Pacific Rim & Pacific Rim II Film Review

I was in the mood for spectacle and these days that means CGI from head to foot. Us old school Kaiju fans fondly harken back to the days of a man in a moth-eaten suit and lovely miniature models to stomp on - we love those films - but let's face it, those days will never return but thankfully we still have them stockpiled up for when the mood strikes. Now it is CGI. Like it or not. No avoiding it. But there is good CGI and bad CGI. I hate most of the superhero CGI - just too much - or the Chinese fantasy CGI - too artificial - but giant robots and awesome Kaiju! In the hands of director Guillermo del Toro. You know he had to grow up as a fan of the old Japanese Kaiju films. Probably watched them late into the night in Mexico.

The strange thing for me was that when I came to log this film into Letterbox, it told me that I had seen it some seven years ago when the sequel was released. I had no memory of it but in a small review at the time, I mentioned that I watched it on a sleeping pill. I don't take sleeping pills unless I am suffering from acute insomnia. Well, this time I watched fully cognizant with a larder of snacks to keep my strength up. And I really enjoyed it. The story is standard heroic bupkis, but the robots and Kaiju are wonderful. Did the designer receive an Oscar? The special effects people are the stars of this film. None of the rest of it really matters. But there are lots of robot vs Kaiju match-ups here.

The year is 2020 - oops - and a breach at the bottom of the oceans has opened up and these sneaky giant Kaiju from some other dimension are coming up for air. And they are ferocious and destroying cities like our old friend Godzilla once did. Godzilla eventually sort of became a good guy, but no chance of that happening with these guys. Or maybe they do in Pacific Rim 2. One never knows. Earth bands together to fight them and develops these giant robots with men inside guiding them. They have to be in pairs and have their minds meld together. Initially all goes well as the Kaiju are beaten like sock puppets by the robots - but the next generation is tougher and the next even tougher. Huge jaws with razor sharp teeth and slicing arms. At one point, one of them suddenly opens its wings to fly and it was so very cool. They even try and crush Hong Kong. Bastards!

It may be down and out for mankind. We had a good run. But Idris Elba as the commander of the few remaining Jaegers - which is what they name the robots - has a plan. Earth depends on these few brave men and women. The female is played by Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi who I saw recently as the demoness in 47 Ronin, but she has been in so many good films - both Japanese and Western. I don't know why but I kept thinking that she reminded me of someone, but it took a while. Agent 99! Get Smart. Barbara Feldon. Same mouth. This appealed to the child left in me after years of rust and grime. Looking forward to the sequel. Which I think, I may have watched already as well. Getting older sucks.

Pacific Rim: The Uprising
Director: Steven DesKnight
Year: 2018
Rating: 4.0

No, I hadn't seen it! I think.

Yay! The Kaiju are back! Eventually. Don't be in a rush. Sooner or later. Go get a snack and by the time you return, I am sure the Kaiju will be here! If you have any errands to run, go do them. It is like waiting for Godot. I quite enjoyed the first one of these - the plot wasn't much but it wasn't terrible. And there were a lot of Kaijus. Who thought this was a good idea? It is like Summer Camp. We needed a bunch of kids to save the world? Was this going to be an Afternoon TV Special? I don't get it. I don't know exactly where a sequel could have gone without being a repeat of the first film, but this wasn't it. I felt like I was trapped in a Transformer movie - something I swore I would never do after that first one robbed me of matter from my frontal lobe. This was excruciating, but to my credit I watched it all the way through. For Mount Fuji.

It is ten years after the last one - the breaches were shut, the world was getting back to normal - which is likely a bad thing - some people worship the Kaiju. John Boyega plays the son of Idris Elba from the first film. You remember Boyega right? Poor fucker who got so much grief for having the nerve to be a black man playing a resistance fighter in the Star Wars trilogy (7 - 9). Well racists, here he is saving the world again. Go fuck yourselves at Cracker Barrel now that you got your logo back. He is a thief specializing in spare parts from the Jaegers put out to pasture. He ends up in the cockpit of one refurbished by a young girl (Cailee Spaeny) and this is where the film starts to go to summer camp. They get caught by the cops and Mako (Rinko Kikuchi) from the first film sends them both off to training camp - but it turns out that Boyega had been a top student there before bailing out.

Great. Still waiting on the Kaiju. That could be a title of a song. A Chinese corporation headed by the lovely Tian Jing (The Great Wall, Special I.D.) is building AI pilotless Jaegers with the help of the eccentric scientist, also from the first film (Charley Day). Day has gotten addicted to mind melds with the living brain of a Kaiju that he keeps in his room. Not a great idea. They are attacked by rebel Jaegers and Boyega and his old partner played by Scott Eastwood go to it. Son of Clint. Good looking kid but how old was Clint when he fathered him? Now we are over the hour mark and still waiting for the Kaiju. Who wrote this script? I want my Kaiju! They do eventually make an appearance with about 20-minutes left - in Tokyo! Ah, Tokyo once again you feel the wrath of Kaiju. Home sweet home. And they are heading for Mount Fuji. Not as tourists. There has been talk about a third in the series, but this one should have put that talk to sleep. It actually made a lot of money, but it cost more. This wasn't directed by Del Toro but he was the producer, so he has to take some of the fault for this.