Ok, long story time, in order to get across how Pacific Rim made me feel, I need to go into some detail about my childhood, don't worry, I'll be as brief as possible. When was about 4 or 5, my mum took on more hours in work, including working every Friday, as my Dad worked shift patterns as a firefighter (4 days working, 4 days off) I usually had to spend about 2 Fridays a month at my Nan's, staying over until Saturday morning.
As I'm the oldest of my generation, my Nan's "first grandchild" if you will, my Nan had nothing in her house to entertain me. So she did the decent thing, she went to every charity shop, bargain bin and video rental shop (remember those?) to grab as many cheap "boy friendly" cartoons/shows as she could. I spent a lot of time watching those videos, to the point where to this day I can still remember all the plot points of the stories, if not the titles. There was an eclectic mix of Transformers, generic dubbed Japanese mecha anime, Thunderbirds and classic Godzilla movies. Within the first 5 minutes of Pacific Rim, I was face to face with HD, 3D, IMAX sized reminders of all those hours spent watching videos with my Nan, I didn't stand a chance.
There's a saying I'm quite fond of: "Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience", Pacific Rim brought me down to it's level, it's a film for 12 year olds who like bashing their toys together and throwing them round their bedroom. Where it spectacularly succeeded, is that it made me feel like a 12 year old again. I was scared by things that shouldn't scare me, I cared about characters other reviewers said were unlikable and I was moved by dialogue which could probably be described as boiler plate.
So about the film, I'm not going to spoil anything, but giant robot/monster fights are on the poster and each one is easily worth the price of admission. I thought Man of Steel had satisfying conflict until today, combatants go at it like they should for beings which are described by one character as "2500 tons of awesome". Every punch has tremendous weight, every impact resonates through the whole cinema, the choreography is spot on as well, this isn't the Yoda lightsaber fights from the Star Wars prequels with back flips for back flips sake, this is two forces of nature straining against each other, using any means necessary to win a battle to the death.
In between the epic smackdowns are, obviously, some quieter scenes. While some have expressed displeasure or disappointment at these parts, I found them to do a perfectly serviceable job of building both the characters and the world. The world in particular is beautifully imagined, with a real "lived in" feel and great details (one example being how, in contrast to our own society, beachfront housing and property on the water is considered the domain of the poor/working class, with richer citizens now living inland, further from potential monster landing sites). The script also moves along at a great pace, not lingering too long on any particular scenario and making sure the 2 hour 10 minute run time seems more like 90.
To sum up, it was going to take some spectacular balls up for me to not love Pacific Rim, the film reaches right back into my childhood memories and flicks all my switches. If you can't recall those experiences, if you never had them, or if you need every film you watch to have a profound message and an Oscar winning script then you'll probably hate this film, and I won't be upset, because it's probably not for everyone. If you're on the fence, please go and give this a try, if you're deciding between this and Grown Ups 2, I implore you to give your money to this film instead. Del Toro took a massive risk making a $180 million, lovingly crafted, passionately filmed masterpiece of a Summer blockbuster and he hit it clean out of the park.
Ben J
P.S The 3D is well worth it, coming from someone who prefers not to bother if possible, it's handled excellently and really gives a great sense of depth in the fight scenes.
P.P.S Stay through the credits.
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