating), covering years of conflict between the Kaiju and the humans, we see the arrival of these gigantic beasts from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the subsequent development of the Jaeger programme to counter the attacks and the ever increasing consequences the war has on mankind. The main story then picks up with our hero and his brother piloting the US built Jaeger, Gipsy Danger, which, unbeknownst to them, will be the last mission against the Kaiju. Or will it…

After the mission goes drastically wrong, it soon becomes clear that with the increasing size and ferocity of the Kaiju, a new strategy is needed and funding for the Jaeger programme is subsequently shut down.  However, as these things must go, the head of the Jaeger programme won’t accept such woolly-headed thinking from the world leaders and proceeds to build a resistance with the last four Jaegers remaining; from Russia, China, Australia and the US. This makes it feel like a World event, rather than another ‘America saves the day again’ type deal, even if the American hero is pure and true while the Chinese and Russians are disposed off fairly quickly and the Australian’s made out to be knuckle-headed morons. At least the English don’t stand around saying “Well it’s about bloody time too”. We’re too busy cancelling apocalypses.

If you’ve seen the trailers, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is another brainless CGI mash-up, with little of the heart or wit that characterises Del Toro’s finest work. Sadly, this isn’t as far off the mark as you might expect if you’re a fan of the Mexican auteur. While there’s certainly more emphasis on the characters and their interactions than Warner Bros. Marketing department would want you to believe, for the most part, this part of the film falls flat.

Most of this is probably down to the generally woeful cast. With the exception of a typically fun performance from Ron Perlman, the rest of the ensemble is simply not up to the task. Leading man Charlie Hunnam is dreadful; his gruff voice and stern factual expressions are more likely to provoke laughter than empathy. And the rest of the cast vary from annoying comic relief (Charlie Day’s and Burn Gorman’s double act almost derails the entire film) to dodgy accent-land (Idris Elba’s Baltimore accent used in The Wire is more convincing than the English one on display here, despite the fact the actor is actually English).

This does mean that when the slower character beats take over the narrative, the film stops dead in its tracks. An unconvincing romance between Raleigh Becket (played by the aforementioned Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (played by Rinko Kikuchi) tries to mix things up, but you get the impression it’s been added in by a focus group, desperate to include something to appeal to a female audience dragged to the cinema by their boyfriends/husbands. The idea that woman don’t enjoy all out action spectacle without the need for a ‘romance’ between the lead characters is the kind of sexist, narrow minded thinking you would expect of Michael Bay, not a typically intelligent Del Toro film.

And while we’re on the subject, let’s address all those Transformers comparisons most people are inevitability going to make. There are giant metal machines in Transformers. There are giant metal machines in Pacific Rim. That is it. It’s like saying Star Wars is the same as 2001: A Space Odyssey because both are set in space. It’s a worthless comparison.

For starters, the rampant misogyny and racism that permeated throughout Transformers is nowhere to be found. Instead, there are ideas of sacrifice, nobility and nations setting aside their differences to fight a common foe. It’s far from subtle, but at least there’s a beating heart attempting to control this unwieldy machine.

Also unlike Transformers, Pacific Rim actually delivers on the action stakes; Del Toro’s camera letting the audience see the action on display. The opening set piece and the two-on-two fight in the streets of Hong Kong are truly wondrous to behold, despite the 3D doing everything in its power to look as ineffective as possible (Del Toro was right, the third dimension is not suitable for this scale of action). There’s a structure and a physicality to the fights, which separates them from the usual mindless drivel, even if you will crave for at least one set piece to be visible in the bright sunshine rather than the Blade Runner-esque neon and pouring rain.

There are also some great concepts at work here. The detail that goes into setting up and explaining how the two pilots control these skyscraper high robots is both a fascinating science fiction device and an honourable attempt to add a human element to the robots vs. monster mayhem. This creates a genuine reason to care when the big monster rips apart the big robot, and the film goes to great lengths to show how this affects the pilots both physically and psychologically.

However, this is the crux of the problem; great ideas and great action are a true blessing amongst the usual summer disappointments, but the lack of proper characterisation or convincing narrative is the film’s undoing. A quick re-write, a tighter edit and a better cast would have done wonders. Alas, Pacific Rim will most likely be praised for what it could be, rather than what it is.

The ending may be one set piece too far, with the overlong running time not helping matters, but there’s a lot of spectacle to enjoy. In terms of what we were promised, great concepts with great action to back them up, Pacific Rim certainly delivers. However, weren’t we all secretly expecting a lot more from the director of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Originally published July 12, 2013. Updated November 29, 2022.