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Pacific Rim

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  • edited July 2013
    edit: double post
    Post edited by Matt on
  • edited July 2013
    Let me also couch my criticism by saying that I did have a great time watching this movie, and am very glad I decided to see it in IMAX 3D. It is worth well more than the price of admissions.

    I knew the dialogue would be a bit hokey at times, but it's hard to explain how much better the action is framed and filmed than the Transformers crap. This movie should be up for cinematography awards.
    Post edited by Matt on
  • readily accepted the female lead as an equal and stood up for her without romantic intentions.
    I’m so glad they didn’t go with the default romantic sub-plot. Although, I’ve had some problems with Del Torro’s independent mindedness in past films, here it definitely paid off.
    Both times I saw it the audience was a lot more invested in what was going on than they were in any of the other movies I've seen in a theater recently. Certainly more so than Star Trek or Man of Steel.
    This is easily the most engaging film I’ve seen at the cinema this year. So much better than Superman, Stark Trek and to be honest even the Hobbit. Those films all felt like brand products to different degrees, rather than real stories. This felt like a real story that the writers believed in.
  • but it's hard to explain how much better the action is framed and filmed than the Transformers crap.
    Allow me to explain it for you:

    When I watched Pacific Rim, I could tell what was going on.
  • I ... am very glad I decided to see it in IMAX 3D. It is worth well more than the price of admissions.
    Did you not notice the composting problem? The fact that in 3D, the backgrounds were made out of 2d panes, sliding over each other? Besides, more than once, they messed it up, and one or more of those layers moved at the wrong speed.

  • Man, if you're paying that close attention to stuff in the background, you're not watching Pacific Rim right.

    Nah, for serious though, I saw it in 3D as well and I did not notice any issue at all. Maybe I'm not sensitive enough to the layers, but nothing like that stood out to me. Is it only really apparent in IMAX maybe?
  • edited July 2013
    I ... am very glad I decided to see it in IMAX 3D. It is worth well more than the price of admissions.
    Did you not notice the composting problem? The fact that in 3D, the backgrounds were made out of 2d panes, sliding over each other? Besides, more than once, they messed it up, and one or more of those layers moved at the wrong speed.
    I could probably watch the movie 50 times and not notice something like that.

    I never catch this sort of stuff, and it doesn't hamper my enjoyment of films. For instance, I never notice any of the common goofs people mention in Star Wars, like the storm trooper that hits his head.
    Post edited by Matt on
  • edited July 2013
    So uhh... why the fuck don't all the robots have giant sword blades since that seems to be super effective? Also why did all the world leaders greenlight the shitty wall plan when it fucked up several times? Also the mind meld bullshit seemed like it was overly complicated, it seems like more of an engineering feat to accomplish a shared mind technology as opposed to just having like one person control the feet and the other control the arms or something. And while they're "in a rush" to finish the Yaegers seems like the dumbest plan ever.

    The movie, besides being REALLY campy, was pretty good. I liked the fights.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • That whole thing about the Jaegers being discontinued by the UN did remind me of Eva when they're giving Gendo shit about the Eva's not working and threatening to discontinue them, but then again so did a lot of the film. I'll defend the whole mind meld thing just because it might have been more awkward if one person was arms and the other legs because it might end up like a robot version of the whole "Two kids in a trench coat pretending to be an adult" schtick and not work so well in a fight. I was hoping to learn more about the Kaiju's biology and whatnot but I'm sure we'll get more if there's a sequel. The wall thing was dumb though. I mean their giant monsters, so you're just going to build a wall and hope they don't break through, and have no way of defending yourselves. Its like knowing someone is trying to murder you and hoping the locked door is good enough.
  • edited July 2013
    I figured the top and bottom half thing would be more conducive to the whole teamwork shtick, even though it would have removed the phoned in painful memories plot point. Also eventually the Kaiju can fly and you could assume eventually they could bore through rock pretty easily.

    If the movie wasn't self aware of how absurd it was then the whole thing would have fallen apart.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • edited July 2013
    I figured the top and bottom half thing would be more conducive to the whole teamwork shtick, even though it would have removed the phoned in painful memories plot point.
    Speaking as a a man who has played MechWarrior 3050 on the Genesis (Titled "Battletech" on that system) in two player mode, I can say that piloting the top and bottom of a Mech separately does not in fact work. Or at least it doesn't work well.

    Post edited by Drunken Butler on
  • edited July 2013
    But you weren't trained by future military.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • edited July 2013
    But you weren't trained by future military.
    True. But could Mechwarrior 3050 be a secret screening test for potential Jeager pilots?
    Years before, you wouldn’t have picked my brother Jesse and I for heroes. No chance. We were never star athletes, never at the head of the class, but we could hold our own in a fight. And it turned out we had a unique skill. We were were able to beat Mechwarrior 3050 on the NES.
    Post edited by Drunken Butler on
  • One thing I've seen a lot of among my hardcore anime fan/geek friends is heavy criticism of this movie. And yeah, I'll agree it wasn't perfect. That being said, I loved every second of Pacific Rim, and I think it's part of a trend we're seeing where comics, long relegated to niche cultures are becoming mainstream popular. Which means hopefully we'll see more comics. Sure there are a lot of hardcore underwear perverts who don't like the big-budget adaptations, but they key point is that big budget adaptations of comics makes comics relevant.

    Pacific Rim is important because it makes anime relevant in the US where anime and manga are flat out dying.
  • Errrr, Monty, anime and Manga is no longer dying, it's just not a craze anymore. I'd argue that the anime industry in the US is pretty stable now and the amount of people watching anime is way higher then before the boom, just not as big as it was during the boom. But anything with giant mechs is great :-p
  • edited July 2013
    So uhh... why the fuck don't all the robots have giant sword blades since that seems to be super effective? Also why did all the world leaders greenlight the shitty wall plan when it fucked up several times? Also the mind meld bullshit seemed like it was overly complicated, it seems like more of an engineering feat to accomplish a shared mind technology as opposed to just having like one person control the feet and the other control the arms or something. And while they're "in a rush" to finish the Yaegers seems like the dumbest plan ever.
    Answer to point 1: Rule of cool.
    Answer to point 2: Rule of rising action.
    Answer to point 3: Because synchronised punching is cool.*
    Answer to point 4: Shut up and eat your popcorn.

    * - And also I would guess it better ensures that the pilots don't fuck up and try to do different things at the same time, resulting in the Jaegers falling over or something. Gets both pilots on the same page more frequently in addition to spreading out the neural load.
    Post edited by Eryn on
  • edited July 2013
    Having not seen the movie, what I don't understand is why don't they put a computer in as an abstraction layer between the pilot and the machine? The computer can handle the fine details and the pilot can just pilot it. Kinect+Mech or something. Why does there even need to be a neural link? I mean, is that explained in the movie or something?
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • Having not seen the movie, what I don't understand is why don't they put a computer in as an abstraction layer between the pilot and the machine? The computer can handle the fine details and the pilot can just pilot it. Kinect+Mech or something. Why does there even need to be a neural link? I mean, is that explained in the movie or something?
    No not really, I would have been fine with hydraulic limbs really.

  • edited July 2013
    Really? No explanation? Then now it really doesn't make sense because (and I realize there's a difference in size here) but a 100 ton Atlas Mech can be piloted by one dude with a joystick. A sky scraper sized MegaDeus (Big O) that is slow and lumbering and not very agile is piloted by one man (anime batman, granted) with two joysticks and foot pedals. Why do these mechs need two-player DDR style BCI controls?
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • edited July 2013
    Really? No explanation? Then now it really doesn't make sense because (and I realize there's a difference in size here) but a 100 ton Atlas Mech can be piloted by one dude with a joystick. A sky scraper sized MegaDeus (Big O) that is slow and lumbering and not very agile is piloted by one man (anime batman, granted) with two joysticks and foot pedals. Why do these mechs need two-player DDR style BCI controls?
    That Atlas you're talking about? That uses a neural link to tie the pilots sense of balance with it's internal gyros. It ain't just a dude in a joystick. Your poor knowledge of battlemechs betrays your poor lineage, Freebirth Scum!

    Besides, If we are going to start taking issues with Pacific Rim's premise, shouldn't we start with the Square-cube law and how it applies to the scale of both Jaegers and Kaiju? Suspension of disbelief is a wonderful thing.
    Post edited by Drunken Butler on
  • So uhh... why the fuck don't all the robots have giant sword blades since that seems to be super effective? Also why did all the world leaders greenlight the shitty wall plan when it fucked up several times? Also the mind meld bullshit seemed like it was overly complicated, it seems like more of an engineering feat to accomplish a shared mind technology as opposed to just having like one person control the feet and the other control the arms or something. And while they're "in a rush" to finish the Yaegers seems like the dumbest plan ever.
    I think trying to build a giant wall to block out all the Kaiju still reigns as the dumbest plan ever. They'd have to build a wall that is so large it blocks the entire Pacific Ocean on both ends. Really, they spent 7 years and countless amount of resources to build something that eventually was destroyed. What irritates me is that when I bring that up as a bad plot point, people go "Well, the government and United Nations is already really stupid and would just accept that they failed if that happened." Not to the level where they'd accept global destruction.

    I think the trailers/commercials hyped up too many aspects of movie, where there were only a few that really worked. Those being the action, the special effects and the art design. The plot is weak and even selling the idea of "Robots vs. Monsters" was overrated, as there's only one Jaeger that really kicks any ass. The others are trashed and the movie begins with saying "We are dismantling these robots!" We only got that great introduction to feel how they were, why did the scriptwriter think this was good move for a franchise?

    If there's anyone else I have to give credit to, it was Charlie Day. As over-the-top as he was, he was definitely the most interesting actor and character in the movie. He was channeling Rick Moranis like no one else.
  • I mean very few things make sense in the movie but the movie realizes that it doesn't really make sense so it makes it enjoyable.
  • I mean very few things make sense in the movie but the movie realizes that it doesn't really make sense so it makes it enjoyable.
    I think the movie would have been better if it was more cartoonish in aspects of the characters. I could work with the science of the robots and kaiju, even the inconsistencies with battle. However, the first half of the movie really had me confused and unsure of the movie. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi and even Idris Elba were incredibly dry and had unclear character motivation/descriptions. That's why I really love Charlie Day and that other scientist so much, because while they are caricatures, they still have boatloads of personality. People say the same with Ron Perlman.
  • I mean very few things make sense in the movie but the movie realizes that it doesn't really make sense so it makes it enjoyable.
    That's one of the nice things about del Toro. When he does weird he doesn't do it by halves. His willingness to include Tenticular Horrors, Giant Frogs and Crazy Robot Piloting Techniques makes his work unique.
  • I mean very few things make sense in the movie but the movie realizes that it doesn't really make sense so it makes it enjoyable.
    I think the movie would have been better if it was more cartoonish in aspects of the characters. I could work with the science of the robots and kaiju, even the inconsistencies with battle. However, the first half of the movie really had me confused and unsure of the movie. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi and even Idris Elba were incredibly dry and had unclear character motivation/descriptions. That's why I really love Charlie Day and that other scientist so much, because while they are caricatures, they still have boatloads of personality. People say the same with Ron Perlman.
    I agree with everything you just said here. What you are describing is a dash of Fifth Element, actually scratch that, Starship Troopers. If Pacific Rim took a page from Starship Troopers... it'd be perfect. As it stands, still a movie that was worth every cent to see.

  • Predictably, tumblr is SUPER ANGRY about Pacific Rim. Equally predictably, from their complaints, none of them saw the movie.
  • Really? That's interesting to hear. Everyone on my Tumblr dash seems to love Pacific Rim, so I hadn't gotten that impression. Hopefully that's a sign that I'm not hanging out in the wrong corners of that site.
  • Really? That's interesting to hear. Everyone on my Tumblr dash seems to love Pacific Rim, so I hadn't gotten that impression. Hopefully that's a sign that I'm not hanging out in the wrong corners of that site.
    nah, when I say tumblr, I mean the sjw section of tumblr that goes out of it's way to be horribly offended and angry at everything. If you're not seeing it, you're hanging with the right crowd, not the wrong one.
  • "Tumblr" very rarely refers to all users of tumblr, but rather the social justice warriors for which it is infamous in the same way that "reddit" refers to atheist cat loving gamers, even though a large ammount of it is neutral or against one or all of those things.
  • That I know, but I do have a couple people on my dash who sometimes repost SJW drama for lulz or call it out for BS, and they hadn't posted anything on the subject, so I just assumed all was quiet on the Tumblr front, as it were.
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