When a channel opens underneath the Pacific Ocean that serves as a passageway for the Kaijus (strange beasts) from another dimension to wreck havoc on surrounding cities around it, mankind has no recourse but to create Jaegers (hunters) - robots almost the same size as the Kaijus to protect the planet from total apocalypse.
Pacific Rim is director Guillermo del Toro's love letter to those Japanese monsters movies and as he proved in his Oscar winning Pan's Labyrinth, he knows his mystical creatures. The film has the 50's-60's monster/alien invasion B-movie vibe while making very good use of 3D technology. This is the first film since Avatar that is worth the price of it.
Since the film mostly focuses on the battle between the two gigantic creatures, cities with skyscrapers are virtually destroyed. It is heartwarming for a movie fan like me to have two of the cities I love prominently featured in the film: San Francisco and Manila. Both were destroyed in the film but hey Manila in a science-fiction robot-monster movie? Only in our dreams before, but Guillermo del Toro fulfilled it. We have seen those scenes before in Michael Bay's Transformers films and most recently in The Man of Steel, but it is better executed in Pacific Rim and not as tedious to watch in the previous movies that I mentioned. Michael Bay can learn a thing or two on how to make the perfect summer blockbuster and he can start by watching this film. The lead role of Jaeger operator Raleigh Becket is played by British actor Charlie Hunnam (2002's Nicholas Nickelby and TV's Queer as Folk) and he has great chemistry with the prominent names of the cast members such as Idris Elba, Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) and Charlie Day (TV's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Ron Perlman (Del Toro's Hellboy) also has a prominent supporting role.
Pacific Rim is so far the pleasant surprise in the summer movie season of 2013 dominated by the comic book franchises. A visual treat that has a story too!!
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