Stompy Robot Time: Pacific Rim

[Stark]

OMG fucking ninja.

[Vendetta]

Lols.

I think this set of expectations in live action also impacts on superheroes, and why what we see superheroes do in live action isn't generally the kind of super world shattering stuff they do in comics, because people just wouldn't buy it. When the Spider-man films explicitly did use comic book physics with Doc Ock throwing cars around people pissed and moaned that he shouldn't be able to, despite the fact that in comics people do that shit all the time. Likewise when Hulk chucked tanks around in the Ang Lee version people said it looked silly even though that should be peanuts for Hulk.

[Stark]

In the Hulk case I think it was largely because the effects looked AWFUL, but there's definitely feedback to creators that really high-end shit is not received well. I'm pretty sure people also complained about the big 20m monsters in Skyline running and jumping around like any other quadruped.

[jollyreaper]

..they went for earnest serious with a comic book movie while letting the plot get in the way of the story.

I agree with just about everything you said in that post, but in particular I haven't heard that phrase before. Those words describe it perfectly.

I'm pretty sure the phrase is my own but I'm sure the sentiment has been expressed before.

It's always interesting to see how collaborative efforts handle the writing. Do you come up with the characters first and craft a story to suit them or get the premise and imagine the characters to best explore it? If it's a crime novel, do you work out the caper first? Do you then decide whether it would be more interesting to see the caper unfold from the inside or watch the PI or cops piece it together from the clues?

For a movie like this, was the inspiration more from anime or kaiju films or from both? Are they going for a super-robot or real robot feel? And do they want to play this straight straight like a war movie, cheesy straight like Space Battleship Yamoto or a fromagefest like Transformers?

Remains to be seen.

[jollyreaper]

I think the point stands that if you CGd in a giant robot the size of an Eva, that moves like the Evas move, and tried to make it look like it was a real thing moving against a real background with real actors, people would reject it because its movements were wrong for something of that size, whereas if they can tell that the whole scene is animated or CG they will accept it because it's obviously animated and therefore not sharing space with something real which operates according to real limitations.

The funny thing is that this is one of the reasons why people believe the WTC towers collapsed from internal explosives, because we all "know" that's not how buildings fall down, even thought our prior experience with seeing buildings like that hit by modern airliners with full tanks was zero. With that attack we saw two identical buildings attacked with identical aircraft failing the same way. Not good enough.

I was impressed with the changes made in animation with the Asuka's fight in End of EVA. They made things feel weightier, more real. I'd be interested in seeing test shots trying to replicate that in live action. I have no idea how convincing that might be.

[Stark]

Expectations also drive the ever-present 'high performance fighters used to uselessly fire pew pews at the ground from 20ft' thing too, which was created by and perpetuated by FX in movies. Big-budget movies simply can't be expected to take risks on people avoiding the film because it challenges them.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Can someone please explain the Idris Elba love? I've only seen him in Prometheus, and I don't understand why everyone keeps saying his name like it means something.

[Stark]

Ultraviolet? The Losers? Luther?

He's just awesome. He has a really great screen presence.

[JLTucker]

Can someone please explain the Idris Elba love? I've only seen him in Prometheus, and I don't understand why everyone keeps saying his name like it means something.

The Wire. He sold that show quite a bit and it turned to shit when he left. Stark is right. His screen presence is gold and he usually outshines everyone on set with him.

Hell, he even makes every actor in Thor look like amateurs and his role is small.

[hongi]

Besides, he's hot.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Ultraviolet? The Losers? Luther?

He's just awesome. He has a really great screen presence.

Haven't seen those or the Wire. I look forward to finding out what I'm missing.

I guess Prometheus just wasn't a good place for him to shine. The only actor who really stood out for me was Fassbender, and I still think his character was terrible despite what he did with it.

[Gaidin]

Ultraviolet? The Losers? Luther?

He's just awesome. He has a really great screen presence.

Amusingly he's also what makes The Takers fun enough to watch, as bad as it is, just to emphasize the screen presence point.

[LadyTevar]

Back on track, can someone read the info on the Russian Jaeger mech?

[Zor]

New Trailer is up. Some of the Kaiju can fly.

Zor

[Grumman]

The synchronised shadowboxing still looks ridiculous as a control method.

[Stark]

It always does but they keep dping it anyway.

Ps why would flying monsters be even notable?

[Flagg]

It always does but they keep dping it anyway.

Ps why would flying monsters be even notable?

I wouldn't see the fucking thing if it didn't have them with or without black Jesus in it.

[Stark]

Can he offset clunky and bland fighting and a story that is likely to be competes asinine?

Probably not, but if he's onscreen enough it might mitigate lol.

[Flagg]

Can he offset clunky and bland fighting and a story that is likely to be competes asinine?

Probably not, but if he's onscreen enough it might mitigate lol.

Yeah I think you know what I mean when I say "see it".

[LadyTevar]

OH fuckyeah, I'm gonna see it. A container ship used as a bludgeoning weapon? YES! Plot? Who needs plot? The more trailers they release the more I wanna see this!!

[Stark]

If only they'd built them weapons that wouldn't break under their own weight I guess. Hey - maybe even something with an edge! Whoa!!!

Then again if 'joysticks' are beyond them perhaps they never invented swords either. Maybe a really big evangelion tyre iron?

[weemadando]

So, these giant robots can be ferried by 8 CH-47s? That would make them pretty light wouldn't it?

Ignoring that, this movie looks fun. I'm keen to see it and see just how crazy stupid the action in it gets. And then probably scream about how Del Toro had to make this instead of At The Mountains of Madness.

[Alkaloid]

At one point in the trailer they mention '2,500 tonnes of awesome.' Which does seem rather light, assuming they are actually talking about a robot that can use a ship as a club.

[Grumman]

It always does but they keep dping it anyway.

Then again if 'joysticks' are beyond them perhaps they never invented swords either.

To elaborate, it's not the non-joystick controls that irk me so much as the stupidity of having two people operating the same set of controls in an identical manner. It's like releasing a new keyboard that only works if two people type the same thing at the same time.

[Stark]

Since the monsters are clearly going to be defeated by the power of the human heart, clearly it wouldn't work without TEAM and HUMAN SPIRIT etc. But I'd assumed the had some handwave as to why the monsters need to be punched by the worlds slowest Iron Man clones (ie power of the human heart) but if whacking them with blunt objects works ... well. Then again it clearly doesn't, because their robots get ruled by virtue of poor fight choreography! :V

But hey, Idris Elba and one million water particles. I think we should send the SFX guys a letter of appreciation, because it's clear they really put effort into that water.

And seriously even talking about using a ship as a club beyond 'hey maybe they should have some kind of sword' is just asinine. Superman needs special plot powers to lift tankers without them falling apart, but all poorly designed robots need is the power of the human heart.

I always felt that Idris Elba could be like a mother to me...