Pacific Rim, It Just Might Be the Summer's Best Movie

Remember when you were a kid and half of all tv shows not directed specifically at little girls were about giant robots, giant monsters or giant robots fighting giant monsters? Remember how freaking awesome that was? Now imagine that live action, I know you're picturing Power Rangers, but what if they had an actual budget and writers who weren't just cobbling together various Japanese tv shows for five year olds. This is one of the coolest movies I've seen in a long time and actually left me wanting to grow up to be a giant robot driver.

Now the film makes sure to spend a lot of time setting up the premise as well as introducing the main character to the audience before we even get to the title of the film. It's worth it, you know exactly where things have left off, Kaiju(giant monsters) arrive and smash stuff up, world governments create Jaegers(giant robots), Jaegers beat up a bunch of Kaiju then Kaiju get smarter and start defeating Jaegers. By the end of the opening you are connected to the lead and ready to follow him on his journey. One of his buddies we meet looks like Joseph Gordon Levitt's less attractive older brother. Of course being a Guillermo del Toro film there is a Ron Perlman cameo of him pretty much playing what we have come to know as Ron Perlman, but I'm not going to tell you who he plays. You will just have to watch the entire movie until you find out.

Now for the educational segment, understanding Kaiju and Jaeger size.

After watching this movie I now have a new addition to my favourite actors list, no it's not Charlie Hunnam (he's on the hot actors list...), it's Idris Elba. His performance in the film was a great balance between an authoritative leader and a caring man who truly believes in his cause. You may also recognize him as the badass captain in Prometheus. I can't wait to see him score a leading role in a Hollywood film rather than being cast in the supporting role. Thanks to Pacific Rim I'm probably going to be checking out this show I've heard of called Luther which has him as the titular character. He even has one of the most kick ass lines I've heard in a long time "Today at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time. We have chosen to believe in each other. Today we face the monsters that are at our door, today we are cancelling the apocalypse!" After hearing that how could you not be pumped to kill some giant monsters?

This man should be Hollywood's new consummate bad ass.

Now I must admit that I didn't take many notes during this movie because I was enthralled by the experience. It was a feast for the eyes that showed CGI in fact can be done right. The story telling though is really what sells the movie, the characters were all fully developed and distinct from each other going on their own separate journeys. If you can only watch one movie in theatres this summer please spend the money and go to Pacific Rim. Rumour has it if a sequel happens Mr. del Toro would like to feature a Jaeger-Kaiju hybrid.

Yes this is a world where even us backwards Canadians get a giant robot,
but we had to dorkify it with the paint job.