Godzillas vs. Transformers (in a good way)

PACIFIC RIM (2013)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The giant robots who are roughly the size of half of a skyscraper are what initially intrigued me about the trailer for "Pacific Rim." They are massive and they walk with precision, and can run like the wind. Two pilots are necessary to operate one robot and manipulate its moves and its ability to swing a punch or use a steel sword against massive sea creatures. "Pacific Rim" is that kind of monster movie we do not see much of anymore - its added pluses are that it has a little heart and some noble heroes.

The Kaiju are the flying sea creatures who are roughly the size of one Godzilla and a half. They cause major destruction to almost every city on Earth. The Kaiju emerge from the sea with a roar that is pure Tyrannosaurus Rex X 1 million decibels and a bite that can cause real damage, not to mention a deadly acid that spews from their mouths. What are the humans to do? Build technological marvels of robotic destruction, of course, known as Jaegers (not the alcoholic drink that one imbibes, but you might like to have one after seeing this film, and I do mean that in a good way). These robots could give the Transformers a run for their Michael Bay dollars - when they stomp on the city streets, you feel it. Same with the Kaiju.

A former pilot named Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam, minus his "Sons of Anarchy" beard), who lost his brother during a dangerous combat mission with the fierce Kaiju, is commisioned by Commander Stacker Pentecoast (Idris Elba, who suffers the occasional nosebleed) to fight these raging beasts. Raleigh is reluctant until he finds a suitable, untested and ambitious pilot, Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), who as a child encountered one of those beasts. The two pilots have to have their minds in unison to operate the mammoth robots - they must be locked in a neural bridge called "drifting" (a psychic linkage).

Most of "Pacific Rim" is filled with Kaiju fighting Jaegers and vice versa. I saw the film in 3-D and the effects are truly astounding and eye-opening - there are times that you might have to grab the arms of your chair when these titanic monsters fight each other on the screen. Guillermo Del Toro (who previously helmed "Pan's Labyrinth," "Cronos" and the "Hellboy" pictures) never lets the action up though he does pause for character moments and various idiosyncracies. Still, the name of the game is unrelenting action, explosions and, eventually, a self-sacrifice. There is a chilling, nightmarish moment where Mako as a screaming, crying child hides in terror from the Kaiju in a near-apocalyptic moment of almost Hiroshima-like extremes. It is this memory that prevents her at one point from operating the Jaeger as she is ready to use its weapons to destroy the beast.

"Pacific Rim" could have used a lot more moments like that one, punctuated with traumatic memories to make us cling closer to the characters. Still, the characters are all sharply defined personalities, not automatons. Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh is a soldier who does his best to ignore his brother's death; Kikuchi's Mako wants revenge for the loss of her family but has a hard time suppressing her past trauma, and Pentecoast tries to be more calculating and remote but his past memories also sneaks up on him.
Adding to all the noise, CGI and practical effects (and 3-D effects that make helicopters look like Ed Wood's toys when placed against the monsters) is the film's disarming sense of humor (a Del Toro trademark) thanks to the two geeky scientists who seemingly have a P.h.D on the Kaiju. They are Charlie Day as Dr. Newton Geiszle (channeling Sam Rockwell), who suspects that these beasts are being cloned and may have an idea of how to defeath them, and Burn Gorman as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb who just feels that Newton is a manic personality. And the piece de resistance is Del Toro regular Ron Perlman, wearing gold-stripped shoes that have to be seen to be believed, as an underground black-market salesman named Hannibal Chau who buys Kaiju body parts!

"Pacific Rim" is an upbeat sci-fi epic that is tons of fun to watch. The film is a hark back to the old Godzilla flicks and other Japanese monster flicks with a touch of, pardon the comparison, Transformers except the Jaegers are far more impressive and almost grandiose. It does help that we sympathize with the characters enough to hope they survive all the wrath and fury of these winged sea creatures. I only wish I could spend more time with them - maybe in the sequel (reportedly, one hour of the film was cut by Del Toro that featured more character nuance). But whom am I to complain because I had a blast with "Pacific Rim." Forget "Transformers" and its sequels, Del Toro gives a summer blockbuster what it needs - a shot of adrenaline mixed with heart and pathos. A good summer cocktail, indeed.