Pacific Rim

Director:  Guillermo del Toro, Main Cast: Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi

I completely understand del Toro for wanting to make this film, I also grew up watching tons of Japanese anime with giant robots that beat the crap out of alien monsters/robots, so my inner eight-year old was giddy at the idea. Multi-million visual and special effects notwithstanding, we were both disappointed (my inner child and I). I didn’t appreciated the weak script, the inconsistencies of the plot and the super-cliched story arc of our hero: young and over-confident fighter, brought back to the harsh reality of life by tragedy, reluctant comeback after years of obscurity and finally saving the world…well, nothing new under the sun. My inner child instead was really upset by the abysmally poor tactics and the overall strategy in fighting the monsters (kaiju = monster in Japanese filmography…as much creativity as calling the first satellite in human history “sputnik”). What’s with the fist fights and low-performing energy beams….seriously?! Where are the atomic punch, the thunder break or the double harken? Our heros remember halfway through a fight that they have a much more effective sword…what the hell? Why not use it right away instead of a freight ship as a cudgel? And why always wait for the kaiju to come and destroy cities instead of meeting them in the middle of the Pacific where the inter-dimensional portal is? I won’t even talk about the pseudoscience or the lamest speech a la “Saint Crispin’s Day” since Independence Day. Anyway, del Toro is already planning a sequel, so I hope that he will refresh his memory watching some episodes of Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger or Grendizer. Try, try again, fail, fail better.–4/10