Movie Review: Pacific Rim (2013)

July 13, 2013 / Leave a Comment

PACIFIC RIM

BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
JULY 13, 2013

Guillermo del Toro triumphantly steps back into the director’s chair with his version of an epic hero versus monster movie, “Pacific Rim.” What sets “Rim” apart from the onslaught of science fiction action films like the comparable “Transformers” is that del Toro takes a cast of lower-level familiar faces like Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, and Charlie Day, and produces a definitive action-adventure without even varying the formula that much.

The visuals are captivating, sucking the viewer into this world where giant alien Kaiju battle enormous fighting robots manned by two humans, called Jaegers. There’s a war, and instead of an alien race coming to our rescue (i.e., “Transformers”), the humans are protecting themselves with what little resources they have. Despite lacking strong dialogue and following a similar narrative structure that most disaster/invasion films land on, “Pacific Rim” stays relevant by focusing on the action and the power of will, without falling into campy, but still producing laughs and screams of excitement. Charlie Hunnam carries the film nicely, a feat he will conquer many more times in his career. Rising above his cliche dialogue, Idris Elba displays a future Oscar winner (just not for this film).

However, the film’s most valuable player is Charlie Day, who adds a stamp of original humor to the film and creates something different and memorable while furthering the plot on a ground level, paralleling the rest of the film nicely. Charlie Day embraces who he is and makes a name for himself in the process. To put it simply, “Pacific Rim” is the meaning of having fun at the movies, with no expenses spared. Neither revolutionizing the genre nor tarnishing it. It is just lovely to have del Toro back, doing what he does best. Even though this film won’t break any records, it will leave a positive mark on an already massive summer box office.