Pacific Rim (2013) Online

2013 Idris Elba Charlie Hunnam Rinko Kikuchi Guillermo del Toro

Original Title :: Pacific Rim
Genre :: Movie / Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi
Year :: 2013
Directror :: Guillermo del Toro
Cast :: Idris Elba,Charlie Hunnam,Rinko Kikuchi
Writer :: Travis Beacham,Guillermo del Toro
Budget :: $190,000,000
Type :: Movie
Time :: 2h 11min
Rating :: 6.9/10

As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.

Pacific Rim (2013) Online

When monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes - a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) - who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Charlie Hunnam	-	Raleigh Becket
	Diego Klattenhoff	-	Yancy Becket
	Idris Elba	-	Stacker Pentecost
	Rinko Kikuchi	-	Mako Mori
	Charlie Day	-	Dr. Newton Geiszler
	Burn Gorman	-	Herman Gottlieb
	Max Martini	-	Herc Hansen
	Robert Kazinsky	-	Chuck Hansen (as Rob Kazinsky)
	Clifton Collins Jr.	-	Ops Tendo Choi
	Ron Perlman	-	Hannibal Chau
	Brad William Henke	-	Construction Foreman
	Larry Joe Campbell	-	Construction Worker
	Mana Ashida	-	Young Mako
	Santiago Segura	-	Wizened Man
	Joe Pingue	-	Captain Merrit

Approximately a hundred Kaijus and a hundred Jaegers were designed, but only a fraction of them appeared in the film. Every week, the filmmakers held a vote for their favorites.

According to Travis Beacham, in an earlier version of the script Mako and Raleigh spoke two different languages for a majority of the film. After connecting as pilots, they slowly began to understand one another, and before the end they heard each other speaking in their own respective languages. The only remnant of a language barrier is when Raleigh speaks to Mako in Japanese, and she is surprised he knows her home language.

When little Mako is in the alleyway, every object on the set was rigged to the same hydraulic system. Whenever the giant monster was to take a step, everything bounced or shook in unison, including the puddles.

(At around 1 hour, 25 minutes) The inside of the building that Gipsy's fist smashes through was created using miniatures. Many of the components of the office cubicles were made using 3-D printers. The lighting was practical and done to scale. Once the set was ready, a large green mandrel was rammed through it. This was digitally replaced with Gipsy's fist.

"Kaiju" is a Japanese word that literally translates to "strange beast." It is usually used to refer to giant monsters from Japanese science-fiction films, such as Godzilla - Das Original (1954).

Screenwriter Travis Beacham also wrote the graphic novel Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero. Released along with the movie, "Tales from Year Zero" serves as a prologue to the film and is set twelve years before its events.

A life-sized version of the robot cockpit was built on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios in Toronto, Canada. It weighed about twenty tons and stood nearly four stories high. It was built on a gigantic hydraulic gimbal, which would move, shake, vibrate, drop and rock the entire set as if it were actually being piloted. A smaller version was also built with a smaller gimbal, allowing for different movements. The VFX team used some of the Conn-pod footage for reference while animating the robots. The set was also redressed to depict the interior of each robot differently.

Travis Beacham, the screenwriter, got the idea for the movie while walking along the California coastline on a foggy morning. The shape of the pier looked like a creature rising from the water, and he imagined a large robot waiting on the shore to battle it.

The sound for the Kaiju's roars were comprised of layer upon layer of animal roars and growls, which were filtered, sped up, and slowed down to create the roar of alien behemoths. Then, to add emotion and a sense of intelligence, supervising sound editor Scott Martin Gershin and director Guillermo del Toro added samples of their own voices.

Though the giant monsters were always intended to be computer generated, all of their designs were expanded from the notion that they could be "worn as suits," like in traditional kaiju films.

Visual effects supervisor John Knoll and director Guillermo del Toro spent several weeks discussing the physics of the giant characters and went into very specific detail, such as how the air displacement from a Jaeger moving between skyscrapers would shake the building's windows.

In Hungary, trailers for the movie couldn't mention the name of the main robot, Gipsy Danger, because it was offensive to the Roma, a large ethnic group in the country. The name is spoken freely in the Hungarian dubbed version, but it's left in English. It's a reference to a type of airplane engine, not the people in question.

Gipsy Danger is named after the "de Havilland Gipsy" aircraft engine. This was intended as a nostalgic nod to the World War II era, which was a major influence in the design of the robot.

The computer is voiced by Ellen McLain, who also voiced GLaDOS, the A.I. from Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011). This is in fact a cameo by GLaDOS, as Guillermo del Toro was such a fan of the games that he approached the game's developers, Valve, who approved. Del Toro said in an interview for the Toronto Sun, "I wanted very much to have her, because I'm a big Portal fan. But just as a wink. She's not cake-obsessed. She's not out to destroy humanity." He further explained, "Look, there's no A.I. I'd rather have than GlaDOS, but McLain's voice in the movie, due in theaters July 12th, has been modulated a bit to be less similar to the distinctive tone of Portal's unforgettable antagonist. The filter we're using is slightly less GLaDOS. Slightly. The one in the trailer I wanted to be full-on GlaDOS." The GLaDOS voice itself is inspired by the computer in The Thirteenth Floor (1999).

One of the art directors said this is the first time they dressed a set using forklifts and jackhammers. Much of the set is made with real materials, unlike most sets.

This was both director Guillermo del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro's first experience shooting with digital cameras. Navarro bought seven Red Epic cameras specifically for the film and used his own lenses, as he prefers shooting with his own camera equipment over renting it.

Gipsy Danger is painted and detailed to resemble a World War II fighter plane. There is nose art on its chest.

Karloff, one of the kaiju from the opening sequence, is named after Boris Karloff. The nickname was given because the creature's head resembles the dessicated face of Karloff's Die Mumie (1932) character, Imhotep.

In March 2013, YouTube channel "Dumb Drum" created a "sweded" version of Pacific Rim (2013)'s trailer. Less than two weeks later, Guillermo del Toro commented on the video at WonderCon 2013, calling it a "masterpiece" and saying that it inspired him to create the second trailer for the film. He also invited the filmmakers to the Hollywood premiere. When the film was released on home video, Legendary Pictures contacted "Dumb Drum" and asked for their help promoting the release. In October 2013, they released several "sweded" versions of scenes from the movie. These new videos were made fifteen-second intervals for sharing on social media websites.

Ron Perlman kept the shoes he wore on this film. Later on, his wife had them melted down and converted into a pair of heels for herself.

When asked why the pilots yell out to one another despite being telepathically linked, Travis Beacham said that doing so helps them stay focused.

The Jaegers are a staple of Japanese anime, where they are often called mecha. Similar to many mecha anime series, Jaegers are controlled from within by human pilots, distinguishing them from other depictions of robots as automated, sentient, or externally controlled.

The film takes place in 2013, 2020, and 2025.

Max Martini is 14 years older than Robert Kazinsky, who plays his son.

This was the first Guillermo del Toro film to feature Ron Perlman as a human character, since Cronos (1993).

Guillermo del Toro did not shoot the film with 3D in mind and was initially opposed to the idea of converting it into the format when the studio suggested it. He agreed only on four conditions - that the scale of the kaiju and jaegers be maintained in 3D without overemphasizing the effect and miniaturizing them, that the conversion be given a generous 40-week schedule to ensure its quality, that the CGI elements were rendered natively in stereo 3D, and that he be allowed to supervise the conversion process.

Guillermo del Toro drew inspiration from paintings, including Francisco Goya's "The Colossus" and Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa."

Striker Eureka, the white Australian Jaeger was initially chosen to be the "Hero Jaeger" of the film, but Guillermo Del Toro thought it's appearance was "too cold" and "arrogant".

The character of Mako Mori is much younger than Stacker "Marshall" Pentecost, although in real life, Rinko Kikuchi is only eight years younger than Idris Elba.

The set was built as a non-destroyed Hong Kong, then destroyed and redressed to play as a different area, post-monster battle. The Hong Kong set was used as four different streets and sets, with the placement and dressing of elements changed each time.

The title screen does not appear until seventeen minutes into the film.

"Jaeger" is the German word for hunter.

(At around 55 minutes) A prominent street sign in Hong Kong identifies the intersection of "Tull Street" and "Fong Street." Thomas Tull is the president of Legendary Pictures (which financed the film), and Henry Fong is one of the film's concept artists.

In the weeks before the film's release, several popular YouTube channels collaborated with the filmmakers to produce a short video titled "Pacific Rim: Training Day." The short even features a brief cameo by director Guillermo del Toro. The collaborating channels included Jesse Cox, Press Heart to Continue, Total Biscuit, Husky Starcraft, Game Grumps, Crabcat Industries, and The Game Station.

Ron Perlman and Charlie Hunnam have also shared the screen in Sons of Anarchy (2008) and Frankie Go Boom (2012).

The movie is dedicated to the memory of "monster masters" Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animator for movies like Sindbads siebente Reise (1958), and Ishirô Honda, director of Godzilla - Das Original (1954) and many other kaiju features. Honda was born on May 7, 1911. Harryhausen died on May 7, 2013.

Director Guillermo del Toro was inspired by the anime and tokusatsu of his youth. He specifically cited Tetsujin nijûhachi-go (1963) as a major influence. Despite this, he wanted to avoid referencing other works of fiction in the design of the robots and monsters.

Stellan Skarsgård was considered for the role of Herc Hansen.

Tom Cruise was considered for the Idris Elba role.

This film was sent to movie theaters under the name "Still Seas."

(At around 1 hour, 25 minutes) When the Gipsy Danger is fighting the second Kaiju in Hong Kong, it punches through a building and sets off a set of Newton's Balls or Newton's Cradle. The scientist that the Kaiju was chasing is named Dr. Newton Geizler.

The small badge on Stacker Pentecost's dress uniform is the U.S. Army's Air Assault Badge.

Otachi's tail was originally a feature of a completely different kaiju, dubbed "Meathead," which was cut from the film.

Ron Perlman's character, Hannibal Chau, could be named after James Hong's character, Hannibal Chew, in Blade Runner (1982), as Guillermo del Toro has named the film as a huge inspiration for him as a director.

Even though the filmmakers stated repeatedly that they did not want to reference any other mecha or kaiju works, they have admitted to accidentally doing so. For example, "jaeger" is also the name of one of the mech designs from the FASA mechcommander universe of the Inner Sphere faction. Also, the scene with Otachi searching for Dr. Newton Geizler is very reminiscent of the film Frankenstein - Zweikampf der Giganten (1966), during which a giant monster looks for a main human character who is hiding underground.

The aircraft carrier transporting the Kaiju carcass is the United States Navy's USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). The hull number, 74, is visible on the flight deck's island.

Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Aaron Paul, Luke Bracey, and Henry Cavill were considered for the role of Raleigh Becket.

The screenplay had forty pages of suit work, and Legacy constructed thirty-four suits for the movie.

Several countries created their own Jaegars, including: The USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Russia, Singapore, India, The Philippines, Denmark, The United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, Jamaica, Mexico, Spain, Peru, Argentina, and Chile.

In the beginning before facing the Kaiju Knifehead, Gipsy Danger performs its "neural handshake" and then afterwards slowly puts her hands together like she's praying (with elbows out), except her left hand is closed and her right hand is covering it. This is a centuries-old greeting/salutation in martial arts between peers and combatants and was a sign of mutual respect (Specifically Chinese styles such as Wushu, Shaolin, and Wing Chun utilized this salutation) The closed fist represents the preparation to fight and the act of covering the fist is similar to keeping a sword sheathed until combat. This act is also a sign of discipline and restraint (from abusing its power), demonstrating it is no threat and has peaceful intentions without provocation.

Director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Travis Beacham went through fifteen drafts of the script.

Two actors who were considered for this movie happened to be in similar movies ("military personnel versus alien invasion" theme) around the same time: Taylor Kitsch (considered for Raleigh) in Battleship (2012) and Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow - Live. Die. Repeat (2014).

Neil Cross, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan did some uncredited rewrites of the screenplay.

Drew Pearce did an uncredited re-write of the script.

Names Aleksis and Sasha Kaidanovsky look to be allusion for the name of Russian actor Alexandr Kaydanovskiy (Stalker in Andrei Tarkovsky's movie). Sasha in Russian is a small name for Alexander.

A sequel called Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) was announced in 2017 and will be released five years after this film.

Doctors Herman Gottlieb and Newton Geiszler share names with mathematicians Sir Isaac Newton and David Gottlieb.

Cherno Alpha is named for Chernobyl, the small town in the Ukraine -- then the Soviet Union -- where a reactor at the nuclear power facility experienced a meltdown. Cherno's head resembles a tall cooling tower.

Guillermo del Toro: [casting] friend Santiago Segura in the cast.

When Mako falls into her memory of being attacked as a little girl, the transition from the cockpit of the Jaeger to the Japanese street was all done on set.

The one minute explosion countdown actually takes one minute to set off in the movie.

User reviews

Blackstalker

While watching this movie, I was reminded of a couple of films and TV shows from my youth, first was any of the original Godzilla films, the second, a TV show Ultra Man. The FX were way better here, but, it just made me think of them. I found the film entertaining, no Oscar winner, but, it was good. Some parts kept you on the edge of your seat, of course, rooting for the good guys.

I also had to think that mankind would have or could have thought of a better defense/offense weapon than giant robots. To bring a fight into the city would have cost trillions of dollars, perhaps Quadrillions of dollars. Okay, I'm reading way to much into it. Watch the movie, you will enjoy it.

Keth

To all the reviewers who gave this movie low ratings, I can only say this; What did you expect to see? Did you watch this expecting to see something deep and meaningful? The trailers and posters make it perfectly clear what kind of movie this is going to be. Heavy CGI, regular Hollywood 'save the planet' storyline re-run. Young eye candy super hot actors. You know the score. If you want to see something clever, this is not it and it was never going to be.

Question is, does it do the job it sets out to do? I think it does rather well, yeah OK, it's cheesy as hell and you know how it's going to end before it starts, ( the world will be saved right? ) considering it's being told in retrospect the clue to the inevitable ending is there in the first 10 seconds of the movie.

I liked the mind meld idea of the 2 pilots, and I thought they covered most bases explaining the technology behind the enormous robots (Jaegers) pretty well. It does have a few technical plot holes here and there, but the film does have a 'let's just get on with it' kind of feel. The alien creatures (Kaiju) are great and the robot v monster battles are superb. Towards the end the pace picks right up and the story starts to fall apart a bit, but by that point who cares? In general Pacific Rim is a fast paced, slick looking piece of techno-action that most Sci-Fi fans will enjoy. It's big, loud, dumb and very pretty, largely due to Guillermo Del Toro being at the helm.

It's Sunday afternoon on the sofa material I think. I know these kind of films are 'designed' for the big screen, but honestly I prefer them at home most of the time. Unless of course, you like feeling as though you are sitting the middle of a continuous explosion for and hour and half.

Trash

This film starts of with a monologue that explains in twenty seconds how big monsters start appearing from the sea and destroying everything. The only defence against them is to kick their heads in with massive robots. Cool! Starting so quickly out the blocks I expected this to be a fast paced action movie.

It really isn't. About every film element ever used, runs its course before the inevitable big battle. You get a fall from grace, a rivalry, a training period, a love story, forgiveness, reconciliation, etc. etc.

The battle sequences are epic, the monsters and robots are amazing, Kids especially will love them, and the action goes on and on.

The dialogue is cheesier and hammier than a 60 foot pizza monsters, and coupled with the extended scope of this film can make watching it gruelling if you are not instantly gripped.

This will keep any kids gripped for hours (nearly three of them) but if sci-fi isn't your thing get comfy and bring a pillow.

Kanek

Lately movies that claim to be monsters and action have proved a complete failure, and, to be honest I thought this was not going to be the exception.

Any change to see a real action movie with almost unstoppable battles monsters, and a dose of special effects so amazing you just leave you with your mouth open.

Of course, not everything is good, but entertaining plot is somewhat similar to that of other films: The hero gets a big pain that leaves the battle, then when the world needs the triumphant return finds the love of his life between the two due to the bad, the nearly died, and finally live happily ever after (like a soap opera).

We must clarify that thanks to special effects, battles, and good performances, the plot is not uncomfortable. I really think it's worth watching.

Kulafyn

Unlike some, I had no problem with the high concept of the piece: Transformers vs Godzilla. It had a lot of potential. And when the movie concentrates on what we are all here to see (giant creatures and robots beating on each others with oil tankers and smashing through skyscrapers) it is very successful. But when things get quiet... less so. Too much time spent on "Top Gun" like fighter pilot shenanigans. Not enough nuance in the characterizations. An ultra linear plot with few attempts to confound expectations. The acting isn't bad - and isn't required to be great in this sort of film - but it is nothing special either. Sort of universally "meh". Good for a Blu Ray rental.

Malalrajas

"Pacific Rim" is going to be a hit with fanboys all over the planet. It's the type of movie that they feel obligated to love because of what it's about and who made it. In this case we have a movie about alien dinosaurs (Kaijus) fighting giant robots (Jaegers) directed by Guillermo del Toro (filmmaker who most Comi-Con attendees think can do no wrong). Sounds like it should work on every level doesn't it? Yeah, well it doesn't!

Alien monsters named Kaijus come up through a rift in the Pacific Ocean (Get it, "PACIFIC Rim"). Giant robots steered by military officers are used to battle these ferocious extraterrestrials. Our military must join forces with the world's most annoying scientists to find a way to seal off the portal between our world and the dimension they come from.

Let's start out my review on a positive note. The CGI in "Pacific Rim" looks great. The aliens and robots blend very well with all their surroundings.

And that's the only thing I can come up with positive about "Pacific Rim." As a whole, the movie is absolutely unbearable to sit through. It escapes me how sequences of robots and aliens fighting each other could be so uninspiring that I literally dozed off at points.

The design of the Kaijus are completely unoriginal and nothing we haven't seen before in a dozen other sci-fi movies. The Jaegers are basically souped-up giant robots that resemble what we've seen in "Power Rangers" dressed in "Halo" armor. Booooring.

Now we move into character development. The entire middle of the movie is one big, long, drawn-out attempt at developing characters we will feel emotionally tied to. I completely understand the writer's motivation for doing this.

The problem is that every character in "Pacific Rim" is so annoying you actually want them to die or exit the screen as quickly as possible. Add to this the fact that not a single one of the actors seem to give a crap about their stereotypical role in the film and you have a serious problem. In a nutshell, the acting is absolutely horrid.

"Pacific Rim" is a tired conglomeration of clichés we've already seen in way better movies in the past. There are so many recycled ideas mashed up in it that you could almost put them down on a call sheet as bullet points. Character who lost his brother in a past battle and retired? Check. He's being called back into duty by his old military leader? Check. Military leader gets a chance to be the hero and sacrifice himself in one last battle? Check. Military leader gets to give long rousing inspirational speech just like the one the President gives in "Independence Day?" Check. They're all here for your predictable enjoyment.

Let's just call "Pacific Rim" what it really is. It's Guillermo del Toro's failed attempt at making what he wished was his essential "Ultraman vs. Godzilla" homage. As I was running out of words to use in place of "unoriginal," I came across several synonyms that describe this movie to a tee: dull, unoriginal, corny, heavy-handed, humdrum, ordinary, phoned in, stale, uncreative, unexciting, unimaginative, unimpressive, uninspiring, uninteresting, and uninventive.

I'm giving parents a warning in closing. There's no way any child under the age of 12 will sit through "Pacific Rim." Absolutely nothing exciting happens for 45 minutes in the middle, at which time they will get uncontrollably antsy and beg you to leave. This won't bother you because you'll be ready to run out of the theater screaming by then anyway.

Yadon

I went into the theater expecting to see a cartoon for adults and that is exactly what I paid for.

Guillermo Del Toro is an extremely talented director, producer and above all an extraordinary artist. Pan's Labyrinth gave justice to his talents and "The Strain trilogy" exemplifies his talents as a creator and innovator of interesting mind-grabbing stories/plots.

However, Pacific Rim was a horrible movie not only because it lacked substance (a clear plot, climax, resolution), but because it proved to audiences everywhere that Hollywood no longer requires decent actors and plot-lines to create a blockbuster movie.

The only intricacies and attention to detail that could be found in this movie was in the CG design of the so called Jaegers (Robots). Yet, the movie served to ignore the basic human sense of sight when most of the movie took place in a dark setting. It was a metaphor of how the movie itself was a black hole of cash and talent with all the darkness sucking and robbing people of their investments and experiences.

An episode of Beast Wars that I watched as a young child had more substance and gave more satisfaction to its audience than this movie. Pacific Rim is a destruction to the art of cinematography in that its business model lies in providing the awe-factor, shocking the audience into believing the movie is great with bling. Expensive jewelry doesn't make a woman more beautiful, it just proves that she has the money to afford it, and that is exactly what Pacific Rim accomplished.

The movie is just a failure of epic proportions and the fact that it rates a 7.9 on IMDb just proves that we, the collective audience, have just stopped caring. Movies no longer provide us with mind-blowing catharsis, they are now just a means of blowing off steam.

Black_Hawk_Down.

If you are not in a coma or if you are over the age of 8 don't go see this movie. It is terrible. On the other hand, if you are under the age of 8 I think you will like it! In short, this is a movie for kids, not for adults.

So what is wrong with it? Everything.

1. Acting is terrible.

Mostly poor acting. The relationships in the movie are hard to relate to. The characters are impossible to relate to. Actually, the acting of the two scientists is so bad it makes the others seem not so bad after all.

2. Most details of the plot are terrible.

Giant monsters come through the ocean floor from another dimension and kill millions of people. That seems like something that could be a fun science fiction action movie. But, how did they get there? How do they survive the pressure and heat? How do their skeletons handle the enormous weight of their bodies when they come out of the water? Well, apparently they did and they do all of that. Let's just accept it.

How do the smartest men on earth decide to defend against these monsters? By building giant robots called Jaegers that punch them. However, the monsters have skin and horns that are tougher than steel so nothing much happens when they are punched. So when you build your robot you make sure it's steel has the appropriate strength, right? Wrong. Let's make them really fragile so the hull can easily be breached. Yes!!

It turns out (somewhere in the later parts of the movie) that the monsters can be cut in half with knives and killed with fire. Wouldn't it then be a good idea to kill something like this with something that actually works, like an appropriately sized bomb instead? No, let's punch them with these fragile robots. Yes!!

During the debriefing after a fight, let's use the knowledge we have gained during the fight to prepare for the next fight. Wrong! Let's not learn anything. Yes!!

When the monsters are attacked by airplanes and helicopters they fly so close that the monsters can punch them. Who, with just the tiniest amount of survival instinct, would fly a plane like that?

Most of the fighting takes place in the ocean. Since the hulls of the robots are so easily breached let's protect the pilots with at least some sort of oxygen mask! Wrong! Let's not do that!! Let them instead drown. Yes!!

Some fighting takes place under water where vision is extremely poor. So let's equip the robots with state of the art systems to detect monsters, so pilots aren't surprised by monsters sneaking up on them. Wrong! Let them use their own eyes. The result is they don't see much and are constantly surprised by attacks they were unaware of. Yes!!

Since fighting can be tiring for the pilots, shouldn't we try to make the way they control the robots as effortless as possible? Wrong! Let's put them in heavy suits of metal and attach them to giant mechanical constructions. Yes!!

Why are the pilots inside the robots to begin with? Because wireless data transmission doesn't work in the future, right? Well it turns out it does work. But let's try and make a system where if the robot is destroyed the pilots are killed. Yes!!

Robots are controlled partially with the mind by something called "drifting". One person using all of his brain for drifting would put too much strain on him. This is just the way the robot "drifting" system works. Let's not rebuild that system. Let's instead rebuild the entire robot so that we need two pilots in each. Yes!!

To pilot a robot it seems you need to use "drifting". However, nowhere in the movie do you see any pilot controlling anything through the mind. But let's keep it because it is cool. Yes!!

Since we are equipping the robots with a few weapons shouldn't we try to make the launch mechanism fast? Wrong! Let's make sure there is enough time for the monsters to rip the weapons from the robot before it fires. Yes!!

Let's lift these 2000 tonne robots with 8 helicopters. Because 5 tonnes of lifting force x 8 helicopters = 2000 tonnes of lifting force and that will work, right? Yes!!

When fighting in a city let's walk over a few hundred cars and through a few buildings because that is a really funny thing to do and hopefully there are no people there anyway. Yes!!

Sometimes when they need to talk or reflect on life or whatever the monsters will wait for them to finish before they attack again. On the other hand, how else could the actors finish what they have to say? Yes!!

In the very beginning of the movie, the leaders of the world have realized how ineffective the robots are. So they instead decide to build walls to protect cities from the monsters. Because monsters can't climb, right? And people only live in cities, right? The construction is based on extensive analysis of the monsters bone and muscle structure to make sure the walls are strong enough, right? Wrong!

CGI effects in this movie are realistic and cool. The visual effects are extremely well done. However, since the plot and the story and some of the acting is so poor it really makes you wonder. If there are all these talented people doing CGI effects, why were there no other talented people involved in making this movie?

To summarize. Mankind is portrayed as extremely stupid. Good CGI effects. Poor directing. Poor acting. Poor story-line. Avoid.

Anardred

This is the worst movie I have seen in a long time. Sure it has crazy creatures battling it out in the oceans which is just fine with me but so many elements just let the movie down. It could have been so much more.

Why did the drivers of the Jaegers need to actually be in the Jaeger at all? and why are the controls linked to massive mechanical devices, surely this would be electronic. And the head is fired onto the Jaeger via some massively complicated lift type procedure? Yet they can clearly just get out the head when needed?

It took 8 days of tanks and planes to take down a Kaiji but one shot into the eye from an auzi clearly causes it some distress? ONE SHOT?

The oceans are about 4 stories deep, which seems to change or the size of the Jaegers adjusts during the movie.

What's with every bit of steel needing to be rusty except for Ron Perlman's shoes? and massive bulkhead doors being used for the living compartments.

The acting, sooooo bad.

Let's send the helicopters to go and pick-up the two survivors, but lets send 20 helicopters, that makes much more sense, especially since this is a military program that has been shut down so ready access to dozens of helicopters becomes easier.

They can build Jaegers with some sort of amazing sword device that comes out of nowhere but forget to tell the drivers?

Charlie and the professor, just random cast choices there!

It's set in the future, some things are hi-tech others are retro rusty junk, it doesn't make any sense.

There's just so much more. How this movie gets a 7.8 is beyond me. Don't waste you life and avoid at all costs.

Thabel

We all carry a great sense of wonder. It seems to hide away as we get older, but was always strong and persistent when we were children. We could sit down and really make something out of nothing physical, or tip our toy-box all over the floor and just go mad. Pacific Rim is Guillermo Del Toro at his most unleashed. He's been given the toys for his sandpit and has gone completely bonkers, but he has also created a sense of wonder from completely nothing.

The plot is simple. Kaiju (monsters) from another dimension break through to ours and wage war on the planet and us humans must do what we can to stop them. So we build giant machines called Jaegers. General audiences are doing the worst thing by comparing this to Transformers or Battleship simply because of some simple image traits. Well I'm here to tell you that you're way off and also working comparisons in the wrong league. Del Toro has crafted an insane amalgamation of Sci-Fi, old-school thrills, special effects and brilliantly entertaining set pieces that all meld together in beautiful harmony, with just enough satisfying human moments and arcs that carry a nice balance of emotion and camp. It all blends well with the loopiness of it all. Its Guillermo Del Toro's trademarks turned up to 11, all while going nuts and having fun with his toys.

There's just so much to love, that not even some minor pacing problems or a couple of sub-par performances can destroy the experience. Mainly its in the lesser background characters, but for me I'd say that Charlie Hunnam doesn't quite shine in the lead. He's certainly more than commendable, but he just doesn't break out here. Idris Elba steals the spotlight with a look and a bellowed delivery and its amusing to watch and Rinko Kikuchi has such an incredible skill with her mannerism and in her eyes, that's its a shock that she isn't in more films. Ron Perlman comes and goes and works his usual incredible moments.

Pacific Rim is triumphant above the rest of the blockbuster herd. It knows what is missing from the norm and just goes crazy with it. Its a big, giant load of awesome fun. Prepare your jaw muscles, because you'll be smiling throughout.

(Hint: Stay a couple of minutes into the end credits for an awesome additional scene)

Brannylv

Within the opening 15 or so minutes Charlie Hunnam's voice-over establishes the reality of a future where monsters (the Kaiju) repeatedly invade earth, to stem this humans have created giant robots (Jaegers) to combat them in increasingly badass iterations. This opening does a great job in conveying the scope of a film which is big, not just regular big, but like, Jason Biggs in 1999 bigg. entering the cinema from a world where these events rarely occur is initially a lot to throw at the audience, but it's handled so effectively and without tongue in cheek that it quickly becomes a world I had a blast experiencing. Maybe it was the incredible effects shots of robot related destruction used as a throwaway shots, but what I think really sold the opening sequence and the film as a whole is the enthusiasm Del Toro clearly has for the story he's telling.

The cast is essentially a rogues gallery of TV's better dramas playing variations on roles they've nailed in the past (see: Elba, Hunnam and Klattenhoff) and some inspired casting of It's Always Sunny's Charlie Day who, as should be expected provides some effective comedic relief. Added onto this the score comes courtesy of Ramin Djawadi who's masterful use of themes on Game of Thrones is carried over to this film for some great emotional cues and many a rad motif courtesy of Tom Morello on guitar.

It's appropriate Del Toro has a Frankenstein adaptation lined up as a follow up project as Pacific Rim can at times can feel stitched together from all the sources of inspiration the film has. This comes from many areas such as Japanese manga, the personalities of the actors from previous films and the imagery of robots destroying buildings which transformers ran into the ground. But Del Toro succeeds time and time again at allowing these disparate elements to fit together believably by way of some very confident filmmaking. I could easily take issue with the oft hammy dialogue and macho relationships but where the film succeeds in other areas and revels in creativity trumps the dissatisfaction one could take from these scenes. I also found Hunnams character a tad lacking in charisma and internal conflict but whatever, it's not the end of the world. Oh wait, yes it is hahahaha

The films successes go beyond its imagery and continued invention within battle scenes as the script is very economical when it comes to pacing. The films battle scenes are so engaging and exciting due to clearly established stakes present which left me devoid of the "action fatigue" transformers loves to throw my way. And although the Kaiju battles seem to never be in short supply, the film essentially follows the rule of three when it comes to battle sequences and left me oh so satisfied.

In conclusion, I give it points for being one of the funner summer blockbusters in recent memory, for being an original property and for its sheer tenacity to exist which all amount to what is just a darn good time at the movies.

Prorahun

For the first time in many, many years with this movie I was taken away from the problems in my life and went to a place where those things didn't register anymore. It was almost magical. I had to keep reminding myself about the bad things in real life, but then a new robot vs monster battle happened and all the sudden that didn't matter any more. Total escapism done with excellent design attention and detail. Thank you GDT. You have to be an artist and a science fiction geek to appreciate this. I came out of the movie and realized all my problems were still there but I was also hearing the theme music in my head. Got the DVD now and I escape that way. Channel your inner six year old, lean back and enjoy.

Dominator

First I will say this. Guillermo Del Toro is one of my top 5 movie directors. I own Blade 2, Hellboy 1 and 2, Pans Labyrinth, The orphanage and so on. I was really looking forward to this movie for over a year and was wishing it would deliver but all it did was fail. EPICALLY. The score I gave were for visuals. Whoever says this movie is great they are the reason movies keep getting made. I left the movie theater angry. This has to be the worst movie written and edited of all time. How would anyone release this $200 million dollar cluster fudge.

Writing is the key to success. The plot of the movie is that a crack opens that port's monsters from another dimension to our world. So its one crack. So answer this why didn't they try to nuke the thing from the beginning to see if it fails before creating the jaegars and finding out at the end that nuking it will fail. Then after creating the Jaegars which were like 30 of them. Why not have them on standby near the stupid crack. The reason being its proved that only one appears at a time. They track them as they appear. Correct. Imagine how much repair they will save if all 30 ganged this one Kaiju as he was entering our world. Why the hell would you split up the Jaegars around the world if its only one crack. Even if they decide to send 10 kaijus they will still fail. But now they decide to do this strategy when only 4 Jaegers are left.

Next when driving the Jaegers why is there a spinning blade grinder under these guys? What happens if the accidentally fall in? Wait that actually almost happened. Bad design don't you think. Next we have the guy mind meld with a kaiju brain. Now why would they do this. Oh because once the 2 kaijus defeat the 3 Jaegars in less than a minute of movie time they need a diversion for one of the kaijus to leave. Why didn't both Kaijus leave after the scientist guy? So that Dipsey Stranger can intervene and take them out separately. Then something stupid happens. The Gorilla kaiju that's left over doesn't destroy the last non functioning Jaegar. He just walks around it and punches it in the head. Then these 2 guys get out and blind him with a flare. Seriously.

Now we get to the kaijus defeat. Why is the Kaiju pregnant? Its proved that they are all clones. WHY? Thats easy to fix the plot hole in the scientist guy to mind meld with the baby kaiju who has no recollection of whats going on in the other dimension. WTF. Really? The thing is in an egg and it has memories. Its like saying that if a woman is pregnant and the baby is delivered I can mind meld with it and it can show me where he came from heaven or HELL. "Because this is what this movie is".

Finally the part that I screamed at in the Theater. If you read this you know it was me. What was the purpose of having a stick fight training scene if the damn robots cannot use weapons? I didn't see them us any hand-held weapons in which this would benefit them. Oh wait the sword at the end against the flying Kaiju. This is where I screamed, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME". They had this weapon the whole time and never used it. WHY? Oh that's right. If they used it in the beginning the brother wouldn't die and the other brother would not meet the Japanese girl in which they wind up have a interracial love interest. THAT DOESN'T WORK. USE THE SWORD. Then later on create kaijus that are smarter in disabling this technique.

OK forget the sword. how about this. How many times did the jaegers had these kaijus by the neck and never once bothered to crush it with the robotic power? I lost count. As for the flying sucker hell my hands were free. Why not crush its neck with my bare robotic hands.

Then the movie finally ends just like independence day with the stupid alien looking at the Jaeger exploding this movie.

Gir

Warning- DO NOT under any circumstances, pay any extra money for this movie. Not 7 dollars, not 3 dollars, not 1 dollar. But if it is free on demand, then you can pay for it. This movie is an absolute waste of good film stock that the producers made in order to "make their nut".

There is no plot, no character development, no story and no rhyme or reason to it. The character which the black actor, Ilba plays, commander or the flight squadron, comes across as a handicapped idiot. The main 2 characters,Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori, appear to be in high school the way they relate to each other. I wouldn't even think this movie would be good for a fourth grader to watch. After all most fourth graders liked Star Wars, a movie which this film is far, far below. Maybe a first grader could watch this movie and take some benefit out of it.

Anarahuginn

As far as summer blockbusters go, 'Pacific Rim' has probably the most unabashedly uncomplicated premise - giant robots versus giant monsters. How much you enjoy Guillermo del Toro's robot-monster smackdown ultimately depends on whether you expect the movie to be any more than that. If you did, then you're probably going to walk away disappointed at how simplistic this apocalyptic spectacle will turn out to be; but if you're satisfied simply with watching huge-ass monsters and robots go up against each other, then you will enjoy every bit of this epic (and yes we do mean it literally).

Indeed, the draw of del Toro's monster of a movie has always been to witness the monumental series of battles between massive lizard-like monsters (referred to in the movie by the Japanese word 'Kaiju' as a tribute to the science fiction films from the country which featured such giant beasts, e.g. Godzilla) and 25-story high robots (known as Jaegers, or 'hunters' in German) operated by humans. And in this regard, let us assure you that nothing in your expectation will prepare you for what del Toro has managed to accomplish on screen - not even comparing it to a 'Godzilla' meets 'Transformers' movie does it any justice.

Let's start with the basics. First and foremost, the action is shot cleanly, meaning none of them shaky-cams nor extreme close-ups that diminish the scale on which it is unfolding. It is also coherent - thanks to some impressive work from del Toro regular Guillermo Navarro as cinematographer and John Gilroy and Peter Amundson as editors - rather than just a mashup of scenes that don't flow well into one another. We'll add one more before we start gushing - it is also beautifully choreographed, with just the right mix of medium and wide shots to place you right into the heart of the action.

If that description above seems too clinical, then how about this - these setpieces are superb; in fact, they are worthy of every superlative that you can think of. Working on a gargantuan scale, del Toro executes the action with magnificence, whether the fleeting shots of the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge at the beginning or the more detailed sequences in the middle and at the end - in particular, a simply jaw-dropping one begins at sea just off the waters of Hong Kong and then continues seamlessly inland where both the port and the very city centre gets decimated by two Jaegers battling two Category 4 Kaijus.

It isn't just about how colossal it gets; it is also the sheer mesmerising quality of the images, starting from the amazing level of detail of the Jaegers and the Kaijus. Even though it seems to be raining a little too conveniently every time one of these battles happens out at sea, there's no denying just how real and majestic each of them feels. On the other hand, the cityscapes are arresting in their neon hues, and the combination of the futuristic look with which del Toro paints these familiar cities with the bioluminescent appendages and venom of the Kaijus make for a particularly appealing visual palette.

Now that we've finished with the savoury bits, it is only fair that we get to the (ahem) less than wieldy parts, which is in actual fact just about everything else we have yet to talk about. At first, the science- fiction mythology sounds rather intriguing - instead of coming from the skies, the threat to our planet came from a rift deep within the Pacific Ocean, a portal through which the Kaijus emerged and necessitated an equally massive response in the form of the Jaegers. Ditto the functioning of the Jaegers, which given their size, have to be operated by two pilots who sync up their minds via the neural handshake, otherwise known as the "drift".

But del Toro and his fellow screenwriter Travis Beacham (who is also credited with this original story) uses these elements too mechanically. The rift is no more than an excuse for an underwater climax where the Jaegers aim to close the portal from which the Kaijus emerged, a resolution not quite different from that in 'The Avengers'. More significantly, the melding of minds isn't quite exploited for enough dramatic possibility, particularly given its significance in enabling our two lead pilots, Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) to bond so seamlessly with each other.

Equally clunky is the characterisation, which has as much poignancy as a piece of metal. Raleigh's scarred Jaeger pilot, still reeling at first from the death of his brother Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff), heals too quickly for us to make much of an emotional connection. Mori's own traumatic near-death experience as a child that continues to haunt her also rings hollow and is equally quickly forgotten. Idris Elba plays his Jaeger commander Stacker Pentecost in suitably macho fashion, but is largely one-note and engineered simply to deliver the rallying cries at suitable intervals - like the oft-heard "Today, we are cancelling the apocalypse" in the trailers.

No thanks to the plotting and character issues, the pacing of the movie sags considerably after a prolonged prologue establishing the necessary backstory of the robots-versus-monsters war and Raleigh's own past. It only picks up at the halfway mark when the deep-sea monsters finally clash again with their mechanical counterparts, which will either be stimulating enough (if you're an adolescent fanboy) to make you wet your pants or leave you numb. Our opinion? It is del Toro's most ambitious, most imaginative and probably most groundbreaking movie ever, but we wish there were more of the warmth and character that have defined some of his best work.

Qusicam

A movie that could have been great if not for the obvious flaws that drag it down. Let me break it down by sections:

Story, Screenplay & Dialogues: A very promising premise that promises much more than if actually offers on screen. A razor straight story line that does not deviate from the obvious and every scene follows a predictable path. Offers no surprises, thrills, twists or turns. A scrappy screenplay only serves to drag the pace, especially in action sequences...where you are itching for the mega fights only to be let down. The director tries Chris Nolan / Inception'esque trip down memory lanes, only to falter without generating any emotion from the audience. Absolutely horrendous dialogue. Completely uninspiring. Scenes where a single look should have conveyed the emotion powerfully has been diluted with meaningless words. More worse as the viewer can even predict what is going to be said!

Action & Animation: Very good, but could have been much much better. More slo-mo sequences wherein you can have a classic view of the behemoths colliding are missing trying to generate pace, but does not reach its mark. Most sequences happen in night/underwater adding to a jumbled rumble feel.

Characters: Tame and insipid. lack of character development leaves the viewers emotionally detached and not able to 'connect' with any of the characters. Notable exceptions are Elba and Pellman. Both the lead characters are eminently forgettable and do not make a impact. Director should have watched Independence day or MiB to understand the importance of character development. A leaf out of Real Steel would have lifted this to greatness.

Overall: Still a good movie. Watchable once with minimal repeat value. The Jaegers are awesome and just for that I rate this 7/10.

Fearlesssinger

I just watched Pacific Rim on the first day/time slot of premiere in 3D. Yes, I am a geek. But that is not the whole point. If you had the excitement of watching anime movies of robots vs monsters in childhood, this is perfect movie for you. The Kaiju monsters design reminds me of Godzilla's villain monsters combined with Cloverfield monster, xenomorph (Aliens), and TRON. As for the Jeager robots, I'll let you to decide whether they are good or very good. :)

To watch this movie I needed to change my mindset to be like a 10 ten year old robot geek child, like 29 years ago. Because if not, you will feel a lot of question marks and disappointment through this movie. The story is quite predictable. The plot and pace are simple enough for children to understand. And the nerd and geek professor appearances are a bit annoying for me. But hey, that what is all about: to celebrate the childhood memory of robots vs monsters.

Overall, the movie is great for robot vs monsters anime fans. It's not even close to that horrible Michael Bay's Transformers.

Thozius

KABLAM, A 10/10 Pretty much one of the best movies out this year.

I'm sorry, but anybody who didn't enjoy this movie because of its shamelessly cheesy storyline and acting is a gigantic tool-bag and that's all there is to it. I have absolutely no clue WHY people were expecting the next God Father, or Citizen Kane from a movie where giant monsters show up and the first thing the military does is build EQUALLY GIANT ROBOTS to punch them in the face. Cut that out, folks. Don't go into the movie WANTING to hate it. Give it a chance and enjoy the colorful and zany adventure.

JACKSON BROWNE OUT

Dogrel

Guillermo Del Toro's epic homage to the Japanese 'Kaiĵu' movies, produced on a bigger budget than all such giant monster movies of the last fifty years combined. Del Toro obviously has a great love and respect for the genre, resulting in a very catchy action flick, undoubtedly the best American counterpart to its Japanese predecessors. One might almost say Hollywood has redeemed itself for the 1998 version of Godzilla, but such a statement had better be held back for another year, until the next American reboot of Godzilla hits theatres in 2014. In the meantime, Pacific Rim works well as an appetizer to the big G's resurrection. An extra-dimensional rift opens on the bottom of the Pacific and huge beasts come pouring out, wreaking havoc on mankind as they lay waste to cities and obliterate our armed forces. Humanity quickly sets aside its internal differences and joins forces in creating big robots to fight the creatures on their own terms. Piloted by a pair of human Avatars, these so-called 'Jaëgers' effectively combat the beasts, but the life of a Jaëger pilot as Del Toro reveals is filled with personal loss. When the monsters emerge ever more rapidly from the Breach, as it is named, Jaëger command develops an intricate and dangerous plan to halt the Kaiĵu threat once and for all. Del Toro briefly explores the history of the first Kaiĵu assaults and the development of their robotic antagonists and afterwards spends more time getting us invested in the human characters than is usual for this type of film. It does make the movie feel like its dragging its feet for a while, until he unleashes the action the audience craves with a vengeance, resulting in over an hour of nigh endless monster bashing. Unfortunately he cannot help but inserting a few characters that are supposed to deliver some much needed comic relief to make sure we don't take it all too seriously, but sadly these characters – stereotypical geeky scientists as ever we've seen them – are so mind-boggingly annoying (Charlie Day particularly) they make you wish for a Kaiĵu to step on them to end their endless whining. Del Toro's talents are better suited in delving deeper into a world where Kaiĵus are not only a threat to world peace but also big business: toy companies produce action figures of them, creepy cults worship them and in Hong Kong, a 'Bone Town' is established, a black market for Kaiĵu products for shady purposes, similar to the disgusting existing South-East Asian trade in animal parts. Run by Ron Perlman (always a joy when paired with Del Toro), some of the funniest, wittiest and anatomically most unsettling scenes take place here. Though the dealings and the history of the Jaëgers are fleshed out to the fullest, their enormous alien adversaries, ever the most important ingredient in a Kaiĵu film, do remain somewhat underexposed by comparison. Unfortunately their motivations – they're really foot soldiers out to cause as much damage to mankind as possible, in order to pave the way for an invasion from their (smaller) intelligent overlords – remind us of the recent Shyamalan flop After Earth, a movie we'd rather forget entirely. Usually, Kaiĵu are more antiheroes than full-out villains, but Del Toro opts to keep them a simple threat to be wiped out instead of imbuing them with a more sympathetic character like their forebears Gojira, Gorgo and Rodan, who were always the victim of human (nuclear) folly, transforming them into avenging gods to remind us of our place in the world. The movie is dedicated to Ray Harryhausen and Ishiro Honda, two people who only too well understood the need to layer their creatures and make them charm you so you feel more for them, but in this instance, Del Toro decided not to go with such wisdom. As a result, Pacific Rim at best is a highly likable action flick, but not necessarily an apt lesson for western audiences into the true nature of the Kaiĵu genre. Then again, there's only so much you can do with the notion of giant robots bashing giant monsters. Let's say Guillermo gets as much out of that premise as we could hope for.

Funny duck

Let's be honest, lately we've seen so much ridiculously horrible alien invaders movies that even Independence Day is like a golden classic now. Battle L.A., Battleship, last Transformers movie (was it the 9th? 11th? I forgot!), District 9 (yes, it was horrible too) etc..

So when I've heard about Pacific Rim I thought "oh no, not another one" and ignored it. Then, I saw the ratings and some reviews here on IMDb. OK another confession now, IMDb also let me down lately because people were voting like they've never seen a good movie or good script. Go look at Dark Knight Rising's IMDb rating, for God's sake! (my right eye began to twitch involuntary when I thought of Dark Knight Rising again.. aaarrrgghh)

But then one day destiny did the job for me, here I was having nothing to do with spare time and an imax cinema with Pacific Rim. I looked at other movies, Wolverine - check, I've already been to, good movie. Red 2, check - it was great fun. World War Z, unfortunately check, waste of time. Pacific Rim? OK, why not? After 2,5 hours the lights were on again and I was sitting with a big grin on my face apologizing from everyone who worked for this movie.

This is really amazing folks. This is old skool fun! This is really better than last 5 years' alien invasion movies all together! This just popped out from 80's with 2010's technology. Do not miss it! And try to catch it on imax 3D! You'll never regret it!

Jake

"Pacific Rim" is a highly explosive, exhilarating, exuberant, energetic, and exciting hell of a ride. When I saw the trailers, I knew the action sequences would be massive in scale, but the film just blew me away because the scale was just incredibly enormous. Every action sequence in this film was just mind-blowing.

Unlike "Transformers", this movie has a real sensible plot. Giant monsters (known as Kaijus) are the extraterrestrial beings that are currently ravaging Earth. However, they don't come from above the atmosphere, instead they come from beneath us. A portal in the bottom of the ocean serves as the method of transport these Kaijus use to reach us. These Kaijus are arriving one by one, and as they do, they increase in size. They're so massive in size (I reckon they're bigger than Godzilla) and the amount of destruction they cause is just indescribable.

But the humans don't stand around doing nothing. They build their own monsters, gigantic robots known as Jaegars, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked by a neural bridge. This allows them to synchronize their movements. However, despite these mighty Jaegers, the seemingly bright future for the humans turn dim as they begin to lose the war against the Kaijus. All of this was clearly covered in the prologue, quickly but properly.

Now that seems like a basic plot, but I can tell you that there's actually more than that and the story is deeper than it looks from the outside. "Pacific Rim" provides sensible explanations for the phenomenons that occurred in the film. Now I'm not a genius or a scientist, but the explanation is logical.

The characters. Our protagonist is Raleigh Becket. He's had a bad time after his partner and older brother Yancy died in a battle against a Kaiju before. But he's recruited by Marshal Stacker Pentecost to pilot one of the four remaining Jaegers. His new partner is Mako Mori, a Japanese girl who wants to be a pilot to avenge the death of her family. Becket's and Mori's Jaeger is the American-made Gypsy Heart.

The cast behind the characters were great too. Charlie Hunnam was terrific as Raleigh. Idris Elba gave a commanding performance as Stacker. Rinko Kikuchi rocked as Mako Mori. The chemistry between Hunnam and Kikuchi was excellent too. But I have to give special credit to Ron Perlman (who previously played in del Toro's "Hellboy" films) as the black marketeer Hannibal Chau who makes a living by dealing with Kaiju organs. He has style and charisma. I also loved Burn Gorman and Charlie Day as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb and Dr. Newton Geizler, respectively. Their chemistry was absolutely perfect and these two were just amazing.

The visual effects were undoubtedly incredible. Everything was mind-blowing and the gigantic scale of the action sequences allows you to be fully immersed into the scene. And the sets were extremely magnificent and glorious. I did not feel any sense of boredom when I was watching this film. Even the drama scenes were enjoyable too. The scenes where explanations were uncovered were exciting too and the music is a prominent part of this.

Guillermo del Toro also did a great job in his directing because I gradually became supportive of the Jaegers and every time they fought, I rooted for them to win. I became immersed into the movie. Every time a Jaeger was in trouble, I was rooting for them to get back up and fight back again. I wanted them to smash the Kaijus to pieces.

"Pacific Rim" is just simply awesome. Now, it may not be for everyone, but if you love action, giant monsters, and giant robots, you'll definitely love this. Or if you're just trying to have some fun, watch this. It's got both brains and brawn.

Rating: 9/10

Final Verdict: "Pacific Rim" is an amazing and explosive ride that is plenty of fun to watch, accompanied with dazzling visuals and a coherent plot.

ChallengeMine

This movie is one of the best I have seen in a long time. Everything I can think of is incredible in this movie. From the incredible CGI effects to even the awesome soundtrack this movie does no wrong. The only negative thing about the movie is the length, but with the amount of information and depth they put into the movie, one is amazed by how short the movie is compared to what it could be. Not once did I look at my watch and think "When will this be over?", like I do with most movies over 2 hours long. The fight scenes are very well done in this movie. You expect a fight scene between a 250 foot robot and a 300 foot monster to be cheesy and in your face but they aren't. All of the technology is explained very well and the camera angles are ones that allow you to see everything going on. I highly recommend that everyone on this site go see this movie now. Between the incredible visuals and the intense soundtrack you will almost be wishing this plot was real so you can hop in a Jaeger and kick some Kaiju ass.

Haal

Robots hit monsters. Am I meant to care? Guillermo del Toro's latest project involves humans controlling enormous robots and beating up Godzilla style monsters emerging from the ocean. It's very satisfying that this didn't actually do that well in America, because this is just total formula. We don't need movies like this. We've seen it all before. This action garbage has silver linings here and there. Visually, it's interesting and has plenty of awesome imagery. It's got a strong colour palette. Del Toro's direction is merely acceptable, but there is a sense of wonder in the movie, and the CGI genuinely looks great. In terms of style and visuals, the movie is quite strong and not everything can be deep and meaningful. Many will enjoy this, especially if they see it on a big screen. Pacific Rim frequently feels like a loving tribute to its genre and for some it will be a dream come true. At least it's a bit lighter and less serious than some other blockbusters these days. For some this could be a good antidote to Man Of Steel.

I saw this on the small screen so maybe I'm biased. The thing which lets PR down is that it's not just robots hitting monsters. There is an hour between the first and second big robot battles and the film has the cheek to try and emotionally engage us with these pathetic, one dimensional characters. Seriously? The film may look great, but it's so cartoony and flat (While pretending it isn't flat by shoving loads of meaningless backstory down our throats) it's could have been some awful 2 hour cartoon on CBBC. The acting is pretty bad and even Idris Elba isn't that good. The movie just isn't original and since it's actually pretty boring much of the time (I don't care about what happened to the female protagonist when she was a kid!). Del Toro, who also made Pan's Labyrinth, another very overpraised film, is clearly popular because he's a bit different. Difference in modern films is a great things but there's only so long I can look at creatures, dark fantasy and loads of boring weirdness before I give up and watch Godzilla instead.

4/10

Raniconne

When we looked up, we should have looked down, would have been a better tag line for this movie.

It's basically monsters versus robots, Del Toros's Power Rangers if you would, and that is the fundamental plot of the film, and unfortunately, it has very little to offer, other than wonderful effects.

It plays very much like a video game, the monsters get bigger and more difficult to destroy, whilst in-between these fights, we are 'treated' to cut scenes of the people in the machine, having problems and trying to get on with each other.

And this is the big problem with the film, lack of character development. Hunnam (?spelling), is the tortured soul who is lured back into action by Elba, who has never been more wooden than this.

Add an angry Jock, his dad, a love interest with a paternal connection to Elba, two comedy scientists, Ron Perlman in his obligatory cameo, and a bulldog, you get a very dull movie.

The creatures are awe-inspiring to begin with, but they soon become tiresome, just like the Transformers did.

It's easily Del Toro's lowest point, and one of the biggest disappointments of 2013.

When you see it, you will understand why it tanked, for a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters from the sea, it's bloomin' boring.

See Robot Jox instead, at least it's funny.

Pumpit

I don't know what other movie people saw, but I for one I'm not impressed by some special effects anymore . Got to see this movie with some friends and based on the reviews I saw on this website we thought it would be fun .

The movie started OKs first 20 min they build it up nice , then could have skipped the next hour, utterly pointless , the story predictable, full of cliché lines and just a waste of time, and I don't know what was wrong with the girl playing the "love interest" but when she was attempting to cry or give some longing look i started laughing and when they tried to make a funny scene you could see it miles away and i wanted to cry how awful the script was. And Charlie, I like him in SoA but he didn't have to go to that much trouble to play Jax in this movie as well .

Well the action scenes we're OK I suppose if your into big things.. and even those had their "genius" moments like the sword and its "analogical" ...moment , granted If the intention was to ridicule and make me laugh at the absurdity of its logic then it did its job.

By the time this movie was nearing the end , I was at least hoping the director of the movie could have the decency to just kill them off, instead i got to see Jax fondling that annoying 14 year old (yea ... i know the actress is like 30+ but that doesn't change the fact that in the movie she looks and acts like 14-15).

In conclusion if this what entertains people in this day , then by all means, let the monsters loose , at least we get a good show ...

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