Movie Review ... Pacific Rim

 

Hollywood is one giant and expensive play-pen.  Its executives love playing and would have played with toys as children to extend imaginations. Now they green-light mega-budgeted productions featuring a litany of expensive amusements.  ‘Pacific Rim’ fits the bill with its armada of fantastical destruction.  Crafted with plenty of creativity, the CGI antics reveals Tinsletown’s playground continues re-creating its inhabitant’s child-like wonder.

When giant monsters rise from the ocean depths, it’s up to humanity to defeat them.  One plan involves huge robots, known as Jaegers, controlled by two pilots.  Raleigh (Charlie Hunnman) and Mako (Rinko Kickuchi) become the chosen heroes.  Struggling against a formidable enemy, their skills are pushed to the maximum with little room for failure.

‘Pacific Rim’ is proof that a gifted director can lift mundane material.  Making much of its ‘Godzilla meets Transformers’ motif, Guillermo del Toro ensures a fresh feel.  Full of the noisy action and amazing CGI one expects, it has a generous serving of knowing humour.  Having helmed many similar productions, del Toro knows how to mix fantasy with jaded realism.  ‘Pacific Rim’ makes for a beguiling package even if other elements are less than satisfactory.

Like many recent block-busters it fails to know when to stop.  Some stories don’t need to be told in a 2 hour plus run-time despite dazzling action sequences.  These are made watch-able due to some genuine characterisation and decent performances.  The scale of the international threat and how the multi-national teams bond are effectively realised.  In spite of some risible attempts at various accents you care for some characters not becoming lost in a blancmange of techno-wizardry.

An entertaining popcorn flick ‘Pacific Rim’ generally delivers on its promise.  Whilst not perfect, del Toro’s passion for the genre remains undimmed with his latest providing his creative imagination plenty of scope.

Movie Review   6 / 10

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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