vinyarb

Way before you step into the movie theatre for a screening of Pacific Rim, you’d already be expecting a massive, action packed film filled with as much testosterone as one can fill, with a synopsis that reads “humans build giant robots to fight giant monsters to the death as a last resort to defend humanity”.

But just in case you had any semblance of hope that there might be some level of plot or intelligent discourse as to the origins of the giants, all you had to do was look at who plays the scientist, and you’ll know, nope.

Yeah, when Charlie Day is the resident scientist in any film, all plot goes out the window.

But if you’re here to watch giant robots fight giant monsters to the death, wow. You’re not going to be disappointed. The robots are shiny, the monsters are ferocious.

Aaargh! Kaiju of the Opera!!

An interdimensional portal opens up under the sea floor in the Pacific, and from the portal enters enormous monsters (named ‘Kaiju’) who surface and lay waste to cities such as Japan, US, Hong Kong and Australia. As their appearances increase in frequency, humanity bands together and builds giant robots called Jaegers to fight the Kaijus.

As the Jaegers are starting to prove inefficient under increasing attacks and the Kaijus’ adaptations to their fighting style, the Jaeger program, headed by Stacker Pentecost, decide to use their remaining Jaegers in a last ditch attempt to use a nuclear device to blast and seal the portal.

In the meantime, scientists are trying to study the remains of the monsters in a bid to understand them, and find a way to defeat them once and for all. Will the plan work? What will the scientists find? Do you really care? All you want are great fight scenes between Jaegers and Kaijus, and that you’ll get plenty.

face obscured by shadow. Still a better actor than you.

Unfortunately, the film is let down by the mainly C cast of actors, who really jolt me out of the movie experience everytime they try to emote. It’s especially sad, when among the cast, the best actress is little girl Mana Ashida, who plays young Mako Mori.

The “Tonight, we are cancelling the apocalypse” sounds good in the trailer, but when you listen to the entire speech, it’s out-of-this-world lame.

Rating: 6/10