Pacific Rim is this Summer’s Most Fun Blockbuster

After carefully considerating the matter, I’ve come to the conclusion that Pacific Rim was easily the most enjoyable and entertaining of the summer blockbusters I’ve seen so far.

Star Trek Into Darkness had that lovely space jump scene which I totally loved. But shoehorning Khan into the movie was rather unoriginal and clumsily done. Man of Steel had a very heavy heart to it. I didn’t agree with the whole “hide yourself away” ethos that Kevin Costner’s character espoused and the internal struggles of Kal El weren’t really all that developed well. Ironman 3 just felt tired. Too many long periods of exposition and the fact that he was fighting with broken down suits almost the entire time made it feel like the franchise was on its last legs.

Pacific Rim on the other had was a breath of fresh air. Kaiju movies aren’t exactly breaking new ground but at least this was a brand new story within that pantheon. The detail in the designs was astounding. The whole movie had a very gritty, real feel to it despite, you know, being about huge, civilization destroying monsters.

I09.com also did a series of articles on Pacific Rim, delving into the designs of the monsters and robots as well as a holistic movie review.

I’m not saying that this movie beats you over the head with a “we are the world” message. Far from it. Mostly it just mashes you in the eyes with mega-fights and crazy schemes to plant nukes inside the throat of another dimension. But what makes it a truly great fairy tale, instead of just another CGI clunker, is the humble truth at the heart of this simple story. We are all in this together. So let’s go kick some kaiju ass!

The plot itself was sparse, to a degree, but that’s a good thing. While the movie does have pathos, it doesn’t get bogged down like Man of Steel or to a lesser extent, Ironman 3. The purpose of the movie – summer action popcorn fare at its best. It’s simple – sit back, relax and have some fun. A treatise that I wish the summer’s other action flicks had taken into account.

Photo credit: WSJ.com

Comments

comments