Pacific Rim

Del Toro serves up pure-blooded mecha anime in live-action form with a properly intensified wow effect. Nevertheless, it is necessary to realise that Pacific Rim is primarily intended to work as a presentation of the mecha genre for the mainstream western audience. Therefore, if we look for adequate equivalents to the film in anime, then we definitely cannot go to the extremes of the genre such as the psychological-existential-theological curiosity Neon Genesis Evangelion or the spectacular self-reflexive and genre-caricature madness of Gurren Lagann. Pacific Rim is rather an equivalent of the genre’s pioneering titles that gets by with an honestly straightforward story and is built primarily on the novelty (in the context of Hollywood blockbusters) of its basic concept of spectacular battles between giant robots and giant monsters. People who have had a brush with anime, or rather Japanese pop culture in general, and have seen a handful of the most highly acclaimed and thus also completely exceptional titles can lament the fact that, in terms of characters and their dramatic arcs as well as the complexity of the given world, there are better mecha films than the first American blockbuster venturing into the vast expanses of the genre. But let’s bear in mind that the purpose was not to make an equivalent of Evangelion, but simply to make the first-ever live-action mecha film that wouldn’t have the form of papier-mâché tokusatsu movies and series, but would be an epic hyper-realistic spectacle in which the main attractions are the dimensions and proportions of the mechs. Similarly as in the case of Hellboy, del Toro doesn’t offer a distinctive interpretation of the existing tradition, but he gets by with fannish enthusiasm over the fact that he got to play with his dream action figures. _____ Regarding the film’s revenues and reception: Based on opening weekend box-office receipts in the US, some predicted a sad fate for the film, but several weeks after its release, Pacific Rim has proven to be a project that isn’t oriented primarily toward the American audience, as it has strong international potential, especially in Asia. During its opening weekend in South Korea, it captured 44.3% of the audience (i.e. 1,160, 636 viewers), and it became a truly massive hit in China, where it held the number-one spot for three weeks, repelling attacks from expected domestic hits, and was on the way to exceeding the revenues of Iron Man 3. Whereas domestic box-office receipts account for half of total global revenues with other Hollywood seasonal blockbusters such as Iron Man 3 and Fast & Furious 6, foreign receipts comprise two-thirds of the total in the case of Pacific Rim. (13/07/2013)

Something is creaking here and unfortunately not in that good robotic way. Guillermo del Toro might be playing around with huge action figures, but he forgot to give them a beating heart. Any part of Transformers can have as many mistakes as it wants, and yet it works incomparably better in terms of storytelling or emotion. Surprisingly, various dialogue and narrative clichés pile up here for some time, not all the actors are likable (Charlie Day fails miserably in his role), and all the weight lies on the action scenes. As expected, these work perfectly, and the battle for Hong Kong with the third dimension in the background is intoxicating like nothing I've seen in a long while, but it is still far from enough. Behind every precise hit, there is hesitation, and behind every twist, there is awareness that this is only little boy's dream come true without anything that would also satisfy someone who didn't spend his childhood throwing robots and lizards against the wall in his room. Even the plot twists with some added value, like the black market or the hints of a social crisis, feel slightly contrived. And given that the characters fighting the enemy are just pre-set genre figurines (unfortunately, even the eagerly awaited protagonists Mako and Pentecost), it is quite a disappointing experience despite cautious expectations. The third star is saved by the likable Charlie Hunnam and an appearance by a rejuvenated Daniel Craig, as well as Ron Perlman in the role of Ron Perlman. It particularly pains me, as a person who regularly acknowledges both Hellboy and Hellboy II as possibly the best comic book adaptations, that this blockbuster certainty didn't work out in the end. The perfect visual attraction remained just that: an attraction, not an honest film. (11/07/2013)

A new movie about an invasion by toerags from another dimension which, instead of NGE (the blues know what I’m talking about), is more similar to Emmerich’s version of Godzilla, eighties style. Guillermo has a lot of strong sides and one (and for the purposes of a summer popcorn movie - fundamental) weakness: he is simply no good at action. Under his directing action turns into a succession of clichés and wonderfully arranged images with no dynamism, inner tension, build up or clarity. No wonder that the most successful movies of his career are those with no action. Despite this handicap, he decided to make a movie based purely on action in massive dimensions. And... And certainly this didn’t turn out to be that proverbial exception that proves the rule, but simply solid Bayism with nice visuals, which might just break the iceberg of racist xenophobia so common in this country. After watching this, every little boy will want to have a little Gypsy Woman figurine on his bedside table. (11/07/2013)

Del Toro brings us something that has been done before. After all, big cities have already been devastated by The Avengers, Transformers, or Superman to the point that falling skyscrapers are becoming a bit of a stereotype. The director tries to add personality to it by providing some pretty clear action scenes, and by not going too far over the edge in terms of visual sweeps. On the other hand, into two hours he didn't cram in a single major character, a real character who could pull carry better than a jaeger pulling a tin can down the street. Idris Elba has charisma but drowns in pathetic speeches, and the rest of the ensemble is severely uninteresting - Ron Perlman is more of an iconic trademark than a functional character. It goes by quickly, but the most important and impressive scene is still the escape of little Mako from the kaiju through the empty street. (18/07/2013)

Guillermo del Toro was a bit of a wildcard in the top Hollywood league, because it was automatically assumed that once he made a real feature film (the underfunded Hellboy and demented Blade can't be included here), it would be quite the event. In retrospect, I'm really sorry that the R megalomania in the At the Mountains of Madness exploded and The Hobbit was overripe. Because Pacific Rim is basically everything that connects me to the term generic Bay blockbuster. A few initial great ideas and a really gigantic atmosphere were taken away by the speech of a crazy hipster scientist, in which he sucked all the clichés about the alien invasion into one sentence and things got no better thereafter. The fact that basically a third of the film is devoted only to the relationships between the characters makes Pacific Rim feel empty and undeveloped, even the miniaturist del Toro, who managed to make a sympathetic character from a walking ectoplasm, sinks to awkward creations and casting overacting (the younger and less talented brother of Heath Ledger really doesn't pull it off). Were it not for Ron Perlman, I would dare say that there is not a single really eccentric character in the film, rather only a collection of replaying clichés. I was quite surprised by the clumsy work with the storylines - in order for one to continue, the other stops and after five minutes continues from the same place it ended. Sometimes this leads to obscure awkward transitions, such as SPOILER "characters who learn valuable info have to run to the control room to shout into the microphone and warn the Jägers, who are meanwhile marching for three minutes on the seabed" / SPOILER. At the time of Star Trek's frantic intertwining of events, this is truly dense retro. You will get to know Guillermo mainly from the perfectionist visual, which gives the impression that Gaspar Noé started playing with robots and monsters. There is really very little to catch on to the neon beauty full of reflections, and some scenes are giddily iconic and it is a pleasure to look at them (even in 3D, which is not dark and is not at all bothersome). So what arose from del Toro's long transition to blockbusters? Visually and design-wise retro, which is not much better or wittier than Transformers (although from my point of view, it surpasses Transformers in terms of implementation skills). Hit me in the head with a tanker, but that is not going to be enough. (10/07/2013)