Once in a while there may be a film, game or book franchise that comes out that at first seems refreshingly unique like the UK constitution or either as dysfunctional as a plane hull held together with soggy duct tap. But after a short while tends to get a better recognition on the basis of more rounded and focused analysis by the wider public due to a greater amount of time with which to analyse said franchise. In regards to myself, one such franchise that I have had my views more rounded on over the years has been the Mass Effect series which over the years I have realised, tends to have some of the best storytelling of most game franchises of the last 20 years or so and colourful characters but also suffers from average (albeit testing) game play and a sour ending to the franchise itself. One such franchise or stand-alone instalment that I wholeheartedly know I can say without hesitation that I hate as much as Red Faction 2 is the recent crime-revenge-bloodbath flick Only God Forgives starring everyone's current male heartthrob Ryan Gosling.
Now just before I get into why I think that this film is as confusing as Inception if it was played backwards in German on acid and is about as upbeat and light-hearted as the ending to the anime series School Days (which if you don't know is pretty damn grim and violent) let me say that Ryan Gosling is an actor I have no ire towards. I mean he's about as colourful and emotionless as an ASDA home-brand cucumber and margarine sandwich on plain white bread in this film but he isn't necessarily a bad actor per-say in his other works. Still I can't stand his performance or that of anyone else in this god-forsaken (ba-dum-tish, BTW I'm an Atheist) mess of a film which follows our sternly handsome main character Julian as he attempts to find and reprimand 'crime-family-revenge' style the man in the local Thai community where he lives who killed his paedophillic pus-bag of a brother, Billy.
And that is pretty much the extent of the plot in Only God Forgives, there are twists revealed later in the film about how Julian himself is kind of evil like his brother (prepare for pseudo-incestual and murderous hints in regards to his family relations near the end of the film) and how Julian isn't really the one you would or should trust with avenging your death or protecting you against a corrupt Thai police chief who can seemingly pull a short-sword out of his braces when he wishes. As for the rest of the characters apart from Gosling's Julian, Julian and Billy's mum Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a selfish, egotistical and rude psycho who is just about prepared to let everyone else do all her actions for her in the film, Billy himself is a thoroughly unpleasant piece of greasy shit who introduces himself with his death and rape/murder of a 16-year-old girl in the first 15 mins of the film and the sword-wielding police chief Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm) is utterly alien and confusing in his motives much like Gosling's character is throughout the film.
Now you might have noticed as I mentioned earlier or as other people have said, this film is as bloody as a Nightmare on Elm St film on its menstruation working in a butchers shop with Oldboy (2003) as the shop owner. And sad to say, but unfortunately, the violence is the only real thing that God Only Forgives has going for it and when you build a film with allot of the good old human-flavour Kool-Aid in it albeit without much reason or development behind the gore to make it meaningful then the violence of said blood-letting tends to lose its impact on the viewer and story. Don't get me wrong though, the violence in this film does certainly show the visceral nature of the day-to-day lives that the characters live in as they all compete to see who can live the longest in this world of crime, bloodshed and corruption.
In turn, the way the bloodshed is shown and achieves its objective brings me onto the only other major pro in the film's favour, the cinematography is GORGEOUS. I'm not even kidding or exaggerating when I say that the mood that the shots set are some of the most compelling that I've seen in modern cinema for several years. While the acting is largely emotionless, the cinematography is so good that it actually manages to add some colour, warmth and grounded realism to the film despite the unrealism of how robotic the characters are portrayed as. So take this as a message, if you are ever in need of a film with excellent to settle an argument or possibly write a cinematography essay then use Only God Forgives as an example of cinematography that is as enjoyable as opening your Christmas stocking over a cup of hot chocolate on Christmas morning (a little cheesy I know, but that always sticks out in my mind as a pleasant memory).
So to conclude, this film is one hell of a downer and while that may not be always a bad thing, you at least have to make your film regardless of its mood interesting or at least catching and Only God Forgives fails pretty badly at this. While the cinematography is brilliant and the violence is strikingly reminiscent of some more famous gore-fest, south-east asian flicks the film tends to lose the impact of the grimness of the story and setting and the impact of said violence when the characters are shown to all be unlike-able with no redeeming qualities or likeable traits. On top of this, some of the torture scenes were really fucking hard for me to watch as they literally had me feeling physical pain as I watched them which wasn't helped by the lack of acting with any emotion in it. All in all, don't see this film as it is dull, confusing as hell and gets really freaking creepy towards the end like a paedophile's diary.
Summary: If you want to see something that's grim and has allot of blood and revenge themes in it, see something like Battle Royale (2000) or Oldboy (2003) and steer clear of Only God Forgives.
Characters: 3/10
Plot: 3.5/10
Action: 8/10
Overall: 14.5/30
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Saturday, 10 August 2013
New film review #9: The Wolverine
Remember what I said a couple of posts ago in my review of Man of Steel that the longer a film franchise goes on then the more likely it is to have as many stinkers as well as golden nuggets? Well the X-men film franchise owned by Fox studios is an anomaly in this sense. When the X-men film franchise first started out way back in 2000 with X-Men (duh, what else?) the first few films of the franchise namely between X-Men and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) were generally a bit shit like Halle Berry's puns in the first film or the over-the-top twists and deaths in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). But oddly enough, much like the Resident Evil film franchise, the X-Men film franchise seems to be slowly learning from its mistakes and becoming slowly better beginning with that one helicopter scene in Origins through X-Men: First Class (2011) and onwards to the recent release of the second film centred around Hugh Jackman's trademark Marvel comics character.
Now in comparison to the other X-Men films, does this one show as much moving forwards and improvement of the franchise as much as X-Men: First Class? Hell no. Seriously, this might be the best film of the franchise yet but that is purely based off of how well the film was made and acted. Unlike First Class, The Wolverine adds noticeably less new concepts in terms of character development to the film in regards to all of the characters. Don't get me wrong now boys and girls, there are a huge few concepts thrown into this film which have really fleshed out the film version of the character Wolverine and one after the credits which may have considerable implications for the rest of the X-Men film universe characters. But in sharp contrast, First Class fleshed out characters that covered a more diverse range of personalities than the characters in this flick with wider implications for the series in later instalments.
Fortunately in comparison to previous X-Men films though, this one has a plot that isn't unnecessarily long-winded or bogged down by too many token back-stories. Therefore, not only is the plot allot simpler but also allows for an action/adventure flick that is far easier to follow than say X2 (2003). As the film starts, we are introduced to Logan (AKA Wolverine or as I like to call him 'Mr Kebab stick hands') and a Japanese soldier named Yashida who is saved by our clawed, sweary and later-Batman-esque gruff Canadian soldier in the midst of the atomic explosion at Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War. Years later, Wolverine is a social and emotional outcast in rural mid-America after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand while Yashida has become the most well-recognised technology manufacturer in all of Japan. As Wolverine accepts one final request from his old comrade to say goodbye to Yashida before he dies Wolverine soon realises that Yashida is not resigned to death as he might expect but wants to do a two-way deal in which Yashida gets Wolverine's slowed-ageing while Wolverine will be able to live out the rest of his life at a normal pace. This soon all goes to pot however as Yashida is seemingly murdered and Wolverine is forced to go on the run with his emotionally fragile granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) all the while running from a shady organisation that employs a mixture of ninjas, yakuza clansmen and a rather pointless side villain named Viper played by the adept Svetlana Khodchenkova (yeah I can't pronounce her name properly either). And from here on out we experience a set of events that bring our heroes to the action-packed climax with a surprising amount of formulaic plot-lining yet surprising amount of excitement as Wolverine once more pits himself against legions of overconfident foes albeit with a greater sense of vulnerability this time round.
Yes that is the one thing that surprised me about The Wolverine and that is like Pacific Rim, The Wolverine has a formulaic plot and set of events that lead to equally formulaic character development and an equally formulaic climax, yet is all surprisingly entertaining to watch when it all comes together in the end much like a fried breakfast that took you four hours to make yet tastes like it was made by the hands of Zeus, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver combined. Perhaps this in accordance to the fact that as I mentioned earlier, Hugh Jackman has become so associated with the role of Wolverine in the film industry over the last 13 years that he now is not only able to show us how good an actor he is by playing a character that can simultaneously be an emotional drawing board and powerhouse but also show us how much he understands the characteristics of this iconic Marvel comics character. In turn, this is one of the film's main strengths in the sense that Jackman clearly knows how to play Wolverine so well and does so against the backdrop of a roster of characters that we have only just met and so have all the time in the world to get to know that creates a medley of character developments that go together like a grilled halloumi cheese salad and onion marmalade.
But whereas the storyline might not be as deliciously balanced between action and political/historical gravitas as X-Men: First Class, I personally think that the action has taken a notable improvement balancing between fast-paced, pitched battle and angry-Canadian-mutant VS giant-motherfucking-silver samurai-robot. On one hand, the one-on-one fights throughout the film convey a sense of ultimatum, usually happening as is the case with other films like this one, when two characters of both or either emotional or plot-line importance face off against each other in a clash to the end. This is interestingly smoothly contrasted against the clashes between Wolverine and legions of foes in fights where the now-vulnerable Wolverine must use wits and speed as well as his characteristic berserker rage to defeat the enemy whether it be at an old friend's funeral in the midst of hundreds of innocent people or atop a bullet train travelling at hundreds of miles an hour. The one exception to this is the disappointing clash between Wolverine and a clan of Ninjas in an urban tundra town that just screams of similarities to the final set in 13 Assassins (2010) which was given considerable gravitas in the film's trailers yet divulges into a moment of savage clarity where Wolverine takes down a single squad of baddies then runs away like a total idiot thus exposing himself to massed poisoned-arrow fire.
And much like this scene, the flaws of the film really stuck out in my throat like when I first played the space-faring-ship-flying shoot 'em' up game Freelancer (2003) and came across that forsaken and blood-vein-popping race level. For the most part, and thankfully unlike Man Of Steel, these flaws are not too striking and pretty much just apply to the continuity of the world of the X-Men film franchise. For example, Wolverine is clearly able to remember the events at Nagasaki that brought him and Yashida together but this is overshadowed by exposition in X2 that explains that Wolverine had his memory entirely taken from him when he was shot many years after WW2 with a bullet encased in the metal Adamantium in the head thus making the flashbacks to WW2 in The Wolverine a little bit niggling to the conscience of X-Men fans. As I also mentioned earlier, the side villain called Viper seems a little out of place and while she is played adeptly by Khodchenkova, proved to be a character that simply rubbed me up the wrong way as I never really enjoyed her presence on screen as I perhaps should have done. Also as mentioned earlier, the scene between Wolverine and the ninja clan near the end is just about as disappointing as the entire Michael Bay Transformers movie franchise (at least albeit without horrible sexualisation of women and wholly awful special effects).
But discounting this, the film on the whole is actually pretty damn good. It might not have the same level of maturity and historical reference in the plot as in X-Men: First Class or the same level of epic gravitas in the action as in X-Men: The Last Stand but at the very least, the action is most certainly the crowning glory of the film (especially the ball-grabingly awesome train fight scene) with its excellent juxtaposing while the plot is pleasantly easy to follow while including some twists at the end and after the credits (seriously, by now it should be a given that everyone stays after the credits at a Marvel comics film) that genuinely made me feel like doing a dramatic turn like I'm a character out of the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful (1987-present).
So in conclusion, I definitely think that this film, much like First Class before it, shows that the X-Men film franchise is most certainly heading in the right direction after the debacles of X-Men, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (I know that many dislike X2 but bite me, I like it and I care less than I do about The Bold and the Beautiful). The action is well-paced with great juxtaposition which also applies to the plot which is as pleasantly simple yet enjoyable as a foot-long meatball sub sandwich with cheese and the twists at the end just at chocolate frosting that is the indulgent crème caramel that The Wolverine is. I will say one perhaps dark and prophetic last point though, is there much room for the franchise left to go? Because that seems increasingly the question on my mind.
Ratings:
Plot: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Action: 9/10
Overall rating: 24/30
Now in comparison to the other X-Men films, does this one show as much moving forwards and improvement of the franchise as much as X-Men: First Class? Hell no. Seriously, this might be the best film of the franchise yet but that is purely based off of how well the film was made and acted. Unlike First Class, The Wolverine adds noticeably less new concepts in terms of character development to the film in regards to all of the characters. Don't get me wrong now boys and girls, there are a huge few concepts thrown into this film which have really fleshed out the film version of the character Wolverine and one after the credits which may have considerable implications for the rest of the X-Men film universe characters. But in sharp contrast, First Class fleshed out characters that covered a more diverse range of personalities than the characters in this flick with wider implications for the series in later instalments.
Fortunately in comparison to previous X-Men films though, this one has a plot that isn't unnecessarily long-winded or bogged down by too many token back-stories. Therefore, not only is the plot allot simpler but also allows for an action/adventure flick that is far easier to follow than say X2 (2003). As the film starts, we are introduced to Logan (AKA Wolverine or as I like to call him 'Mr Kebab stick hands') and a Japanese soldier named Yashida who is saved by our clawed, sweary and later-Batman-esque gruff Canadian soldier in the midst of the atomic explosion at Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War. Years later, Wolverine is a social and emotional outcast in rural mid-America after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand while Yashida has become the most well-recognised technology manufacturer in all of Japan. As Wolverine accepts one final request from his old comrade to say goodbye to Yashida before he dies Wolverine soon realises that Yashida is not resigned to death as he might expect but wants to do a two-way deal in which Yashida gets Wolverine's slowed-ageing while Wolverine will be able to live out the rest of his life at a normal pace. This soon all goes to pot however as Yashida is seemingly murdered and Wolverine is forced to go on the run with his emotionally fragile granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) all the while running from a shady organisation that employs a mixture of ninjas, yakuza clansmen and a rather pointless side villain named Viper played by the adept Svetlana Khodchenkova (yeah I can't pronounce her name properly either). And from here on out we experience a set of events that bring our heroes to the action-packed climax with a surprising amount of formulaic plot-lining yet surprising amount of excitement as Wolverine once more pits himself against legions of overconfident foes albeit with a greater sense of vulnerability this time round.
Yes that is the one thing that surprised me about The Wolverine and that is like Pacific Rim, The Wolverine has a formulaic plot and set of events that lead to equally formulaic character development and an equally formulaic climax, yet is all surprisingly entertaining to watch when it all comes together in the end much like a fried breakfast that took you four hours to make yet tastes like it was made by the hands of Zeus, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver combined. Perhaps this in accordance to the fact that as I mentioned earlier, Hugh Jackman has become so associated with the role of Wolverine in the film industry over the last 13 years that he now is not only able to show us how good an actor he is by playing a character that can simultaneously be an emotional drawing board and powerhouse but also show us how much he understands the characteristics of this iconic Marvel comics character. In turn, this is one of the film's main strengths in the sense that Jackman clearly knows how to play Wolverine so well and does so against the backdrop of a roster of characters that we have only just met and so have all the time in the world to get to know that creates a medley of character developments that go together like a grilled halloumi cheese salad and onion marmalade.
But whereas the storyline might not be as deliciously balanced between action and political/historical gravitas as X-Men: First Class, I personally think that the action has taken a notable improvement balancing between fast-paced, pitched battle and angry-Canadian-mutant VS giant-motherfucking-silver samurai-robot. On one hand, the one-on-one fights throughout the film convey a sense of ultimatum, usually happening as is the case with other films like this one, when two characters of both or either emotional or plot-line importance face off against each other in a clash to the end. This is interestingly smoothly contrasted against the clashes between Wolverine and legions of foes in fights where the now-vulnerable Wolverine must use wits and speed as well as his characteristic berserker rage to defeat the enemy whether it be at an old friend's funeral in the midst of hundreds of innocent people or atop a bullet train travelling at hundreds of miles an hour. The one exception to this is the disappointing clash between Wolverine and a clan of Ninjas in an urban tundra town that just screams of similarities to the final set in 13 Assassins (2010) which was given considerable gravitas in the film's trailers yet divulges into a moment of savage clarity where Wolverine takes down a single squad of baddies then runs away like a total idiot thus exposing himself to massed poisoned-arrow fire.
And much like this scene, the flaws of the film really stuck out in my throat like when I first played the space-faring-ship-flying shoot 'em' up game Freelancer (2003) and came across that forsaken and blood-vein-popping race level. For the most part, and thankfully unlike Man Of Steel, these flaws are not too striking and pretty much just apply to the continuity of the world of the X-Men film franchise. For example, Wolverine is clearly able to remember the events at Nagasaki that brought him and Yashida together but this is overshadowed by exposition in X2 that explains that Wolverine had his memory entirely taken from him when he was shot many years after WW2 with a bullet encased in the metal Adamantium in the head thus making the flashbacks to WW2 in The Wolverine a little bit niggling to the conscience of X-Men fans. As I also mentioned earlier, the side villain called Viper seems a little out of place and while she is played adeptly by Khodchenkova, proved to be a character that simply rubbed me up the wrong way as I never really enjoyed her presence on screen as I perhaps should have done. Also as mentioned earlier, the scene between Wolverine and the ninja clan near the end is just about as disappointing as the entire Michael Bay Transformers movie franchise (at least albeit without horrible sexualisation of women and wholly awful special effects).
But discounting this, the film on the whole is actually pretty damn good. It might not have the same level of maturity and historical reference in the plot as in X-Men: First Class or the same level of epic gravitas in the action as in X-Men: The Last Stand but at the very least, the action is most certainly the crowning glory of the film (especially the ball-grabingly awesome train fight scene) with its excellent juxtaposing while the plot is pleasantly easy to follow while including some twists at the end and after the credits (seriously, by now it should be a given that everyone stays after the credits at a Marvel comics film) that genuinely made me feel like doing a dramatic turn like I'm a character out of the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful (1987-present).
So in conclusion, I definitely think that this film, much like First Class before it, shows that the X-Men film franchise is most certainly heading in the right direction after the debacles of X-Men, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (I know that many dislike X2 but bite me, I like it and I care less than I do about The Bold and the Beautiful). The action is well-paced with great juxtaposition which also applies to the plot which is as pleasantly simple yet enjoyable as a foot-long meatball sub sandwich with cheese and the twists at the end just at chocolate frosting that is the indulgent crème caramel that The Wolverine is. I will say one perhaps dark and prophetic last point though, is there much room for the franchise left to go? Because that seems increasingly the question on my mind.
Ratings:
Plot: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Action: 9/10
Overall rating: 24/30
Thursday, 1 August 2013
New film review #8: Pacific Rim
With the rise of the vastly overrated Transformers franchise in recent years, it has only been inevitable that there has also come a slew of hopeful and futuristic tech-themed action romps that are clearly trying to overshadow the mega-giant that is Michael Bay's Transformers films. In some cases these films have turned out pretty badly (e.g. Transformers Dark of the Moon (2011), Atlantic Rim (2013) and After Earth (2013)), yet as with every genre of films, there are some golden nuggets for every few shit pellets. For this year it seems that the special sci-fi flick in question is Pacific Rim directed by Guillermo Del Torro (who you may also remember from his directing of the first two Hellboy films (2004 and 2008) and Pan's Labyrinth (2006)) which stars the talents of Charlie Hunnam as Raleigh Beckett (our hot-headed yet noble underdog), Idris Elba as Marshall Pentecost (the gruff and battle-hardened, pseudo-arrogant mentor of a commander) and Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori (the naturally unstable and attractive yet surprisingly fierce and deadly stereotyped love interest).
Now there is a chance that Pacific Rim may in turn be overshadowed by this year's other hopefully good sci-fi blockbuster Ender's Game but until that is proven otherwise, I at least, will personally hold Pacific Rim in high regards as the year's best sci-fi film so far. Now is t flawed? Totally with a capital 'T' while drinking a cup of Starbucks cappuccino and eating a Subway's foot-long turkey, ham and cheese melt in all its generic glory. Yes, Pacific Rim is generic to the extent that I should be calling it a bad flick but in all honesty? I actually liked it. Admittedly its not going to be remembered in as iconic a light in sci-fi/giant robot/action flicks as the first 20 mins of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) but regardless of its lack of a truly strong and well-told moral and plenitude of action blockbuster stereotypes (annoying scientist support characters notwithstanding) its at the very least, a fun film to watch. Think of it a film version of the experience of watching episodes of Ultimate Force (2002-) and Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares USA (2007-) while eating a Domino's large sized football meat special pizza with a 2 litre bottle of cherry coke. Its not intellectually engaging like the likes of Splice (2009) or Surrogates (2009) but like Real Steel (2011), its a sci-fi action romp with a hearty underdog hero and a proud charge to victory in the third act so predictable it makes you want to play Hulk Hogan's wrestling theme and wrap yourself in the American flag.
Naturally, the story is pretty generic as you may have gathered and doesn't try to do much outside of the usual comfort zone of these types of summertime blockbusters. When earth is invaded by inter-dimensional aliens named 'Kaiju' (Japanese for 'Monster' or 'Giant monster') that spew forth from a rift in reality in the pacific ocean near Hong Kong waters the earth's armies successfully take down the first few hulking monstrosities but only at a huge cost of a few hundred thousand lives. After a few years, the world's governments come up with enough resources to fund the 'Jager' (German for 'Sharpshooter' which is pretty much the opposite of what the heroes do in this film) programme which involves putting two-man teams into the heads of giant robots with varying weapon sets and capabilities in order to take down the monsters with maximum efficiency and minimum loss of life. 7 years after this war starts we get our predictable scene that proves the motivation for our heroic underdog Raleigh Beckett throughout the film as he and his brother Yancy (did their parents name them after bikes or what?) fight a Kaiju that rips their mech's arm off and kills Yancy in the process. Years later, the world leaders attempt to reverse the effects of heavy casualties amongst the Jagers by building giant walls across the shores of pacific nations that ultimately fail to keep the Kaiju out of human territory, the last few 'Jager-bots' (one each from Russia, China, America and Australia) are gathered in Hong Kong in order to tackle the Kaiju threat as closely to the aforementioned portal in the ocean as possible. While participating in this desperate endeavour, Raleigh and trainee pilot Mako Mori must prove that they are compatible enough to pilot their bot effectively, combat bad memories that literally threaten their combat effectiveness and prepare to face down a threat that could very well mean the apocalypse on earth as we know it.
And therein lies the main selling point of Del Torro's post-Transformers shit-storm sci-fi flick. It. Is. EPIC. The very theme of giant robots of varying nations and fighting styles fighting inter-dimensional aliens from the ocean deep for personal and national pride as well as the survival of the human race is in itself an alluring prospect for a film even taking into account the generic and predictable plot and character development that features throughout Pacific Rim. Now this definitely does contribute to the enjoyment of watching this flick. Such an idea of selling a film on epicness alone hasn't worked sometimes in the past but in cases such as this one, it can work quite admirably well. Aside from the epicness of the film's concept, the other main selling point is the action scenes which works actually quite well through some relatively-good CGI, Del Torro's direction and the work of audio specialist Scott Martin Gershin to convey said epicness of humanity's last struggle for survival against the apocalypse. In these scenes, the different fighting styles of the crews of the Jagers are clearly put to the test as the film tries its best to show that while the Jagers are strong, they individually and collectively have to pull out all the stops in order to defeat even just single Gaiju's that are in turn shown to be capable of adapting to the tactics of humanity's champions. Subsequently, even though it is short-lived, the bright-red Chinese Jager with a three-man crew with three arms that have circular saws on the ends and can use Chinese martial arts is FUCKING BADASS.
In turn the actors also fit their roles quite nicely which allows the personal drama between the pilots between the battles to blossom quite nicely and smoothly. Idris Elba who is clearly the best actor in the entire film (not least thanks to his recognisability due to playing Heimdall in Thor (2011)) kicks ass as the hard-as-nails Marshall Stacker Pentecost who is rigid in his unwaveringly tough approach to war but is ultimately a great strategist and respectably noble character who despite his hard nature and 'mentor' rather than 'main character' status is probably the most interesting character in the film as well. This isn't to say that the other actors are bad though as Hunnam plays the dashing underdog of a hero pretty well while Kikuchi plays the style of a character that is unstable but ultimately very powerful nicely while also looking damn fine in the form-fitting suits that the Jager pilots all must wear to connect with their bots. Some of the characters in this film however can perhaps be seen as either really annoying (i.e. Gottlieb played by Burn Gorman) or just a bit pointless and therefore a hindrance to the plot's advancement such as Hannibal Chau played by Ron Perlman who is undoubtedly unsuited to the role and film in general despite starring in epic flicks like the first two Hellboy films.
So in conclusion, some of the actors are a tad mis-cast (no offence intended to the good Mr Perlman and his many admirable performances) and the film in general is undoubtedly generic in the sense that most summer action blockbusters are. Yet despite its lack of an intellectual side (which to be fair, is not always necessary in sci-fi flicks like this) and some characters that I out-rightly hated, Pacific Rim was an enjoyable film to watch despite not necessarily being precisely on par with the hype it received from producers and film magazines and programmes before its release. Still, I would highly recommend you get yourself a nice big tub of warm and buttery popcorn with a bulging paper bag of pic 'n' mix and a large lemonade and sit back because this film is something to be enjoyed amongst the mostly (not entirely, see my review of Man of Steel) lacklustre film releases of the film so far.
Verdict: see to enjoy but don't expect to be blown away, this is strictly a popcorn flick albeit a truly enjoyable one at that.
Overall rating: 6.65/10
Now there is a chance that Pacific Rim may in turn be overshadowed by this year's other hopefully good sci-fi blockbuster Ender's Game but until that is proven otherwise, I at least, will personally hold Pacific Rim in high regards as the year's best sci-fi film so far. Now is t flawed? Totally with a capital 'T' while drinking a cup of Starbucks cappuccino and eating a Subway's foot-long turkey, ham and cheese melt in all its generic glory. Yes, Pacific Rim is generic to the extent that I should be calling it a bad flick but in all honesty? I actually liked it. Admittedly its not going to be remembered in as iconic a light in sci-fi/giant robot/action flicks as the first 20 mins of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) but regardless of its lack of a truly strong and well-told moral and plenitude of action blockbuster stereotypes (annoying scientist support characters notwithstanding) its at the very least, a fun film to watch. Think of it a film version of the experience of watching episodes of Ultimate Force (2002-) and Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares USA (2007-) while eating a Domino's large sized football meat special pizza with a 2 litre bottle of cherry coke. Its not intellectually engaging like the likes of Splice (2009) or Surrogates (2009) but like Real Steel (2011), its a sci-fi action romp with a hearty underdog hero and a proud charge to victory in the third act so predictable it makes you want to play Hulk Hogan's wrestling theme and wrap yourself in the American flag.
Naturally, the story is pretty generic as you may have gathered and doesn't try to do much outside of the usual comfort zone of these types of summertime blockbusters. When earth is invaded by inter-dimensional aliens named 'Kaiju' (Japanese for 'Monster' or 'Giant monster') that spew forth from a rift in reality in the pacific ocean near Hong Kong waters the earth's armies successfully take down the first few hulking monstrosities but only at a huge cost of a few hundred thousand lives. After a few years, the world's governments come up with enough resources to fund the 'Jager' (German for 'Sharpshooter' which is pretty much the opposite of what the heroes do in this film) programme which involves putting two-man teams into the heads of giant robots with varying weapon sets and capabilities in order to take down the monsters with maximum efficiency and minimum loss of life. 7 years after this war starts we get our predictable scene that proves the motivation for our heroic underdog Raleigh Beckett throughout the film as he and his brother Yancy (did their parents name them after bikes or what?) fight a Kaiju that rips their mech's arm off and kills Yancy in the process. Years later, the world leaders attempt to reverse the effects of heavy casualties amongst the Jagers by building giant walls across the shores of pacific nations that ultimately fail to keep the Kaiju out of human territory, the last few 'Jager-bots' (one each from Russia, China, America and Australia) are gathered in Hong Kong in order to tackle the Kaiju threat as closely to the aforementioned portal in the ocean as possible. While participating in this desperate endeavour, Raleigh and trainee pilot Mako Mori must prove that they are compatible enough to pilot their bot effectively, combat bad memories that literally threaten their combat effectiveness and prepare to face down a threat that could very well mean the apocalypse on earth as we know it.
And therein lies the main selling point of Del Torro's post-Transformers shit-storm sci-fi flick. It. Is. EPIC. The very theme of giant robots of varying nations and fighting styles fighting inter-dimensional aliens from the ocean deep for personal and national pride as well as the survival of the human race is in itself an alluring prospect for a film even taking into account the generic and predictable plot and character development that features throughout Pacific Rim. Now this definitely does contribute to the enjoyment of watching this flick. Such an idea of selling a film on epicness alone hasn't worked sometimes in the past but in cases such as this one, it can work quite admirably well. Aside from the epicness of the film's concept, the other main selling point is the action scenes which works actually quite well through some relatively-good CGI, Del Torro's direction and the work of audio specialist Scott Martin Gershin to convey said epicness of humanity's last struggle for survival against the apocalypse. In these scenes, the different fighting styles of the crews of the Jagers are clearly put to the test as the film tries its best to show that while the Jagers are strong, they individually and collectively have to pull out all the stops in order to defeat even just single Gaiju's that are in turn shown to be capable of adapting to the tactics of humanity's champions. Subsequently, even though it is short-lived, the bright-red Chinese Jager with a three-man crew with three arms that have circular saws on the ends and can use Chinese martial arts is FUCKING BADASS.
In turn the actors also fit their roles quite nicely which allows the personal drama between the pilots between the battles to blossom quite nicely and smoothly. Idris Elba who is clearly the best actor in the entire film (not least thanks to his recognisability due to playing Heimdall in Thor (2011)) kicks ass as the hard-as-nails Marshall Stacker Pentecost who is rigid in his unwaveringly tough approach to war but is ultimately a great strategist and respectably noble character who despite his hard nature and 'mentor' rather than 'main character' status is probably the most interesting character in the film as well. This isn't to say that the other actors are bad though as Hunnam plays the dashing underdog of a hero pretty well while Kikuchi plays the style of a character that is unstable but ultimately very powerful nicely while also looking damn fine in the form-fitting suits that the Jager pilots all must wear to connect with their bots. Some of the characters in this film however can perhaps be seen as either really annoying (i.e. Gottlieb played by Burn Gorman) or just a bit pointless and therefore a hindrance to the plot's advancement such as Hannibal Chau played by Ron Perlman who is undoubtedly unsuited to the role and film in general despite starring in epic flicks like the first two Hellboy films.
So in conclusion, some of the actors are a tad mis-cast (no offence intended to the good Mr Perlman and his many admirable performances) and the film in general is undoubtedly generic in the sense that most summer action blockbusters are. Yet despite its lack of an intellectual side (which to be fair, is not always necessary in sci-fi flicks like this) and some characters that I out-rightly hated, Pacific Rim was an enjoyable film to watch despite not necessarily being precisely on par with the hype it received from producers and film magazines and programmes before its release. Still, I would highly recommend you get yourself a nice big tub of warm and buttery popcorn with a bulging paper bag of pic 'n' mix and a large lemonade and sit back because this film is something to be enjoyed amongst the mostly (not entirely, see my review of Man of Steel) lacklustre film releases of the film so far.
Verdict: see to enjoy but don't expect to be blown away, this is strictly a popcorn flick albeit a truly enjoyable one at that.
Overall rating: 6.65/10
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