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Pacific Rim

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  • Went to see it tonight (or last night, since it's 1AM now). I loved every minute of it but have trouble calling it anything but fine. It had nothing going for it but Ron Pearlman, and yet I thought it was an amazing experience. The only big surprise was that I thought the robots were going to be more nationalist. Like, give the Russian one a bottle of vodka, or give the Australian one a spider -- some real G Gundam-esque shit. That's what the posters lead me to believe. Not really a fault of the movie, just a disappointment.
  • Went to see it tonight (or last night, since it's 1AM now). I loved every minute of it but have trouble calling it anything but fine. It had nothing going for it but Ron Pearlman, and yet I thought it was an amazing experience. The only big surprise was that I thought the robots were going to be more nationalist. Like, give the Russian one a bottle of vodka, or give the Australian one a spider -- some real G Gundam-esque shit. That's what the posters lead me to believe. Not really a fault of the movie, just a disappointment.
    And the fact that there are only four jaegers limits the fun of bringing together all the nations.

    Broke some friends hearts, as I compared this movie to Avatar. (Big Special Effects Driven-Movie with a familiar storyline) But I like Avatar far more than this because it deviated enough from the formula to make it interesting, while Pacific Rim is just a military plotline with a paint job of giant robots.
  • No international giant robot squad is complete without Tequila Gundam.
  • ArkArk
    edited July 2013
    But I like Avatar far more than this because it deviated enough from the formula to make it interesting, while Pacific Rim is just a military plotline with a paint job of giant robots.
    How did Avatar deviate from any formula? There was nothing suprising in the plot at all.

    I'd say that PR was far more "deviant", primarily because of the lack of romance. Towards the end I genuinely didn't know whether Raleigh and Mako would survive. Whereas in Avavtar there was never any doubt in my mind that the male and female leads would survive.
    Post edited by Ark on
  • But I like Avatar far more than this because it deviated enough from the formula to make it interesting, while Pacific Rim is just a military plotline with a paint job of giant robots.
    How did Avatar deviate from any formula? There was nothing suprising in the plot at all.
    The plot of Avatar wasn't surprising, but there was a lot of very new elements in the movie. The scope of the action, the quality of the 3D, the world building, the CGI characters, and much more besides, was all taken to a level unseen in any movie before. There's a reason it is one of the most successful movies of all time, and it's not the plot! Or, to put it another way, actually there are many reasons, and the safe plot is one of them!
  • But I like Avatar far more than this because it deviated enough from the formula to make it interesting, while Pacific Rim is just a military plotline with a paint job of giant robots.
    How did Avatar deviate from any formula? There was nothing suprising in the plot at all.
    The plot of Avatar wasn't surprising, but there was a lot of very new elements in the movie. The scope of the action, the quality of the 3D, the world building, the CGI characters, and much more besides, was all taken to a level unseen in any movie before. There's a reason it is one of the most successful movies of all time, and it's not the plot! Or, to put it another way, actually there are many reasons, and the safe plot is one of them!
    Would you say that Avatar is the new Star Wars from a film making point of view?

  • Would you say that Avatar is the new Star Wars from a film making point of view?
    It's not been long enough to tell. It was certainly a landmark movie in terms of budget and special effects and use of 3D. However, I don't think enough movies have come after that wouldn't have been made about without Avatar existing. John Carter of Mars?

    I'd say other movies since Star Wars have been far more influential, or at least more clearly influential, than Avatar has so far. Some off the top of my head since the mid 90's:

    Blaire Witch Project: for "found footage".

    Independence Day: for realistic destruction of landmark buildings.

    Braveheart: for every sword-based battle sequence since then.

    Saving Private Ryan: for shaky-cam.

    The Matrix: for bullet-time/time-varied views of action.

    The Phantom Menace: for full green screen no-location movie studios.

    Lord of the Rings: for motion capture performances. And for the crowd/battle simulation that now powers every mass of any being in any movie.
  • Wouldn't Saving Private Ryan fall under Blaire Witch for shaky cam? Otherwise I agree with your list.
  • Wouldn't Saving Private Ryan fall under Blaire Witch for shaky cam? Otherwise I agree with your list.
    I think the shaky cam are different. In Blair Witch it was a byproduct of the found footage amateur camera operator conceit. It was used to make it hard to see what was actually happening (hint: nothing was happening). It was a device of disruption.

    In Saving Private Ryan it was used to bring an immediacy to the action. The action was as clear as non-shaky cam, but had an energy that wouldn't be there otherwise. It was a deliberate use of shaky-cam. And, as far as my memory goes, Saving Private Ryan came out a few years before Blair Witch Project.
  • edited July 2013
    I will concede the point. I didn't check when the movies came out and my mind assumed your list was in chronological order.

    As a side note I can not watch shaky cam movies. The effect makes me nauseous after only about 30 seconds. Because of this I never saw Cloverfield even though I wanted to.
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • But I like Avatar far more than this because it deviated enough from the formula to make it interesting, while Pacific Rim is just a military plotline with a paint job of giant robots.
    How did Avatar deviate from any formula? There was nothing suprising in the plot at all.
    The plot of Avatar wasn't surprising, but there was a lot of very new elements in the movie. The scope of the action, the quality of the 3D, the world building, the CGI characters, and much more besides, was all taken to a level unseen in any movie before. There's a reason it is one of the most successful movies of all time, and it's not the plot! Or, to put it another way, actually there are many reasons, and the safe plot is one of them!
    I give Avatar credit for biologically explaining the connections between the Na'vi, the planet, and the animals instead of it being the typical speeches of "but these people are spiritual!" The whole connection through the tendrils with other lifeforms is pretty cool and works for several parts of the plot.

    Someone actually said to me that even for a Kaiju expert, Pacific Rim has the really complex plot line and large amount of character development for a giant monster movie. If that's what the Kaiju genre has...boy that says something about these kinds of movies.

  • Someone actually said to me that even for a Kaiju expert, Pacific Rim has the really complex plot line and large amount of character development for a giant monster movie. If that's what the Kaiju genre has...boy that says something about these kinds of movies.
    That's a point worth considering. Pacific Rim doesn't have much on the way of complex characters compared to a lot of movies, but compared to Destroy all Monsters or Robot Jox it's High Art.

  • I give Avatar credit for biologically explaining the connections between the Na'vi, the planet, and the animals instead of it being the typical speeches of "but these people are spiritual!" The whole connection through the tendrils with other lifeforms is pretty cool and works for several parts of the plot.
    That doesn't really change the overall narrative structure through, it just makes the plot a bit more science fictional as opposed to fantastic.

  • edited July 2013
    Just returned from watching it. The film is absolutely amazing. Godzilla, Evangelion and the good parts of Independence Day blended together and all the fat and bloat removed you usually have with these types of movies. Spectacular in the truest sense of the word.

    I also like that it's an american action film that isn't primarily set in the U.S.
    Post edited by chaosof99 on
  • I didn't read the whole thread but I'm surprised I didn't see anyone making Lovecraft connections. Hopefully I just missed them. I didn't really understand how Mako and main-dude got back through the breach. I was really proud of myself when Mako said "Ai Shitemasu," it was unsubbed and I had never heard the phrase before but I was able to deduce it means "I love you."
  • I didn't really understand how Mako and main-dude got back through the breach.
    I think it says something when you can't remember the main character's name.

    The breach is a portal, right? And the end is protected by a force-field that'll deactivate when it detects Kaiju DNA. The portal is filled with water, so when Mako ejects, she floats up, through the portal. Since the Kaiju is still in the portal, she can exit just fine. Same for Raleigh.
  • I watched it recently, I'm insanely happy with some parts and not so happy with others. The fights were amazing. Edge of my seat, amazing. That alone makes the movie worth it. The scientists, I fucking love them. I loved it every time they were on screen together. Charlie Day did a great job. Burn Gorman, I was so happy I saw him on screen. He did such a great job.

    Mako, my feelings about her are mixed. There are some scenes I really liked. They're mostly towards the beginning when she's challenging the main-dude (OMG he's so bland). My fav line was from the sparring scene when she said that he could've finished 2 moves earlier. Towards the end, she had little to no lines and was all crying.
  • So many plot holes and bad science fiction, but hey: robots punching giant monsters in the face.
  • edited July 2013
    So many plot holes and bad science fiction, but hey: robots punching giant monsters in the face.
    Sounds like adventure pulp to me.
    Post edited by Walker on
  • It was a fun movie. I mean, I'm a big time mecha anime fan in general, and this movie appealed to me at that level (heck, I'll even watch a mecha show that's basically just "monster of the week" action if it looks cool enough). My biggest complaint was that almost all the battles (and all the battles of significant duration on screen) took place in the dark and during a pouring rain storm. I'd love to have seen some Jaeger-on-Kaiju action in the broad daylight.
  • Saw it a second time and it was still an enjoyable watch. The soundtrack, especially, is enjoyable, with its repeating of the main theme over and over again.

  • As a side note I can not watch shaky cam movies. The effect makes me nauseous after only about 30 seconds. Because of this I never saw Cloverfield even though I wanted to.
    I have the same problem. I listened to Cloverfield while my wife watched it on TV. Any time I tried to look at it my stomach went to hell.

    Otherwise, I liked PacRim a lot. Brainless fun. A couple days later I saw World War Z which is the same sort of brainless fun but with much, much better acting. That gave it a lot of depth that really wasn't in the script.

    I've seen the Avatar story done better so many times in so many movies I laughed my way through it. I do think the sequence about the destruction of the Huge Tree which was stunning and as close to an honest emotion as the movie got.

  • I can't remember who said it, but I recently heard the comment that a more apt comparison than "Live action Evangelical" is "Live action Gurren Lagan."
  • No-one remembers Ultraman.
  • I can't remember who said it, but I recently heard the comment that a more apt comparison than "Live action Evangelical" is "Live action Gurren Lagan."
    Probably fair (Note: I haven't seen PR yet). There's some obvious Eva influence, but G-L is a more "traditional" super robot show, and it's clear that the movie draws more from the genre than from any one show, except for bits and pieces. I'd even say it's more fair to say that it's Live Action Gunbuster more than anything else (two pilots, alien invasion, weak horror undertones....)
  • It's also a bit fuzzy as the Jaegers kind of straddle the line between super and real robots, whereas G-L is full-bore super robot. The Jaegers are as large as any super robot, but they try to expand upon real world physics and technology (nuclear reactors, missile launchers, etc.) to describe how they operate, as opposed to some mythical power source like Spiral Energy in G-L. Then again, Eva itself tends to straddle the line between real and super robot shots as well.
  • I can't remember who said it, but I recently heard the comment that a more apt comparison than "Live action Evangelical" is "Live action Gurren Lagan."
    I describe it as live action Eva if every episode was Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!
  • Can I just take this moment to say that Cherno Alpha is the coolest robot in the history of ever?
  • While none of them were super cool on their own, the fact they were all from different generations was really cool.
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