Review Pacific Rim

This post contains minor spoilers.

Last night I went with a group of friends to see Pacific Rim. We've all been wanting to see it since it was first announced. How could you not? Giant robots fighting godzilla-type monsters?

It practically screams Evangelion! And I mean that in the best way possible.

This really was a love letter to some of the best tropes of anime. My personal favorite was when the mecha, eva, sorry, jaeger was crashing back toward the bay, and stops just as it reaches the water's edge, it bumps ever so slightly a rope hitch, disturbing a seagull who flys away to safety. It was ridiculous. No bird would hang around as two giant monsters go crashing around. It would have been out of there. Yet, for the style, it worked.

The best thing about the fights was how there would be pauses, brief, but enough to allow the audience to get their bearings. It's a far departure from the Michael Bay school of noise and motion and explosions where you can't really tell one combatant from another.

Ron Pearlman was fantastic, as were the gents who played the scientists. Idris Elba was a bit underutilized, though he had a couple of good lines. I was a little disappointed in his rousing speech at the end. The one from ID4 was better.

All in all it was great fun. Better than pure popcorn, but also not too heavy. It's definitely a summer blockbuster, so don't expect serious scientific accuracy. Yet it's consistent, and it hangs together very well, and if you're in the mood to see some giant monsters go at it with giant robots, this is the movie you've been waiting for!