Pacific Rim (IMAX 3D)-Movie Review

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman


In the early ’90s Doordarshan used to air a dubbed Japanese program called Giant Robot. It featured a small boy controlling a gigantic grey robot and fighting off a terrorist organisation called the Gargoyle Gang. A decade later DD Metro and Nickelodeon brought the Power Rangers to Indian TV. Add to that the influence of Transformers (both TV series and Michael Bay movies) and you have half your reason why Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim should be watched. The other half is giant monsters; the kind we’ve seen in Godzilla, King Kong etc. Now picture a giant robot exchanging blows with Godzilla. Only it’s not unfolding in the form of men in rubber suits on plastic city sets. It’s 2013 and state-of-art CGI has allowed Del Toro to breathe life into ultimate fan boy material. The mounting, the scale of his film makes Bay’s Transformers and Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel seem like indie productions. If you’ve ever wondered what an IMAX action movie is capable of, you need to watch Pacific Rim.

The premise is really that simple. Giant robots versus giant monsters. Only the monsters spawn in the Pacific Ocean where aliens have created a portal from their world. So Godzilla wasn’t mutated by some toxic dump in the sea. It was bred in a factory on another world and sent here to kill vermin, that’d be humans. When you have a house pest the size of skyscrapers you need some serious squatting power. So the Jaegers are born. They’re giant mechanical robots piloted by two people and they have but one mission: to kill Kaijus (Japanese name for giant mythical monsters). If Pacific Rim sounds like a new comic book press release resource, fact is it is just that. This is ultimate movie mythology.

As cheesy and inconsequential as it sounds, that is the strength of this film. There’s no real Dark Knight-like soul in this action epic. But it makes up with relentless and unbound action. If you watch movies to be wowed or to extend the limits of how far your jaw can drop, this is it. There are about half a dozen action set pieces mounted on a scale that will inspire you.

There’s a difference between Pacific Rim and you’re average Hollywood big ticket action blockbuster. And that difference is Del Toro’s vision. He pauses on the action to sneak in shots that impress you. For example, a Jaeger’s misdirected punch is tearing through a building and reaches till an office desk where it gently rams a Chinese pendulum show piece setting it into motion. In isolation these descriptions sound vague but when you watch these scenes on the big screen you really marvel at the director’s ingenuity.

Del Toro takes a logical approach at telling his cheesy tale. If you’re wondering why make mechanical monsters who are like Gods of destruction? Or why pilot them physically in an age when the US army can control drones from thousands of miles? The movie will address these logical scenarios to sufficient effect. It will take some liberties of its own but by and large it will transport you to a world where levelling a 100 storey building in one punch will become your definition of cool.

There are physical performances by human actors as well. Charlie Hunnam is the hero, Rinko Kikuchi is his co pilot and Idris Elba is a tough as nails general. They bring in the necessary amount of human drama. Ron Perlman characteristically brings in his brand of surreal comedy. And it all compliments the megaton CGI load to a large extent. 

If you’ve ever been a fan of Japanese mecha anime like Mobile Suit Gundam or Evangelion this movie will shake up your world. But if you missed the Doordarshan telecasts of Giant Robot and Power Rangers this movie will show you a whole new world. This is 180 million dollars well spent. This is EPIC action at its best.