By Amanda Ack, Film Critic
Pacific Rim is ridiculous.
Giant robots fight monsters from another dimension.
People meld minds through something called a “neural handshake.”
Ron Perlman wears gold teeth and shoes that jingle.
Nothing about this movie makes any sense.
I loved every minute of it.
The movie, a hybrid of action, sci-fi, and old-fashioned monster films, hits all the expected notes yet makes them feel fresh.
I spent most of my time in the theater squealing and pumping my fist like an 8-year-old.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, the film is set several years in the future during a war between mankind and monstrous sea creatures known as Kaiju.
The Kaiju are fought with dual-piloted machines called Jaegers–-titanic robots that make Transformers look like Tinkertoys.
When the Kaiju turn out to be too much for the Jaegers to handle, it’s up to washed-up former pilot “Raleigh Becket” (Charlie Hunnam) and inexperienced trainee “Mako Mori” (Rinko Kikuchi) to man a decades-old robot in a last-ditch effort to stop the apocalypse.
The surprising thing is that for such a mammoth project, Pacific Rim never feels overwhelming.
Where another director might have turned the film into an unintelligible assault on the eyes and ears, del Toro uses a more delicate touch, crafting every shot with such finesse that even the most chaotic action sequences are completely clear.
What’s more, the special effects are impeccable, lending the visuals a shocking degree of believability.
But the film isn’t just a success on a technical level, it’s also a casting tour de force.
Hunnam is the perfect leading man, bringing a roguish charm and a world-weary weight to what could have been a dreadfully generic character.
His chemistry with the lovely Ms. Kikuchi is palpable, and their arc brings a welcome touch of sweetness to the film.
The star of the movie, however, is Idris Elba, who could do nothing but stand there and blink at the camera and would still be the coolest man on the planet.
As commander “Marshall Stacker Pentecost,” he is power personified, oozing authority from every pore while still offering poignant glimpses of the raw emotional core that lies beneath.
The film’s one weakness lies in the comic relief, supplied by Charlie Day and Burn Gorman as a pair of scientists researching the monsters.
Day brings his familiar manic energy to the proceedings, but he doesn’t click too well with the scenery-chewing Gorman, whose wacky character seems to belong in a different movie entirely.
Their scenes together may advance the plot, but they don’t have much in the way of comedic or emotional impact.
Minor flaws aside, Pacific Rim will surely end up on my year-end favorites list.
Is it frivolous? Sure.
Does it try to tug at a few too many heartstrings? Of course it does.
Do I care about either of those things? Not in the slightest.
It’s 131 minutes of pure, unadulterated fun, and I wouldn’t trade it for 100 pieces of Oscar bait.
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