Film Friday: Pacific Rim Review

When brains collide it doesn't mean love.

Mild Spoilers. 

After seeing Pacific Rim my first reaction was that this film is the perfect children’s scifi film. Before you get offended, and tell me that Guillermo del Toro was trying to make a film for anime and monster loving adults, listen to my reasons. 

There was an article that claimed Pacific Rim is for the current generation, as Jurassic Park was for mine/ours. I found this to be completely true. The power of nature, the follies of human technology, and the will of humans to survive, these three traits describe both of these films. None of the three traits are characteristics found explicitly in children’s movies, but they are notable because as an adult, I expect everyone to die, I assume there will be making out/a sex scene, and I figure the action will take too long and be unrealistic. Most (no two children are the same) children, want the hero to survive and be awesome, they will groan at the kissing scenes, and they want action. Only action. Stop talking already and go kick some monster ass. Pacific Rim gives children what they want, but not in a way that assumes children are mindless. They use the three traits I listed for children because children understand these things. The science mattered, the way each scene was shot mattered, and the lives of the main characters were dangled in front of death’s door. This film will allow the nerdy children of the world to realize their nerdiness and fall in love with science fiction, then complain to their parents until they get a PS4, and yell when their favorite book is ruined by the movie industry. Children of the current generation needed this. I would say The Avengers and Pacific Rim opened the gateway to being a nerd, and a lifetime of awesome movies, comics, TV shows, and more. 

This isn’t to say I didn’t find fault in the movie. But most of this I attribute to newbie acting, and a lack of direction for the newbie actors in the writing. Was it a romance or a bromance between a man and woman? Why is Mako acting like she is in a soap opera? Why does she remind me of Mulan when she says “respect” and does that make me racist? Why do we need a Top Gun-esque rivalry? Why wasn’t Charlie Day’s character considered more of a hero? 

Bad acting aside, I enjoyed this movie completely. I want to take my 12 year old brother. He’s on the edge of nerdom. I’m gonna push him off that edge with Guillermo del Toro cheering me on. 

Pacific Rim deserves a 4 out of 5. But let me know what you think in the comments!