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| Pacific Rim by Mischief Maker 05/24/2016, 7:28pm PDT | ||||
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| Man, I have read reviews savaging this movie for the plot. The only explanation I can think of is that like the Wachowski Brothers' Speed Racer, it's a visually unique but otherwise low-aspiration film by directors with a reputation for aiming higher. Yes, Pacific Rim is not even remotely in the same league as Pan's Labyrinth. But I've seen a lot of Godzilla movies and unless Toho kicked up the writing quality since "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack," Pacific Rim is a high-water mark for Kaiju movie writing. The conflicts are straightforward, character motivations clear, even the odious comic relief characters aren't all that odious. What's more, how can you expect to take a movie seriously that features robots with jet engines on their elbows to make for stronger punches? Definitely a better movie than Independence Day (you would all be dead if it weren't for my David!)
Now let's talk about the important part of the movie: the Giant Robot vs Monster battle scenes. One of my biggest complaints about modern CGI action is the fluid lack of physicality to the action. The reason Gollum bouncing around and talking was the CGI effect that impressed the socks off everyone in LOTR instead of Legolas surfing the Oliphant to death is in great part because Gollum was tethered to an actual physical actor and had a realistic physical presence. I've always said that in a Transformers or Avengers movie, if you want a giant robot dragon to fly through a skyscraper you can do it, but don't have it go through like the building's made of water, have it stall for a splitsecond of resistance before it starts to break through and not only will the effect be more believable, it will feel more viscerally brutal. Pacific Rim gets that right! It gets so much right. Unlike Bay Transformers, these giant robots move with the kind of inertia you'd expect from something that size. What's more the movie makes use of that inertia to forecast the good guy strikes so every hit is satisfying. Apparently behind the scenes the cockpit room was built on hydraulics so the actors could physically react like they're in a lumbering monstrosity. What a goddamn pity this movie didn't do better at the box office, it's a perfect demo reel for how to do CGI action right. My one biggest complaint about this movie is the same I have for Edge of Tomorrow. The real action climax of the movie happens in the middle, then it ends with an unsatisfying limp to the finish line. |
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