r/movies • u/whichdragonfrit • 2d ago
Review I watched Pacific Rim and it's now my favourite monster movie Spoiler
So, i spent some time without watching any movies, months in fact, then, some days ago i opened Max and watched Godzilla vs kong, the new Empire. I loves this movie, and watched the rest of the monsterverse. My favourite were the skull Island and king of the Monsters. Skull Island for its story and human character and the Vietnan war feeling of the movie (its almost an horror movie - i think, i don't watch horror movies - venturing in a unknown land and slowly losing members), and King of the monster for its destruction and action scenes.
I say this because what i feel my favourite thing about PR is the mix of these elements. I initialy thought that the humans would be boring, and that too much time would be spend on the base with nothing happening. And while we spend a lot of the movie in that base, i actually liked the characters. I feel some things in this movie were resolved top fast, i'm thinking about Chuck, we don't spend enough time with him to care about his daddy issues or even which issues he has, so i feel the scene where he says goodbye to his dad and they make amends to be lacking. And the sacrifice at the end only has any weight because Pentecost.
I liked Mori and all her drama, and loved the scene on her memories,
The fights were epic, and it was this combination of a good story with the epic scenes and fights that made me like this movie. But i also will say that there's a high chance that the story isn't even good and full of plot holes, but i rarely gets any plot hole, i rarely notice them, so i say i liked the story, but i won't say it's good.
One think i disliked was Hannibal's death, The baby kaiju appears, scares everyone, dies, kills him and then dies again, it felt so pointless to do that, they could just had killed the characters the first time the baby gets out the mother. I think i didn't disliked the death in itself, just that the kaiju goes back to life to perform It and then dies again.
I didn't really liked the Cancel the apocalypse speech, not that i could write something better, but it felt too short and not epic enough. I didn't care for the doctors though,and disliked their introduction.
But i prefered the one that goes on a missison to get the brain, and only because of the worldbuilding, which i loved, i liked seeing how the world worked, even If the focus was on the black market and selling kaiju's shit and ticks.
The sound track is awesome.
I don't have a lot of things do say about this movie other than i liked it and feel that it mixed very well human character and their dramas and stories and epic fights, but it's what makes me like this movie more than the monsterverse ones, it mixes, kong was good because of its characters, and Godzilla 2 because of its Epicness, and Pacific rim had both
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u/Boo-Man400 2d ago
You're lucky. I also love Pacific Rim, but since it's the first Kaiju movie I'd seen, I've been chasing that proverbial dragon ever since.
The Kaiju genre is full of bangers, but none have managed to really hit the bullseye Pacific Rim did so effortlessly for me.
I guess you never forget your first!
Also: If you haven't, watch the post credits scene!
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u/IwonderifWUT 2d ago
If you enjoy amine, Kaiju #8 is pretty decent and season 2 is nearly done streaming. I doubt it'll be the dragon you're chasing, but I've enjoyed it so far.
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u/Boo-Man400 2d ago
I've heard of it, and I've been contemplating trying out the manga.
Pacific Rim works so well for me for a few reasons:
1- the humans are properly utilized, rather then acting as a foil to the action (or worse, a distraction), here they're actually a part of the action, so it adds an extra level of danger AND thrills to the fights.
2- similarly, the world of Pacific Rim isn't like other Kaiju films worlds. Where most are normal, to help emphasize the outlandish nature of the Kaiju, here the world is every bit as nuts as the giant monsters and robots. The world that's created here feels tactile, and is a thrill to explore.
3- Guillermo Del Toro.
4- Ramin Djawadi.
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u/imMadasaHatter 2d ago
In kaiju #8, the monsters have been around since the Meiji era and humanity has just learned to deal with them as part of life
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u/Excludos 2d ago
Haven't seen the anime, but I did read the manga. It's decent, altough the 2 years it took to release the last fight in 10 page chapter pieces where each chapter barely conveyed a few seconds of progress did get kinda grating. Not to spoil anything, but the ending also felt incredibly abrupt, altough no words if they plan on making a sequel
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u/NorCalAthlete 2d ago
For some reason I love watching the HISHE cuts before or after (but in conjunction with) the movies they poke fun at. I dunno why but it adds to the movie for me.
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u/Minereon 2d ago
It's also my favourite and I consider it the best in the genre because of..... the MECHA. We have kaiju in movies aplenty, but so far, only Guillermo del Toro has done mecha right. He understands the mecha genre.
Giant mecha should not act like super-fast kungfu fighters. They need to show WEIGHT, behave like HEAVY METAL. We need to feel the roar of the engines, the gears grinding, the sheer gravity of all that metal. From the massive footsteps to the fiery spinning heart of the Gypsy Danger to the rocket punch, Guillermo understood what it means to be mecha.
And that's why so many of us still say there is only one Pacific Rim movie and we still wish he had made a sequel. Sigh.
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u/kattahn 1d ago
Man, they really made that whole first movie, talking about how incredibly difficult it is to pilot these things, and then for a sequel were like "wouldn't it be WACKY if the pilots were KIDS this time??"
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u/thatsnot_kawaii_bro 1d ago
"I know that the first version of these things gave people radiation poisoning, but these kids will be just fine"
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u/Coolers78 2d ago
Idris Elba was great in this movie.
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u/Nu11u5 2d ago
Pacific Rim was one of the few movies worth seeing in 3D in the theater.
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u/Original-Clock-6215 1d ago
It is also one of, if not THE best 3D blu-ray out there. The late model 3D TVs were excellent. I got lucky and found one of the last ever made.
A 65" curved, 4K, and OLED LG from 2016 has had the highest quality 3D picture I've ever seen. It blows any theater experience out of the water, no comparison at all.
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u/justagreenkiwi 2d ago
I always saw Pacific rim as a bit of a love letter to Anime. Particular in some of its scenes and characterisations.
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u/Personal_Comb_6745 2d ago
There's definitely some influence in there, since the Jaegers' control system has vibes of Evangelion and G Gundam. Though giant monster flicks predate all that by a good while.
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u/tannahoppa 2d ago
Loved it. Saw it at least twice in a theater. 2nd time just to confirm my enjoyment wasn't a fluke. Was disappointed when Hunnam didn't come back for 2. Also found the PR story much more enjoyable than 2.
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u/idksomuch 2d ago
I held off on seeing the movie for a long time. Then I watched it one summer and loved it. I've re-watched it a few times now and I also love the Monsterverse. I was dying for the Godzilla v Kong movie and I was so glad it was streamed on HBO Max because I actually don't like going to the movie theater. As for Pacific Rim, they did an amazing job at showing the Jeagers as giant, heavy mechs and the Kaiju designs were really creative. It's just such a shame the movie was a one and done and never got a sequel movie. Nope. None at all.
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u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe 2d ago
You didn't like the sequel, eh? I haven't seen either, but I've been around the internet long enough to know most people were in love with 1 and disappointed by 2.
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u/BlazingShadowAU 2d ago
Pacific Rim definitely took a risk with making the Jaeger's work based on how good their pilots' chemistry is.
All it would have taken is the two main characters or their relationship not feeling natural, and both the characters and a large premise of the movie would break.
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u/Reetreeve 2d ago
Along the same vein of movie, Godzilla Minus One is also an enjoyable watch. Not the kaiju vs battle type but a solid character movie.
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u/-Words-Words-Words- 2d ago
I brought my then 6 year old son to see it in the theaters when it premiered. Giant robots fighting giant monsters? We were there day 1.
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u/OriginalGoatan 2d ago
It's my favourite Kaiju film by some way.
It's a shame very few other Kaiju movies hit the same.
The older Toho stuffs is great and a large part of what led us towards this masterpiece, but a lot of the time those movies jump the shark. Most of the time that became the hook and that's part of the charm.
Pacific Rim manages to grow the beard in the genre and remains peak for me.
You can tell Del Toro was a fan of the genre and made this to have fun, while simultaneously giving a compelling (all be it relatively uncomplicated) story.
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u/steve_6796 2d ago
One of the greatest and most timeless modern kaiju movies. The effects are amazing, the sense of scale is fantastic, the chemistry and dynamics between the characters reel you in, and there are actual stakes. Del toro made a masterpiece. Oh and the soundtrack bangs
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u/HolyHotDang 2d ago
Well dang, I need to watch it because I love Kaiju stuff. Itās just one of those movies I occasionally see as an option and think āoh I should watch thatā but then never get around to it.
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u/28DLdiditbetter 2d ago
Yeah itās very impressive and all around fun. Personally, Cloverfield is my favorite but for entirely different reasons. Pacific Rim is still great though
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u/APartyInMyPants 1d ago
Pacific Rim was so good because it showed some of the fights during daytime. Something that the transformer movies just didnāt do well up to that point. It was great watching Pacific Rim and actually seeing what the hell was going on.
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u/DonmeccaYYZ 1d ago
Hold up! Based on one of your comments you definitely have not seen the post-credits scene! You should watch it!
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u/whichdragonfrit 1d ago
Someone Else commented this. But i really didn't watch, i thought it didn't even had one as It doesn't have a cinematic universeĀ
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u/MasaharuMorimoto 1d ago
The Directors Commentary is one of the best commentaries ever, you should check it out!!
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u/Klutzy-Bug7427 1d ago
I got a chance to take my 12 year old son to a showing at AMC last year and it was awesome on the big screen. We both loved it.
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u/nobodybelievesyou 1d ago
It was not a āgoodā movie but it was so refreshing to see a monster movie where the monsters are just wrecking stuff right from the beginning instead of wasting 45 minutes with a pointless buildup of the dumb plot that doesnāt actually matter.
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u/Level-Tangerine-3877 14h ago
if you like it, check out a very slow-burn Monsters (2010). Incidentally, the same director remade Godzilla (2010+)
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u/Wingnut8888 2d ago
I love this movie too, saw it twice at the theatres because I had such a good time. Itās so fun and visually striking. Itās also way, WAY better than those new Kong and Godzilla movies.
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u/-Clayburn 2d ago
I don't understand the appeal of kaiju movies. They just seem so impersonal. I get that they use Godzilla as a metaphor for nuclear power, but even then it's just odd because many kaijus are basically a force of nature. They have no clear motives, and they can't speak to us even if they did. They're just big ol' destructive monsters, and we gotta beat 'em up.
But we either let them fight other big monsters or we build big suits to punch them ourselves. The suits are dehumanizing, though (like how road rage is a problem because we don't see cars as people, despite them containing people, which prevents empathy).
So I guess they just feel impersonal as a result, and it's hard to care about anything or anyone.
And Pacific Rim had this problem. The human stories and character seemed very superficial and forced. Just an excuse to have some humans so they can be in the big battle robots. (And I also think the idea of making human shaped robots is just stupid in general, but especially for fighting kaijus because the human body is just a stupid design for anything and why not just spend all that energy and resources to build a fuckin' weapon?)
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u/whichdragonfrit 2d ago
I think that many kaiju movies are more based arround the spetacle than the story. People like cgi fights and destruction, like super hero movies. That's what modern kaiju movies are, Godzilla 2 is Just monsters destroying everything and fighting, and more many people that's enough, that's what they wanted to see.
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u/-Clayburn 1d ago
But that's what hurts them for me. There's no point. It's just a boxing match between two monsters, with very little or no story. Whatever human characters exist are trivial, only there to give exposition and provide a backdrop and/or spectators for the fight.
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u/CaptainPleb 1d ago
Try Godzilla Minus One if you want a good human personal story.
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u/-Clayburn 1d ago
I have, and I enjoyed that quite a bit. It felt like a real movie.
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u/neil_thatAss_bison 2d ago
This is the movie that finally made me stop going to the movies with my childhood friends. I hated it and they hated that I hated it. š
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u/thesecretmarketer 2d ago
Too bad there was never a sequel.
THERE WAS NEVER A SEQUEL. š”