Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim

[Commander Jameson]

Just got back from watching this and really enjoyed it. So much better than Man of Steel. Some of the best creature FX I've seen in a long, long time.

[Triple A]

yeah, the creatures were pretty rad.

i dug the

neon blue acid spewing

and the

EMP attack

.

[Goose]

I'd be interested to hear about what was removed in a bit more detail. According to Del Toro, he took out about an hour of character development and such like. I'm really glad it appears to be standing up to that early hype. Let's hope it opens closer to $50M than $30M.

[Marmite]

Saw this tonight and despite going in with low expectations I still thought it was utterly woeful. The script is cringeworthy, the acting non-existent and the story almost entirely unoriginal. I tried to watch it as if it was done tongue in cheek and with a b-movie vibe, but even then I couldnt get over how bad the supposed character-building segments were and how embarrassing the script was in general.

I will say that when it got to the Kaiju Vs Jaeger bits it did quite well - much easier to follow than something like Transformers, and the fights were impressive. The rest of it was so poor though it just ruined the whole experience for me and I couldn't wait for it to finish.

Honestly wanted to like it as well, but with such little going for it this one is right down there in my worst films of the year list

God knows how bad the stuff that was cut must have been.

[Alex W.]

The movie Michael Bay's Transformers thinks it is. Fun, thrilling, and heroic. The only downsides are that the character pay-offs are a bit weak and the final battle is overshadowed by the other two. (The second was a master class in structuring and pacing movie action.)

And it didn't overstay its welcome. Great popcorn stuff.

[Alex W.]

SWORD

That's the kind of touch - holding back a cool effect so it can turn the tide in a desperate situation - that marks a good action scene.

[Alex W.]

There is one sequence though which is one of the best I've seen in recent years- just tonally pitch perfect and both weirdly beautiful and terrifying at the same time-

- the flashback sequence with Mako- also that wee girl acts everyone else off screen

.

Yes, that moment and the opening sequence tell you everything you need to know to understand and root for those characters. Spot on.

[PopeSmokesDope]

Really enjoyed that.

None of that stupid spinny transformer kung foo shit. THis was like watching 300foot rockys slugging it out, with a real weight and sense of size behind them....

[Harsin]

This wasn't quite the Great White Hope of a disappointing summer movie season I'd hoped, but it was pretty enjoyable. With a film about giant robots smacking monsters in the chops you know it's going to be pretty cheesy, but even so I was still shocked at just how cheddary this was. It feels like a live action anime beyond the obvious surface elements, everyone is terribly earnest all the time with lots of furrowed brows and meaningful stares at each other and one musical cue that plays on a loop for two hours. You can't say it doesn't wear i's colours on its sleeves when it has characters with names like Stacker Pentecost and Hercules Hanson. I kinda dug it, but I wonder how the general public will react.

The action for the most part is very good with some fun beats. The sense of scale throughout is superb, although the Kaiju designs blurred into much of a muchness for me when everything is moving fast, some more variation would have been nice, even though the similarity is justified by the plot. Unfortunately my cinema was only showing the 3D version, the 3D added nothing for me and I felt it made some of the action scenes harder to follow. Wish I could have seen it in 2D. The humour fell a bit flat, Charlie from Always Sunny would have just about been okay on his own, but I could have done without Rape Monkey from Torchwood playing a comedy upper-class prat from a bad sketch show.

I appreciated how quickly it got into the meat of the story and it was refreshing to have a summer blockbuster that felt like it delivered a self-contained story rather than serving as an extended set-up for sequels. The film endeared itself to me at the very start when the characters were showing actual concern for innocent civilians, unlike The Man of Collateral Damage.

So yeah, a 7/10 from me.

As for its prospects. I was shocked how few people were in my screening this evening (16, yes I was that sad I counted). That would be incredibly low for any screening (there were a lot more people when I watched Oblivion opening night), but it seems downright disastrous for the first night of a big summer blockbuster. Now how much of this is because of the film and how much was due to the climate, with right-thinking people enjoying a pint in the glorious weather rather than cramming themselves into dark room for a couple of hours like me, remains to be seen. Hopefully the latter is to blame.

Spoilery thoughts.

Disappointing what a raw deal Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon got. They were striking designs and I'd have liked to have seen them have more screen time. Especially when Striker Eureka looks so much like Gypsy Danger.

This is a very testosterone filed film. I think there are only two female characters in the film and one of them (the Russian pilot) barely qualifies as an actual character.

I was a little let down that all the big action scenes took place at night in wet conditions. GDT did a good job of making the Hong Kong fight colourful and in places it looked stunning. But the brief snippets we got of broad daylight action looked awesome and I'd have loved to have seen a Jaeger and a Kaiju duking it out properly in the middle of the day. I guess this was a budget saving exercise.

Not sure about Ron Perlman in the after-credits scene. I'm pretty sure I saw him get chewed up good before he got swallowed.

Here's a thought, why don't you use your monster slicing sword at the START of a fight.

There appears to be an absolute ton of background details and I look forward to being able to watch this at my leisure with a pause button.

[Goose]

It's now apparently tracking to beat Grown Ups 2, but not Despicable Me 2. Chances are, neither of the new films were probably going to top Despicable Me 2 anyway, but if PR beats Grown Ups 2, it'll be something of a victory - providing it beats it with something like $40M and not $19M.

All that said, it's still pretty early to be deciding weekend winners. It won't be helped next week by four major releases hitting - three of which will attract the near same demographic - Red 2, RIPD and The Conjuring (Goodness know who the hell scheduled it like that)

[AlwaysBeClosing]

Can't see Red 2 doing much, nor RIPD which has one of the worst posters in recent times.

[Commander Jameson]

Also, I thought the soundtrack was great.

[Alex W.]

I liked that the different Jaegers had their own themes that came in and out of the soundtrack as they fought.

[XBOKS]

Enjoyed this too - was determined to watch it in 2D. Highlights for me included:

"Let's check for a pulse!" - Jax's Jaeger standing over a downed Kaiju. BAM BAM with plasma cannon "Ok, there's no pulse!"

Also:

Jax's Jaeger picking up a ship and hitting a monster with it, as though the ship's hull were a broadsword

Great to hear GLaDOS' voice in this too but it's a shame that:

she is only described as "Gypsy Danger AI" in the cast listing - and why couldn't they let her do a song over the end credits??

[Harsin]

We had a trailer for Gravity before the film and the difference between a film designed from the ground-up in terms of shooting in 3D, composition of shots, framing, use of colour palette...etc is night and day compared with blockbusters hastily post-converted to 3D by the studios so they can charge a bit more for tickets.

[Triple A]

same - Gravity looked amazing!

[rumblecat]

Has anybody seen this in IMAX 3D at all? I quite fancy going back to see it again as I saw it 2D the first time, but wouldn't mind watching those giant battles on a giant screen. Or is the 3D a bit shitty in this?

[Blunt]

We had a trailer for Gravity before the film and the difference between a film designed from the ground-up in terms of shooting in 3D, composition of shots, framing, use of colour palette...etc is night and day compared with blockbusters hastily post-converted to 3D by the studios so they can charge a bit more for tickets.

Gravity is designed for 3D, but it is a post-conversion job as well. And Pacific Rim felt to me like one of the better exemples of post-converted 3D, if not the best ever. GdT didn't shoot with 3D in mind, true, but they did an excellent job of post-converting it (they had a very lenghty schedule, I think it was something like 40 weeks of work) and the scale of battles benefits immensely from the 3D, especially since there is a lot of particle effects involved. Del Toro himself recommends seeing the film in IMAX 3D if possible, for what it's worth.

[Lothar Hex]

Just got back from seeing it. Enjoyed it quite a bit. Story wise it's a little generic but it serves its purposes. You know exactly what each character's....character is within 2 scenes of them coming in. Shell-shocked ace pilot, jerkass commander with a heart of gold, untrained but talented rookie, totally-not-iceman-from-Top-Gun and so forth. The characters do their jobs and the performances are well done, and you can see what is going to happen to them coming a mile off but my fucking GOD the fight scenes are immense, especially the one from the trailers in Hong Kong. Looks absolutely stunning in the 2D showing I saw and the action is perfectly paced. The Kaiju and Jaegers are brilliantly designed and realised, and the camera work makes sure you can see what the hell is going on when things become really close quarters (take note Michael Bay). Would recommend it but I wouldn't hold out for a whole lot of deep character moments that you don't see coming.

[NecroMorrius]

Tracking for around $38 million apparently, so not bad

[mushashi]

Gravity is designed for 3D, but it is a post-conversion job as well. And Pacific Rim felt to me like one of the better exemples of post-converted 3D, if not the best ever. GdT didn't shoot with 3D in mind, true, but they did an excellent job of post-converting it (they had a very lenghty schedule, I think it was something like 40 weeks of work) and the scale of battles benefits immensely from the 3D, especially since there is a lot of particle effects involved. Del Toro himself recommends seeing the film in IMAX 3D if possible, for what it's worth.

Why the fuck are we still in a situation post-James Cameron where film companies refuse to do S3D properly, how can the situation improve if people aren't willing to go the whole hog, but still insist on having their cake and eating it too with post-conversions, and fucking James Cameron had the problem of fuck all screens and needing to make sure his shit was backwards compatible too, I hope JC has the balls and pocket book to say fuck it, Avatar 2 will be natively S3D only without having to make sure it works well in 2D too so we can see what can be achieved in the format without restrictions, if any fucker can possibly do it, he can.

[Alex W.]

3D costs an fortune to shoot and it turns out people aren't willing to pay enough extra, or show up in bigger numbers, to offset it. It's basically limping on because Hollywood can't bring itself to admit it was so wrong.

When higher-res cinema or super-IMAX or whatever starts rolling out we'll hear about how 3D doesn't quite work with it but they're sure audiences will appreciate the improvement and aren't they all smart for understanding us so well.

[Smitty]

I'd be interested to hear about what was removed in a bit more detail. According to Del Toro, he took out about an hour of character development and such like.

That sounds like a hell of a lot of material and a really bad move. It seems to me like the film probably needed that material.

[Alex W.]

I think it would've got pretty ponderous if it was in there; it's about as long as you'd want a sci-fi action movie to be. A lot of the runtime is given over to the battle scenes and the brain subplot, but I'm not sure where you can snip those without harming the movie.

Edit - you do feel its absence, but it's a wise trade off I think. While you could make the characters better defined, when they're genre standard roles would it be worthwhile?

[Lothar Hex]

I'd say it was long enough for. Maybe a bit more character stuff would be nice, but I don't think it needed another hour for that. I'd agree with Alex and say it wouldn't be needed.

[macosx]

Saw it today and enjoyed it, especially the monster bashing which was exhilarating. It really set off at a cracking pace and I would have liked a bit more build up and development before seeing the behemoths.

The scientists and Perlman scenes were a bit too close to Bay humour for me and by and large didn't like them as the actors were way too hammy.

[geldra]

Has anybody seen this in IMAX 3D at all? I quite fancy going back to see it again as I saw it 2D the first time, but wouldn't mind watching those giant battles on a giant screen. Or is the 3D a bit shitty in this?

Off to see it in IMAX 3D on Tuesday night so I'll report back. I refuse to see anything in Real D (or whatever it's called) ever again after Iron Man 3 being ridiculously dark, IMAX is always a whole lot brighter. I'm not too bothered about the 3D, just want to see gigantic robots on a gigantic screen.

[Triple A]

i saw it in IMAX 3D.

while it did make scenes darker than they perhaps should have been, i think that the IMAX 3D added to this movie overall.

[freezycold]

Saw in 2D and the screen I was at was packed.

I was a little disappointed that the russian and chinese jaegers were dispatched so quickly. Would have preferred to have seen a lot more of them.

[Stig]

Considering I wasn't that pumped for this like I was for the likes of Iron Man I really enjoyed it. The fight scenes were great and easily followable. I thought there was plenty character stuff in there tbh and connectected with them a hell of a lot more than the ones from Bayformers. I really liked how all the Aliens were different.

I know some have even extremely dissapoonted with this Summers releases but I've been happy with the ones ive seen, so it's been a pretty good Summer for me.