Pacific Rim (2013)

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Ron Perlman

Certificate: 12

Genre: Sci Fi, Action

Awards: None

Seeing as Del Toro's biggest selling feature is his detail and creativity in fairytale fantasy, I was a bit skeptical that his next film was about giant robots. However, my fears were unnecessary. The same amount of imagination has been given here. Each Jaeger (the robots/ suits) and Kaiju (the monsters) looks completely different.

The story follows Raleigh Becket (Hunnam), someone who used to drive one of the Jaegers with his brother in order to stop the Kaiju who emerge from the a portal in the Pacific ocean . To drive a Jaeger, one must combine their brain with their co-pilot so when Becket's brother dies it hits him extremely hard. He disappears for six years until his old Marshall Pentecost (Elba) tracks him down. The Kaiju are becoming a bigger problem as they come more frequently and Jaegers are becoming scarce due to casualties. When Becket then joins the team in Hong Kong he meets Mako (Kikuchi) - a trainee with a not so happy past with the Kaiju.

When the fights happen, they feel big. The scale of the giants is very visible (especially in 3D). The destruction is kept fresh and new throughout the film (unlike a certain superhero film this year). Ships are used as bats and bits of both machine and creature come flying off.

Unlike many blockbusters, Pacific Rim isn't afraid to tamper with death of heroes. The stakes always seem higher when you know that the characters may not make it out alive and although the personalities aren't the films strongpoint, they are acceptable and you still want to root for the good guys.

Neither of the main characters are really that special. Becket in particular is rather boring. However the supporting characters make up for them. Elba is captivating to watch as the man who runs it all while Ron Perlman plays a black market dealer named Hannibal Chow that comes the closest to humour that the film is willing to go. There are also two scientist who are somewhat alienating but watchable at the same time.

As one of the only Blockbusters not based on a story from an outside source, Pacific Rim is quite an interesting picture. It may not have the best characters in the world, but that can be overlooked by it's premise. Transformers this ain't.

****Good