Pacific Rim: SPOILER THREAD

[LadyTevar]

DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU WISH TO BE SPOILED!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I MEAN IT







NO KIDDING











OK, now that you've been warned and are still reading, it's time to have a discussion of the Good, the Bad, and the Meh of the movie. So, discuss. Point out things you liked/disliked, things you saw, EasterEggs, etc.


I'll Go First:


For me, let's face it, the plot was going to be typical Broken Hero and Newbie Save World, mixed with Boy & Girl in Danger Fall in Love. We saw that a mile away in the trailers. Del Toro has a lot of fun with the Movie Tropes in the script, but despite this characters are strong enough to not be 2-d (imho). There were also very interesting touches that are merely in passing, that made me wonder about how the world is dealing with the constant attacks. The "Wall of Life" screen shot had a "days til Completion" sign with the word "NEVER" spray-painted on it. The President on the TV, trying to dodge media questions about evacuations and the loss of the Jaeger program. HongKong, still bright and thriving as it's not Pacific, but with a Kaiju DeathCult and Chinese medical uses for Kaiju parts. In a way, those snippets were also part of a dark humor in the movie, like Hannibal Chan's missing shoe. Yes, a couple of the one-liners were groaners, but lines like "We should check it's pulse" more than made up for it.

The real meat of this movie was the Robots and the Monsters. No ShakyCam makes the fight scenes so much easier to follow and enjoy. There's a weight to the Jaegers and the Kaiju as they move, as they fight. This isn't anime or Transformers where robots move fluidly, there's a momentum that something that big should have to it. Even Kaiju heartbeats shake a person's body. The Jaegers and Kaiju also moved differently from each other; Striker noticebly faster and smoother than the others, the Russians were stiffer and had odd things happening with their chestplates, one Kaiju moved like a gorilla, the other serpentine.
Then there's the weapons: Plasma Cannon, Bladed Arms, Rotating Hips for Judo Throws, Chest Missiles. Acid spittle. EMP blast. Prehensile Tail. Wings. A double-mouth to make it easier to snap off arms. Bladed heads with hard points to poke through armor. It was visually spectacular.

The Kaiju's reasons for showing up? Meh... Does explain why they bleed ammonia and splatter 'Kaiju Blue' around, continuing to poison the environment. Also, why did the Kaiju in Tokyo go after Misu? Was she really the only living person to Target, until the Jaeger got there? Was it toying with her? Same with the Bat-Kaiju with the stamin-tongue, was it toying with Newt, or did it really want Newt dead for what he knew? When, why, and how did Hannibal Chan Drift a Kaiju brain. Was it about the time that the Kaiju stepped up attacks and started destroying Jaegers?

[Guardsman Bass]

I just got back from seeing it, and it was entertaining as hell (and easily the prettiest film I've seen this year in terms of graphics). The plot is super-straight forward, but that's a plus in a movie like this.

I'm more impressed that there are still tons of people living in coastal areas after five years of failing Jaeger resistance. I did love how the main problem was one of attrition - they could take the Kaiju down with more conventional means, but it requires a lot of conventional firepower and leaves the whole area splattered with ammonia-based Kaiju blood. The Jaegers didn't suddenly "stop working" - they just became less and less cost-effective in terms of loss/damage versus taking down the Kaiju.*

* Yes, I know the more realistic strategy would be to mine the area around the rift and blast them as soon as they start coming through, but you have to either just accept giant robots or not.

[SylasGaunt]

I did like that they mentioned specifically that they tried blowing up the breach a couple times already, and why they don't go after the kaiju conventionally.

I love how full of shit Hannibal Chau was (the name.. the NAME!).

I also loved how every Jaeger and Kaiju had it's own unique fighting style, something you really got to see when Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha started fighting. CT starts doing some very fluid and acrobatic movies, then Cherno moves in, smashes a kaiju in the neck with its elbow and starts punching the hell out of it.

[Slacker]

It was a two hour long live action anime with giant robots and monsters, and it was glorious.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Saw it tonight in IMAX, an experience I HIGHLY recommend I actually liked how they made the robots seem real with distinct personalities, and you could at least understand HOW they worked. For example, when Gipsy was whaling on the gorilla kaiju in the bay, it had thrusters on its' back that it was using to help propel it forward (not the rocket elbow). Cherno was great too, you could really see how it was old (a mark one, even its' drift interface was old).

I only had two big issues with the movie:
1. The Russian and Chinese jaegers and pilots were almost entirely cut out. I don't think I ever even heard the Russian man say a line outside of his Jaeger, and I know I never heard the triplets say anything.
2. They kept promoting a Japanese jaeger in the advertising, and then when the movie comes its in ONE FLASHBACK SCENE. Boo.

I did really enjoy, as Tev said, how it felt like a larger world. For example, Shattersphere (the base) had hangars for more than two dozen jaegers, because at the height of the 'Kaiju War' they stationed over 30 there. The 'wall of life' bothered me because even if you build a huge honking wall, unless you defend it whatever is outside will eventually get through.

[mr friendly guy]

Saw it tonight in IMAX, an experience I HIGHLY recommend I actually liked how they made the robots seem real with distinct personalities, and you could at least understand HOW they worked. For example, when Gipsy was whaling on the gorilla kaiju in the bay, it had thrusters on its' back that it was using to help propel it forward (not the rocket elbow). Cherno was great too, you could really see how it was old (a mark one, even its' drift interface was old).

I only had two big issues with the movie:
1. The Russian and Chinese jaegers and pilots were almost entirely cut out. I don't think I ever even heard the Russian man say a line outside of his Jaeger, and I know I never heard the triplets say anything.
2. They kept promoting a Japanese jaeger in the advertising, and then when the movie comes its in ONE FLASHBACK SCENE. Boo.

I did really enjoy, as Tev said, how it felt like a larger world. For example, Shattersphere (the base) had hangars for more than two dozen jaegers, because at the height of the 'Kaiju War' they stationed over 30 there. The 'wall of life' bothered me because even if you build a huge honking wall, unless you defend it whatever is outside will eventually get through.

In the adverts at Australian cinema they advertised an American, Japanese, Chinese and Australian robot. How much do we see of the non American robots, er I mean Jaegers?

[J Ryan]

The American, Australian, Chinese and Russian ones are the main 4 seen in the film, but the film mostly focuses on the American and Australian Jaegers.

[Vympel]

It is kinda odd in retrospect how only the "Western" Jaegers make it to the end of the movie (until they sacrifice themselves that is).

Really wanted to see Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon do more stuff before they got taken out.

Loved the movie otherwise though. I need to see it in IMAX- the fuckers showed it in a relatively small cinema and it just premiered, no wonder Deadline notes that the #4 opening in Australia was weird - the marketing has been non-existent except for bus ads and the cinemas haven't helped.

[mr friendly guy]

Still sounds like a movie I am going to end up seeing. Thanks for the info guys.

[SylasGaunt]

I to wish Cherno and CT got a bit more screentime.

Cherno we know at least gets a ton of extra badassery when they reveal it's the last Mark 1 standing, still there after far more advanced Jaegers have fallen, and it still took two of the largest Cat4 kaiju on record at the time double teaming it to bring it down.

[Cykeisme]

I'm still wondering why they didn't plant some command-detonated nuclear bombs around the rift.. if there's only one way for the Kaiju to emerge into our world, that's a really easily mined chokepoint.

The fights were, of course, totally awesome. So I'm willing to ignore the above argument

[TOSDOC]

Sorry I missed this thread when I posted in the old one. The film was great, and I was relieved not to have to endure shaky-cam. The use of color and lighting in the fight scenes was striking and welcome, and I can't understand why some reviewers were complaining about the lighting, sound, rain effects, or shakiness. The small touches were everywhere, and the world-building was very impressive, although we were surprised more people hadn't evacuated the coastlines voluntarily. The cults surrounding the skulls of the kaiju were an especially nice touch. I would have loved to see more of Chernov and CT and their pilots, but it was a huge story to tell and I can understand a lot being left on the cutting room floor. I hope they include more scenes of them in a Director's cut or Special Edition. Hannibal and the mad scientists were delightful, and it was a pleasure to see them advancing the plot as well as a subplot. It was nice to see the mechs using their weapons more than once, rather than a James Bond one-time-only use.

I'm not sure the kaiju was chasing Mako specifically, so much as that was the way she might just have remembered it, being very young. Would a memory seen by another person be just as it happened, or still subject to your own point of view? It's an interesting question I hope they explore in a sequel.

I just had a few nitpicks in an otherwise gorgeous movie.

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the pilots to NOT have anything to say to each other during combat, if they're already in each other's heads? I can understand telling the AI to turn on the rocket punch, but not vocally telling Mako "C'mon, let's do this together!" And why did Mako have to remind Ral about the sword weapon if he should be able to read her thoughts, for instance?

They went into far more detail on the invaders than I thought they would, such as it was. I'm wondering why they didn't have escape pods for the Aussie in Striker Eureka, a more advanced mech, then they did for Gipsy. It would have been easy for him to escape while Stacker set off the nuke. And would a nuclear power plant be able to explode like Gipsy's did with sufficient force to do the job, or even to explode at all? Was it designed to do so? Having Gipsy stick to the plan, with maybe just one more mech to back it up, and cover Stacker against the Class 5 while he used Coyote Tango to deliver the nuke would have been the way I would have ended it.

What was with the fluid in the helmets??? Completely unexplained from where I sat, never saw it again, and I'd want to wipe my eyes before taking that thing out of the garage.

[CaptainChewbacca]

They may have had escape pods for Striker Eureka, but the nuke had a 1 minute countdown and the pods are probably not shielded enough to protect them in the time they would have had from the shock front. As for the drift, its not a constant connection and the pilots' state of mind seems to rapidly affect their connectivity, so shouting verbal encouragement to a pilot to help them stay connected seems reasonable.

Also, I don't know where you think Coyote Tango was, but they only had 4 jaegers at the base.

[Lord Relvenous]

I also loved how every Jaeger and Kaiju had it's own unique fighting style, something you really got to see when Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha started fighting. CT starts doing some very fluid and acrobatic movies, then Cherno moves in, smashes a kaiju in the neck with its elbow and starts punching the hell out of it.

With a piston fist.

I really enjoyed the movie. It was exactly what I went to the theaters to see, which is a big plus in my book. The fact the movie seemed to revel in its own inherent ridiculousness without playing it for camp was a lot of fun. When I first heard the term "Life Wall" I thought "hmm, maybe a overlapping layer of passive and active defenses that are easier to maintain than a Jager". Then I realized, no, it was probably going to be just a giant wall. I was not disappointing, nor with the Kaiju walking through the wall like it wasn't even there.

[Vendetta]

It was alright, I suppose.

The live action power rangers giant robit business was servicable, it was as slow and staid as I expected, but at least it used it to sell the weight and impact of the monsters and robits hitting each other.

What I would have liked to see is for the second fight with Mako and Blast Hardcheese to have more of her faltering because of her memories, or even hers mixed with his of losing his brother (F'rinstance she flashes back to the attack again but this time she percieves herself in Gypsy Danger and fights through it, then sees Hardcheese ripped out of the mech exactly as he saw his brother when something shakes her confidence, but then she fights through it and is able to kick monster ass, and that would also bring back that he's actually also struggling with his own trauma), and have that fight be centred around the two of them overcoming those memories together. That would have strengthened the character aspect of the story, as it is she goes from "nearly blows up the whole command centre due to flashback" to fully combat capable in about five minutes.


I did like the Australian father/son duo's goodbye though, that made good use of the concept of shared memories.


Also, Idris Elba basically owned the screen more than any robit or godzilla, as he has a tendency to do.

[TOSDOC]

They may have had escape pods for Striker Eureka, but the nuke had a 1 minute countdown and the pods are probably not shielded enough to protect them in the time they would have had from the shock front.

And the rift protected them from Gipsy's own blast front. Ok, I can see that.

As for the drift, its not a constant connection and the pilots' state of mind seems to rapidly affect their connectivity, so shouting verbal encouragement to a pilot to help them stay connected seems reasonable.

But wouldn't it be a constant connection as long as the jaeger is on and needs piloting, in order to maintain constant control? And when Yancey was killed, part of what was so traumatic for Raleigh was being with him in the drift when he was torn away, implying a constant connection. When you're not drifting together and still driving the jaeger, you seize up, something that happened to Raleigh right after his brother's connection was broken.

Also, I don't know where you think Coyote Tango was, but they only had 4 jaegers at the base.

I know, I just went in thinking we were going to get to see Coyote at some point after all the hype.

[Lord Relvenous]

That would have strengthened the character aspect of the story, as it is she goes from "nearly blows up the whole command centre due to flashback" to fully combat capable in about five minutes.

The film specifically said that drifting the first time was harder.

[Mr Bean]

Just once in a movie I'd like to hear "Use the failsafes! The failsafes are safe! Danger past" instead of "Oh no the thing design explicitly not to fail has failed and we nothing else lined up!"

That nitpick aside it was a glorious move full of giant monster fights with the giant stompy robots fighting giant monsters. And the fact the monsters are there to wreck shit and go directly for population centers makes sense in why we keep seeing fights in downtown Hong-Kong.
Why anyone lives within twenty miles of a coast again... no idea.
But I'll agree with other people... I wish we could have seen more of the Russian mech.

And last, what's with the category system? The Cat 5 look barely bigger than the Cat 4 which looked only a tiny bit bigger than the Cat 3. When they said category five I was thinking like Hurricane Cat 5, this was going to be something twice the size of the Jagers or atomic fire breath or maybe a giant robot of their own. Would that have been a kick in the ass if the Kajiu came through a giant monster with very obvious external armor and alien looking weapons?

Eh it's a silly idea but it stuck with me since I very clearly heard two rows up someone saying "That's it?" once the Cat 5 one showed up.

[SylasGaunt]

Slattern (the Cat5) isn't too much taller, but that's more a function of the way it stands and the fact that most of the time you see it it's swimming. According to the artbook Slattern's something close to 600 feet high if you stand him up straight (by contrast Leatherback was 267 ft tall).

If you want another way to look at it, look how Striker Eureka performed against it compared to the others. Otachi is one of the largest category 4s, and was able to take a double team from two experienced Jaeger crews and kill one. When Striker Eureka joined the fight it started beating on her like she owed it money. Same thing with Bladehead from the Sydney attack where the entire fight consists of Striker manhandling it before finishing it off quickly. Then Slattern shows up and the fight starts with Striker getting slapped around instead.

The categories are based on the kaiju's water displacement, toxicity level, and ambient radioactivity from the measurements taken near the portal.

[mr friendly guy]

For some reason I am getting an urge to watch Atlantic Rim, the parody of Pacific Rim. Apparently released even before the movie it was meant to parody came out.

[Cykeisme]

If you want another way to look at it, look how Striker Eureka performed against it compared to the others. Otachi is one of the largest category 4s, and was able to take a double team from two experienced Jaeger crews and kill one. When Striker Eureka joined the fight it started beating on her like she owed it money. Same thing with Bladehead from the Sydney attack where the entire fight consists of Striker manhandling it before finishing it off quickly. Then Slattern shows up and the fight starts with Striker getting slapped around instead.

All that, and also if I recall correctly, the Class 5 somehow survived the blast from the nuke relatively intact, while the Class 4s were gibbed, right?

[Cykeisme]

Something else got me thinking, even in the initial Kaiju attacks (Class 1s and 2s), instead of stationing the Jaegers at cities and waiting for the Kaiju to attack, why didn't they just form a perimeter around the tiny Breach and lay a massive beatdown on whatever comes out?
The Shatterdome itself once housed two dozen (?) Jaegers, and that's just China.
Assuming the world had at least thirty Jaegers total, they'd just have to wait at the Breach and kick the crap out of each Kaiju as it emerges.
Of course, nuclear mines would make even more sense, but I'm keeping giant robots in here.


Also, if they thought a wall would work, why build it along the coast instead of simply building it around the Breach? That way, there would (obviously) be much less wall to build.

[Lost Soal]

Also, if they thought a wall would work, why build it along the coast instead of simply building it around the Breach? That way, there would (obviously) be much less wall to build.

Because in order for that to work you would have to construct it under water, rising above the water, working against tidal effects and do all this from scratch in the time between one kaiju being killed and the next one coming through. Basically impossible.

[SylasGaunt]

All that, and also if I recall correctly, the Class 5 somehow survived the blast from the nuke relatively intact, while the Class 4s were gibbed, right?

Yeah, every kaiju to date that's been nuked (including Scunner who was HUGE for a cat4) has died.

Slattern took a 1.2 megaton detonation right in the face and was still kicking.

[Haruko]

It is kinda odd in retrospect how only the "Western" Jaegers make it to the end of the movie (until they sacrifice themselves that is).

Really wanted to see Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon do more stuff before they got taken out.

I have to say, though, that their fight stuck with me most. Typhoon getting pummeled in the head and the pilots vindictively taken out with multiple stabs by a Kaiju into the head (if memory serves) despite competent maneuvering and even briefly getting the upper hand (the pilots using their Jaegers' flexibility to turn the Kaiju's own weight against itself), Alpha getting one Kaiju in a choke-hold before devastatingly being double teamed, viciously getting its head pulled, then held underwater while the pilots drown in their compromised shell. It was disturbing, lacked the heroic and light-hearted feel, and was instead desperate and grim. I felt like I was there. And at no point did I feel like the pilots didn't earn their reputation. Ironically, I felt that Danger had the golden glow of hero-time around it when it had its turn, changing the entire feel into swashbuckling adventure from the grittiness of earlier, as if I were watching two different interpretations of the same movie.

If I'm making any sense.