Pacific Rim - A Lot Like Godzilla -vs- The Transformers - Movie Fun.

Pacific Rim – 2013

I couldn’t get a lot done outside today. So I figured that I would go and take in Pacific Rim this afternoon at the local cinema.  The length of the film is 131 minutes and I must say that it went by very quickly.

A race of monsters known as the Kaiju manage to open a trans-dimensional rift at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and begin ravaging the costs of the countries that are on the rim of the great ocean.  This, of course, starts a war and the world unites to fight this menace.  It is soon found that no conventional weapons can fight these super monsters, so an armored weapon is developed.

The development results in the Jaegers (German for Hunter).   Jaegers are giant robots that are controlled by two pilots that work in tandem through a neural link; in effect, they are actually in each other’s minds.  At first, the Jaeger program is quite successful in defeating the Kaiju as they are only coming through the rift one at a time.  But the Kaiju are getting more and more powerful as they come through the rift.  The Jaegers suffer more casualties and seem to become less effective and the governments of the Pacific Rim decide to scrap the Jaeger program.  Feeling that the Jaegers are the answer, the commander of the program decides to freelance and moves the program to Hong Kong.

 

A scientist determines the nature of the rift and figures out that it is a wormhole between dimensions and can be closed by the use of a nuclear device.  After several battles with very powerful Kaiju, the hero manages to deliver the nuke into the rift and save mankind from certain destruction.

This film is very predictable as it follows an old formula and tells a story that has been told many times, but it is told very well.   There is no moral to the story, no philosophical rambling, and no political message.  It’s just a fun movie to watch and lose one’s self in.  If you are looking for deep character development, it isn’t here, but it is well acted by the well-directed cast.  The effects and the CGI are top notch and really contributes to how the film flows.  And it flows very smoothly.  It is all topped off by a score that thumps.

Pacific Rim is a great film for what it is, a good diversion on a hot summer day.  It is full of action, fighting, and wrecked buildings.  It doesn’t ask the audience to take it too seriously, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Go see Pacific Rim, you won’t have to think, just enjoy.

Well, there it is…

QaplaH’!