Pacific Rim

2013 / Director. Guillermo Del Toro.

My expectations for Pacific Rim have been kept to a minimum, although my hopes have been high. The poster art and trailers have left a lot to be desired. They give the impression of self indulgence and style over substance... however my faith in Guillermo Del Toro as a director is tenacious and he has delivered an absolute belter! Pacific Rim is a fucking epic, original and relentless movie. Its premise is pretty much Transformers Vs Godzilla. Earth is being gradually invaded by hordes of gigantic alien monsters and the only line of defence is an army of giant nuclear-powered robots. I won't bother revealing anything else of the plot because in writing it sounds stupid... but on screen, it's amazing. With Del Toro's unmistakable vision, this movie is unlike anything I've seen. It is 130 minutes of intensity, destruction and bravado and yet it possesses strength and quality. This is NOT another Michael Bay movie... its a Guillmero Del Toro film and that means something. The visual aspects go without saying, they look amazing but the movie has so much more going for it. The script is fantastic! The characters are wonderful and the film's biggest strength is its lack of star power. There are no high profile Hollywood names here. Ron Pearlman, Idris Elba and Clifton Collins Jr are about as big as they get, which adds a massive amount of credibility. So many big budget sci-fi action movies have polluted our screens over the last few years (Transformers, Battleship, World War Z etc) and all of them have lacked depth. Thank God for Pacific Rim. Make sure you see it in 3D at the cinemas, because it deserves to be seen that way. IMAX is preferable. I can't wait to see it again! 

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