Pacific Rim

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that demands that the group gets together and make it into an actual event. It can be difficult these days to the point where we barely try to get everyone on board to see one movie at a specific time, and it seems to work out now that once or twice a year, we make it happen. Last summer, Looper was the movie that got us all out. This year, Pacific Rim.

And unlike Looper, we all walked away excited and happy with the movie. Was there any doubt though? Really? Right from the initial teaser trailers, we were all hooked: giant robots fighting giant monsters. That type of movie - in my opinion - has been long overdue for quite some time. Growing up, I watched a lot of Godzilla movies with my dad, so I'm partial to the giant monster thing. Sprinkle in some robots and you have a film that taps directly into all of our childhoods favourite memories. We gobbled it up.

There is lots of fan service here: the giant monsters, known as kaiju, begin invading Earth through a portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. We can defend ourselves but it's not easy, so we create giant, human controlled robots called jaeger and engage them in a straight up brawl. That's right, the jaeger are equipped with rockets and plasma cannons, but it's the fists that do all the talking. It's almost comical, if it wasn't so awesome.

Each jaeger is piloted by two people, whose minds are joined together - the task of piloting and operating these giant mecha is too much for one brain to handle, so we threw two at it. The melding of minds is referred to as drifting, as the initial meld has both users going through the others memories and feelings. They become linked in a way that any physical communication can't match. In the previews, I thought the idea was a bit silly, but in practice it makes sense and actually adds weight to the story: imagine sharing the mind of somebody as they die, then going on to share your mind with another and have that individual experience those through you as well. It's interesting, and is significant when two pilots simply nod at one another later on: no words need to be spoken because they know exactly where they stand.

Anyway, the combat - which we all came here to see - is superb. Guillermo del Toro doesn't fall into the modern day action movie pitfall of too much editing and quick cutting to see the action: the two towering behemoths duke it out in gorgeous CGI glory in near slow motion. We get to see it all, and I love it every second of it. Kaiju and jaeger alike have a real sense of being, of some real weight on screen, which can often be lost in CGI creations. The designs of the robots and monsters practically beg for trading cards, action figures and more. Cities get destroyed as they should, but it doesn't feel excessive. Seeing Man of Steel recently, I balked at the city destruction caused by two super powered tiny men (aliens I suppose). There is much less destruction on screen here between two giants, but it feels proper, if that's possible.

There are faults of course: kaiju and jaegers change size constantly to fit the needs of the scene; the acting is flat but acceptable, and the story is not wholly original. But these are minor complaints that hold little significance to the enjoyment of the film. We came to see monsters versus robots, and that's exactly what we got. It's fun, loud, bombastic and the perfect film to see in theatres with a bunch of friends.