Yeah, the raptor finally poked me with her sickle-claw enough to get my anti-social butt out to the movies again, and it was to see this year's macro movie, Pacific Rim. No promises, but I don't think I'll be putting any "spoilers" in it.
First off, I had a couple of negative pre-conceptions, based on my own thoughts and what others had said already. Just a few, and fairly minor, but I won't bother mentioning lest it poison any other minds.
I was also, based on others' reports and from what I could see in trailers, not expecting any smexy stuff. So, to summarize, I was ready to roll my eyes at a few points, and I was not expecting to wish for the video at home so I could spooge to it.
Next, lemme say I figured that even though it cost an arm and a leg, this was a movie about giants thundering around, so I'd better see it as such, in IMAX 3D. I won't say it was worth the $17 I had to pay, but I will say it was definitely nice. The screen was nice and big, sat at a great distance 'cause I went to first Sunday showing and there were like 12 other people in the theater, and even the 3D glasses were nicer. Gawdy and stupid looking, but with better viewing area and did not pinch my nose close like the Real3D sunglasses do. (I have to put them over my regular glasses.) So even though it costs a fortune, do see it in IMAX 3D if you can. It's nice and loud and thundery.
Okay, so was it good? Yep!
First off, I didn't have any parts of the movie where I was popped out of that suspension of disbelief stuff. In fact, the only part my reality-brain was active on was in the beginning. Why? Um, is it a new meme that recent monster movies have to involve Alaska, and specifically Anchorage? That's my hometown! First there was the "USS Anchorage" going after GINO, and now where does the first main story macro attack go for? Yep, that's right, Anchorage. Oh, the kaiju doesn't get to shore, but still, it's all chatter about Anchorage and places nearby.
The movie had the usual human inter-relationship stuff, but not enough to make me think it was dragging on. It did have a good deal of macro combat action, which only suffered from a little of today's Hollywood jumble-itis. What I mean is...well, I like to call it Transformer-itis, too, as the first modern movie with robot/tech action that really suffered from it was that awful reboot. I don't know how much money they put into the special effects, but as fast-paced, blurry, and insanely detailed as the robots were, they may as well have just filmed a box full of crumpled up aluminum foil balls being shaken about, 'cause that's all I saw in that movie during the action scenes. It was terrible. This movie only suffered from it mildly in the battle scenes, which was a good thing. However, most of the action being in the bathtub and splashing about didn't help with the macro battle action clarity, either.
One thing that I bet is what pissed Kagemushi off in his terse "meh" review was the portrayal of the kaiju scientists. Yeah, it's a monster movie, so of course it has to have the stereotypical....well, insanely over-stereotypical crazy scientist(s). I could definitely see those characters rubbing some macrophiles the wrong way. However, once you got over the initial blow of wacky, the characters did actually develop and grow a bit, to a pretty surprising level, honestly.
However, what did I like best about the movie? It wasn't touched on greatly, but in enough detail to be an important part of the story. One thing I did not expect the storytellers to do was to delve into the reality of humanity having to live with constant giant monster attacks, and they did it pretty well. Of course, people like us would've liked to see a whole movie based just on that, but I was pretty damned happy with the amount I got. From the ever-popular impotence of politics to the situation, to people living in the skeletal remains of them, to an entire market harvesting bits from them...I enjoyed that a lot. It may not have been a smexy macro movie, but it was definitely an engrossing macro movie...I got a nice vibe from feeling I was living in a world of kaiju.
Oh, but I guess I do need to touch on them. The kaiju themselves are...somewhat aquatic in nature, but more just alien and wacky-designed in nature, as they are supposed to be aliens. A few have hints of smexy bits, and there's definitely stuff to work with, but as depicted in movie, not a lot of smex. One or two stomp shots, nothing spectacular. I have already seen FA art taking the base kaiju and making them smexy, so the monsters in the movie can and will definitely inspire some smexiness, but as issued...no, you're not gonna get wood watching the movie.
To summarize, I think macrophiles in general will enjoy the movie, with a few exceptions for those sensitive to some of the human characters. Yes, it had lots of parallels to Independence Day and GINO's Godzilla, but I don't think that's even worth going into. I'm the guy who wants to do the same kind of RP again and again I've been doing for 20 years, so you won't hear me complaining about stuff being derivative much.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
Members
