Pacific Rim = Shadow of the Colossus + Portal + Evangelion

[Johnny Novgorod]

The movie is mediocre fun, but boy oh boy did I love and squee like a fanboy whenever I recognized this and that reference on the screen. No, I don't consider them rip-offs - they're so blatant you can't treat them like anything else other than a lovingly rendered reference.

1) Guess who voices the main mecha? GLaDOS. The minute I recognized Ellen McLain's voice made the fighting scenes so much cooler. And she's in her GLaDOS mode, voicing horrible facts while the mecha pilots are struggling to keep alive. "Warning: This" and "Warning: That". Very cool. The movie also features an actual portal, too, though it has nothing to do with her.

2) The kaijus/monsters are strongly reminiscent of the colossi from Shadow of the Colossus, particularly Quadratus, Pelagia, Hydro and Avion. The way they're framed and designed screams SotC. And when one of the mechas drags an ocean liner to use as a sword, it's a shot-for-shot reenactment of Gaius dragging his club. Again, very cool.

3) The Evangelion references are much more obvious. I mean, the whole premise is the same - mechas fighting aliens who, at one point, are mentioned as being agents of god. Surprisingly enough the Shinji role is filled in by one mopey Rinko Kikuchi, who can't bring herself to act on her love interest. And there're a bunch of daddy issues thrown in. Etc.

Guillermo del Toro's love and affection for videogames has been well documented before. Here're some links about Guillermo del Toro and videogames.

http://www.gamesradar.com/guillermo-del-toro-says-games-are-art-and-hes-making-some/
http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1350

I didn't LOVE the film, it's OK as far as action and sci-fi go, but doesn't bring anything new to the table. Most of the dialogue is people shouting orders and encouragement at each other, and the whole subplot involving the "mental bonding" between the mecha pilots is weak, weak weak (one final scene reduces its importance to zero). Also we get a few side characters who are obviously waiting for their incoming death scenes, and some corny humor and one-liners from the unbearable Charlie Day. Ron Perlman has a few scenes, and he's as effortlessly cool as usual in them, though he's mostly inconsequential to the plot.

Anyway. As a fanboy I just enjoyed the references. Maybe so will you.

(PS - there's a silly extra scene during the credits)

EDIT: And by the way, the OST is made of electric awesomeness.

 

[LetalisK]

The movie is mediocre fun, but boy oh boy did I love and squee like a fanboy whenever I recognized this and that reference on the screen. No, I don't consider them rip-offs - they're so blatant you can't treat them like anything else other than a lovingly rendered reference.

1) Guess who voices the main mecha? GLaDOS. The minute I recognized Ellen McLain's voice made the fighting scenes so much cooler. And she's in her GLaDOS mode, voicing horrible facts while the mecha pilots are struggling to keep alive. "Warning: This" and "Warning: That". Very cool. The movie also features an actual portal, too, though it has nothing to do with her.

If I'm not mistaken, the creators actually went to Valve and asked them to use McLain's GLaDOS voice.

Yep, here we go:
www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/07/del-toro-explains-glados-voice-in-pacific-rim

Edit: y u no link? >.<

 

[DANEgerous]

I ha having trouble connecting "The movie is mediocre fun" with the rest of the post. I mean, that sounds amazing not Oscar wining cinema type but defiantly I must see this in tithers with a couple beers type. Because fuck yeah Texas we have theaters that do that and sadly for me a movie has to be in one of those categories to see it in a theater.

So yeah... thanks for the endorsement I suppose

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I ha having trouble connecting "The movie is mediocre fun" with the rest of the post. I mean, that sounds amazing not Oscar wining cinema type but defiantly I must see this in tithers with a couple beers type. Because fuck yeah Texas we have theaters that do that and sadly for me a movie has to be in one of those categories to see it in a theater.

So yeah... thanks for the endorsement I suppose

Well I wouldn't want to have to go into spoilers but a large chunk of the movie, around 50%-60%, is spent dwelling on the whole consequences and the issues of bonding with your buddy pilot ("neural handshake" they call it). Selecting a co-pilot, training together, bonding on every level, having a twin-like link that is deep and rich and unique and for that very reason only a handful of people can pilot mechas in the movie. The movie goes to great pains to emphasize this, and we spend a lot of time hearing people talk about it and philosophize about it and theorize about it. And then at the end it gets hand-waved just so we can get to the climax. So the result is a feeling of pointlessness. They might as well have made the movie more about mechas fighting colossi and less about the pointless dribble of finding a mecha-mate when it turns out anybody will do if the script desperately needs it. Hence the mediocrity. Also Charlie Hunnam is one big boring cypher as the white hetero ripped alpha male. No personality, no conflict of any kind. Shia LaBeouf is more interesting to watch by comparison.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Well, as long as that confirms my "stupid but stupid FUN" theory.
That's all it had to deliver and now I know that it does just that, thanks.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well, as long as that confirms my "stupid but stupid FUN" theory.
That's all it had to deliver and now I know that it does just that, thanks.

I thought it was pretty fun. Way better than Transformers, though that may not be saying much.

 

[Ishal]

Well, as long as that confirms my "stupid but stupid FUN" theory.
That's all it had to deliver and now I know that it does just that, thanks.

I thought it was pretty fun. Way better than Transformers, though that may not be saying much.

Sticking with Transformers for a bit, one of the big criticisms of that movie was that it was too much with the humans and not enough transformers. If you were to rate it with a percent, how much giant robot vs kaiju is this movie?

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Erm.....GODZILLA needs a mention.

 

[Ishal]

also... evangelion? ewwwwww... :/

But I suppose its unavoidable, tons of people love that show and I bet it being there will be a large part of its success in Japan.

 

[Dangit2019]

Litrally during the trailod, all I saw wasmgiant robot, s the teal and orange, and dubstep.

I'm sorry...what?

OT: I'll probably see it just because it's a movie that's worth seeing on a huge screen with surround sound. Which is what I expected.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I couldn't care less about the plot, I just want to see mechs fight monsters. This is very similar to why I enjoyed the Transformers movies (aside from the third one).

I've saw 2 early reviews of it (Jeremy Jahns and Chris Stuckmann) and from their point of view is exactly what I am looking for. The fight scenes are fantastic and the acting on the "human" side are hit and miss, but that's not the point.

Point is I can't wait to see this movie.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Eh, I'm unfamiliar with pretty much all of that bar Portal, but I'm still happy to hear it. It's good to hear about a big Hollywood film taking influences from new (to Hollywood) sources. I have but one question: How incredibly badass is Idris Elba in it?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Eh, I'm unfamiliar with pretty much all of that bar Portal, but I'm still happy to hear it. It's good to hear about a big Hollywood film taking influences from new (to Hollywood) sources. I have but one question: How incredibly badass is Idris Elba in it?

Idris Elba is wearily cool as always. His character deserved better though. He was way more interesting than the Maverick rip-off played by Charlie Hunnam.

Sticking with Transformers for a bit, one of the big criticisms of that movie was that it was too much with the humans and not enough transformers. If you were to rate it with a percent, how much giant robot vs kaiju is this movie?

It's hard to say since kaijus appear a lot slightly off-screen, clipped flashbacks and through news reports (kind of like Cloverfield). The actual one-on-one fighting probably takes up the first 20-30 minutes and the second half of the movie. And they're very good, I thought it was much more clean-cut than Transformers. I didn't mind the non-mecha parts at first, but without going into spoilers these parts are rendered pointless by a very hand-wavy twist.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Ok I got to asked, how exactly have you been watching these films days before the official release (if I recalled I think you had watched World War Z beforehand too) or does Argentina get the films in advances?

 

[Ishal]

I thought it was much more clean-cut than Transformers.

Are you referring to the cinematography of it? Like the camera angles? In Transformers a lot of the fights were with shaky camera's focusing on the people with the transformers in the periphery. When the robots fight the kaijus is it more .. stable..? For lack of a better term. Easy to follow? If so, then my only fear is alleviated.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ok I got to asked, how exactly have you been watching these films days before the official release 9if I recalled I think you had watched World War Z beforehand too) or does Argentina get the films in advances?

We get press screenings like everybody else. I've been a movie critic for over 3 years now.
I don't like shamelessly promoting myself, but here's a link to my (Spanish) review of the movie, just to clear that out:
http://www.escribiendocine.com/critica/0001909-sombra-del-coloso/

I thought it was much more clean-cut than Transformers.

Are you referring to the cinematography of it? Like the camera angles? In Transformers a lot of the fights were with shaky camera's focusing on the people with the transformers in the periphery. When the robots fight the kaijus is it more .. stable..? For lack of a better term. Easy to follow? If so, then my only fear is alleviated.

They're very easy to follow, largely because 1) the fights are robots vs. monsters, not between virtually identical robots, 2) we're constantly cutting to the pilots inside the mecha, replicating the mecha's movements and 3) yes, the cinematography isn't of the shaky-cam variety, which is very welcome. It was a nice surprise, since most of the action is set during a storm, or at night, or underwater. But there's no cheating, for the most part.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

also... evangelion? ewwwwww... :/

But I suppose its unavoidable, tons of people love that show and I bet it being there will be a large part of its success in Japan.

It's only a couple of references. Just the premise (there're tons of mecha movies), the kaiju element and I thought the initial pilot suits looked a LOT like Shinji's. But there's no plot weirdness, no tonal inconsistencies, very little moping and practically no religious undertones. In fact it's generally a pretty upbeat movie and doesn't take itself THAT seriously. Anybody who knows GLaDOS's voice will instantly be unable to not-suspend their disbelief.

It's fun of the ridiculous kind, without the dreary macho cynicism of, say, Transformers.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

They're very easy to follow, largely because 1) the fights are robots vs. monsters, not between virtually identical robots, 2) we're constantly cutting to the pilots inside the mecha, replicating the mecha's movements and 3) yes, the cinematography isn't of the shaky-cam variety, which is very welcome. It was a nice surprise, since most of the action is set during a storm, or at night, or underwater. But there's no cheating, for the most part.

This actually has me really interested. I hate how all movies adopted the Jason Bourne "shaky-cam cutting every second between two identical opponents" style that makes fights impossible to follow. To know someone's gone back to the good old clean cut fights that you can actually understand is so nice I might just go see this film for that alone. I think my friends were planning on it anyway...

TO THE CINEMA!