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Pacific Rim

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  • danshewan
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    danshewan polycounter lvl 8
    I'm hoping DelToro can do more with the premise than Michael Bay.

    I think this is a pretty safe bet. Regardless of the subject matter of the film, I don't think it's fair to compare del Toro to Bay.
  • wester
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    wester polycounter lvl 13
    danshewan wrote: »
    I think this is a pretty safe bet. Regardless of the subject matter of the film, I don't think it's fair to compare del Toro to Bay.


    Especially seeing as how Bay is a film directing jockey and Del toro is an anime loving fan! This movie will without a doubt be exactly what we all want and expect it to be! Del toro is first and foremost a fan which is why I love his work!
  • Calabi
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    Calabi polycounter lvl 12
    I dont know he can make bad films like anyone else. Hellboy 2.
  • Bobby J Rice 3rd
    Calabi wrote: »
    I dont know he can make bad films like anyone else. Hellboy 2.

    ^
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    danshewan wrote: »
    I think this is a pretty safe bet. Regardless of the subject matter of the film, I don't think it's fair to compare del Toro to Bay.

    I wasn't actively inviting the comparison. I really like DelToro's catalog of films. I think he's a really talented director who has managed to put out some great movies. I even enjoyed some of his shlockier films, like Blade 2 and the Hellboy movies. (Ron Perlman was the perfect casting choice for those films, looking forward to seeing him in Pacific Rim) DelToro has proven he is capable of taking niche genre material and making it shine.

    The similarity with Transformers comes from the nature of the movie, and the very strong effects focus. (cities being destroyed/battled in, big-ass robots, lots of CGI and explosions) Where Michael Bay has taken movies like that and stumbled, I have much more faith in DelToro to not screw up the characterization, art, and acting. That's why I'm so excited for this movie and intend to see it this weekend. If it turns out well enough, I would be quite happy to see it multiple times this weekend.

    I have my fingers crossed that this film does really well at the box office. DelToro is a director/producer that I respect and whose work I enjoy. I would love to see him get a bit more freedom and budget to work on the films he wants to work on. If Pacific Rim manages to do well financially, DelToro will be able to write his own ticket for his next film. I would really like to see the Lovecraft-inspired R-Rated horror film he's been wanting to make.
  • vargatom
    Saw it tonight.

    I want to be a Jaeger pilot.
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    vargatom wrote: »
    Saw it tonight.

    I want to be a Jaeger pilot.

    Don't give us any details. Just a yea or nea.
  • danshewan
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    danshewan polycounter lvl 8
    Where Michael Bay has taken movies like that and stumbled, I have much more faith in DelToro to not screw up the characterization, art, and acting. That's why I'm so excited for this movie and intend to see it this weekend.

    Amen to that. I didn't mean to imply you were directly comparing Bay to del Toro, I was just remarking in a general sense that the comparison seemed skewed, but I see where you're coming from.

    I'll definitely see it this weekend, and can't remember the last time I was this excited about a movie. The fact that del Toro is at the helm just makes me even more giddy about seeing it.
  • vargatom
    Honestly, the less you know, especially with all the multiple trailers and comics and features, the better is it.

    Mind you, a lot of stuff in the marketing materials is completely out of context and starts to make more sense or gets some extra meaning in the movie, but still, I'd rather not give more info about it. But you could easily chart the main plot if you've been following the marketing.

    However, the trailers actually gave away very little footage compared to just how much is in the movie. The fights are very long and highly enjoyable, and there's still some imagery that you only could've seen in the art book so far.

    I think Hunnam is a hit or miss as the lead, if you've been watching Sons of Anarchy you'll probably like him better. Idris Elba simply rules, and the japanese actress is much better than you'd expect from the trailers (haven't seen Babel yet). I'm also surprised that some people thought the scientist guys could be annoying.
    There are also some really really good character scenes, the
    flashback to the Tokio attack scene with the young Mako
    was truly heartbreaking for example.


    There's also some surprising depth in the lore that you can only glance if you pay attention. It's very easy to miss a line or a move and fail to understand the reasoning behind various issues.
    For example I've seen a reviewer complain that
    "blah blah all kaiju have acidic blood and yet people are chopping them up easily" - but it's made totally obvious that only one creature has acidic spit, and all the Jaeger pilots are completely surprised by it.
    There are a couple of such things where the movie still expects a bit higher than average intelligence and attention, and a lot of world building behind the scenes.


    The 3D is very good. Just learned (from a straight source, ILM's anim director Hal Hickel) that it's actually not just simple post-converted stuff, as all the CGI was rendered in stereo, and only the live action parts were processed because it wasn't shot with a 3D camera. It really feels like looking through a window most of the time and there's very little in-your-face stuff. I'm thinking about watching it again in IMAX 3D as soon as I can.


    So, all in all it really is a movie for your inner 12-years old child. To the extent that you might feel sorry you're older because you can't start playing Jaegars vs. Kaiju with your pals. It's like a huuuuuge live action cartoon from the late '80s with a little more sense, and some utterly utterly amazing visuals. Nothing like Transformers or Man of Steel.

    But it's also far from perfect and will probably not become the next Star Wars; I'd have a really hard time comparing it to Avengers, but in the end it's probably not as good altogether. But that has a lot to do with Downey and the pre-established universe.
  • Paradan
    just got back from seeing it.

    2 thumbs up and a raging hard-on for Kikuchi.

  • crazyfool
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    crazyfool polycounter lvl 13
    going tonight, CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!
  • jam-i-am
    got invited to a special screening yesturday!! had the pleasure to be in the theater with the guys/gals who worked on the movie. Guillermo del toro gave a speech before the movie, and after got to hang with Simon(spiderzero)lee!!! how cool was that!!

    On top of all that the movie blew me away!! as vargatom said it definitely brings out the inner 12 year old in you, especially if you are like me and grew up on awesome animes that it clearly drew its inspiration! I had a huge cheeese on my face the entire time, was such a pleasure seeing something like this.

    Imax 3d was awesome btw definetly going with friends to see it again!
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Everyone back home is posting how awesome the flick is... gotta wait till mid August to see it!!
  • mystichobo
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    mystichobo polycounter lvl 12
    I really enjoyed the actual movie, but jesusshitfuck those fake Australian accents were immensely bad.

    It really annoys me when movies do something like that, because it's really goddamn noticeable (for me at least), and the terribleness of it probably sticks with me far more than the actual movie does.
  • Jerc
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    Jerc interpolator
    in IMax it's a fantastic experience. Any 3D/cgi lover should go watch this.
    I have rarely seen people cheering and applauding at action scenes in a theater.
    And Ron Perlman.
  • The Mad Artist
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    The Mad Artist polycounter lvl 13
    9 hours to go til the 10 pm showing at Drafthouse for me..

    On another note, a tad disappointed that Legendary didn't attach even a teaser trailer for the new Godzilla to it, but they might be waiting til Comic Con to show anything from that.
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    Jerc wrote: »
    in IMax it's a fantastic experience. Any 3D/cgi lover should go watch this.
    I have rarely seen people cheering and applauding at action scenes in a theater.
    And Ron Perlman.

    Ron Perlman is ALWAYS good, even when he is in bad films. (I don't think Pacific Rim is going to be bad, but I would point to Alien: Resurrection and Season of the Witch as examples)

    I was considering IMax, but I'm thinking I will try out an iPic theater in my area for this one. I have avoided reading any reviews, but what little I've gleaned strongly indicates that this is a film I will be able to enjoy. I want to maximize my viewing experience for this one. A premium theater with high-quality seating and a more subdued audience sounds like the way to go for me. Has anyone been to an iPic theater before?
  • Di$array
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    Di$array polycounter lvl 5
    Loved every minute of that movie, I was as transfixed on the screen as I was when I was a little kid watching Saturday morning cartoons. Fantastic design on both the Yagers and Kaijus, especially the Yagers and the countries they represent. Only drawback is
    they didn’t have much screen time or character development on the pilot’s part
    , but great additions none the less.

    GO AND SEE THE MOVIE A.S.A.P.
  • Cheez
    iPic's are great but expensive. If you want to spring for it, get the recliner seats !
    And you can order food and booze to your seat.
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    Just got back. This is one of the dumbest movies I've watched in recent memory. Almost every single plot point in the film makes zero sense.

    It's also thoroughly enjoyable! This is exactly Power Rangers on steroids, and it's fucking awesome!
  • danshewan
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    danshewan polycounter lvl 8
    dfacto wrote: »
    Just got back. This is one of the dumbest movies I've watched in recent memory. Almost every single plot point in the film makes zero sense.

    It's also thoroughly enjoyable! This is exactly Power Rangers on steroids, and it's fucking awesome!

    You had me worried for a second! Then I remembered that, if I'm perfectly honest, I really don't care about anything other than giant robots beating the shit out of even bigger monsters with cargo ships.

    Kinda bummed there aren't any iPic theaters in New England. Never heard of them before, but they look like they're worth every penny.
  • MM
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    MM polycounter lvl 17
    pacing was really bad. no build up and almost no climax. felt like i was watching an extended trailer and felt like leaving 2/3 of the way in. also most of the acting was bad. i was looking forward to this for a while but was a let down.
  • crazyfool
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    crazyfool polycounter lvl 13
    I jazzed everywhere, nobody was safe!!!!!!

    ......Quite possibly my favourite movie ever!!!!
  • danshewan
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    danshewan polycounter lvl 8
    I'm always stunned when I hear people say stuff like that. Even when I'm watching a summer blockbuster / popcorn movie I can't turn my brain off while watching it.

    Ordinarily, I'd be the first one to agree with you. Normally, I'm pretty critical of characterization, acting quality, screenwriting and the overall concept of movies, but when it comes to summer blockbusters, I'm remarkably easy to please.

    I mean, shit, I actually found Transformers 1 and 3 to be pretty entertaining. I guess my expectations of those types of movies are already pretty low when it comes to actual filmmaking quality, so I end up focusing on the VFX.
  • Irreal
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    Irreal polycounter lvl 10
    Possibly the best lighting and vfx I've seen. The sense of scale given to the Kaiju and Jaegers was amazing. Monster/robot design was great. The action was very readable throughout unlike the Transformers movies which were a complete jumbled mess.

    Terrible dialogue and delivery. I didn't go in expecting a great plot though. It's giant monsters VS giant robots. No other movie in this genre even comes close to it.
  • xalener
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    xalener polycounter lvl 5
    Haven't seen it yet, but I'm kinda glad the dialog and acting is bad. That's part of the kaiju experience.
  • cochtl
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    cochtl polycounter lvl 18
    It's like watching some sort of action porno with robots; you aren't exactly watching it for the conversation...All you had to do is a judge a book by its cover and watching the trailers tells you EXACTLY what the movie is and is not. This movie is Great!

    Oh and Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith should have been pilots considering the ending and all...
  • bounchfx
    way better than I was expecting it to be. There's no surprises whatsoever, it's just served STRAIGHT UP. Gorgeous too.
  • HitmonInfinity
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    HitmonInfinity polycounter lvl 11
    I was going to write up my thoughts, but I'm just going to quote io9 instead:
    In a summer of sequels, reboots, and misfires, Pacific Rim is a brilliant surprise. Its cheerful audaciousness will take you back to a time when blockbusters were original stories that filled you with glee and wonder.

    I seriously don't understand why anyone would want to complain about this movie. It was pure entertainment. Any flaws were literally punched away by the sheer fun of it.
  • Skillmister
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    Skillmister polycounter lvl 11
    I'm always stunned when I hear people say stuff like that. Even when I'm watching a summer blockbuster / popcorn movie I can't turn my brain off while watching it. Maybe some people can, but I can't. I am 100% cool with giant robots fighting monsters, I just don't believe that gives the film carte blanche to have rushed pacing, plot holes, and crappy acting (ie Transformers and Battleship). I'm not expecting it to be the next great "art" film or win the Acedemy award in best acting, just don't make it dim-witted. Don't cater to the lowest common denominator. I don't want to spend two hours feeling like I'm swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool.

    See that's funny to me because a good number of the films i watch are to do exactly that. If i want to watch something with 7 deep plot lines to follow I'd do so, or if i want to chill out and unwind with some action there's plenty for that. I loved Battleship, absolutely terrible film but a great watch, same with Olympus Has Fallen and countless others. But hey if that puts me down in low end gene pool by your standards, so be it :)
  • WarrenM
    Giant robots fighting giant monsters ... and the complaint is bad acting and poor plot? Go home. :)
  • Calabi
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    Calabi polycounter lvl 12
    One question and its a deal breaker for me. Do they explain how the robot has enough torque to move its arms and legs without breaking them?
  • WarrenM
  • The Mad Artist
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    The Mad Artist polycounter lvl 13
    danshewan wrote: »
    Ordinarily, I'd be the first one to agree with you. Normally, I'm pretty critical of characterization, acting quality, screenwriting and the overall concept of movies, but when it comes to summer blockbusters, I'm remarkably easy to please.

    I mean, shit, I actually found Transformers 1 and 3 to be pretty entertaining. I guess my expectations of those types of movies are already pretty low when it comes to actual filmmaking quality, so I end up focusing on the VFX.

    I loved the first TF movie, and enjoyed the third. It's not that my expectations were lower expecting them to be bad, its that I understand what kind of movies they are and can enjoy them. I won't compare TF to Godfather.

    That being said..

    I saw it last night, and absolutely loved it. I dare anyone to see it and not have a big grin on your face throughout. It's nice to see a director just go and make a movie that HE wanted to make that's an absolute love letter to a genre that he grew up with and was inspired by. And I was that same 8 year old kid, watching every Godzilla and kaiju movie I could find and have definitely carried that over to my adulthood, so that made this film even more special for me.

    It was an incredibly fun action film, and the acting and plot was just fine for that.

    As for the CG, good god. If it's a movie I'm really looking forward to I try to just watch it and enjoy it and not get caught up going "wow, how'd they do that, look at that lighting, etc.." and for the most part I was able to do that here, but there's no denying just how amazing of a job they did on this. The sense of scale and weight, the insane details, all of it. Now that's it out and I've seen it, I can go watch some of the "making of" features without worrying about it being spoiled, and I'll probably buy the art book as well.

    Bottom line, go see it. HitmonInfinity said it perfectly in his post above me,"I seriously don't understand why anyone would want to complain about this movie. It was pure entertainment. Any flaws were literally punched away by the sheer fun of it.
    "

    It's just fucking fun as hell.
  • ebagg
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    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    A perfect blockbuster film.

    The one odd thing I chuckled about was
    if I was Raliegh, I would've went off on Mako; "you wait until this Kaiju drags us into SPACE before telling me Gipsy Danger now has swords!??!
  • Bobby J Rice 3rd
    Man of Steel Had bad pacing too and it was much better than this garbage. I think this would have been a better tv show than a movie.

    Acting was terrible, plot was retarded. Leave your brain at home. Honestly, all i wanna see are "the making of FX" bits on blueray. The rest was blaaawwwwww.

    And, judging by the stupid nature of this film and most likely lackluster sales, I'm sure it will be on blueray in a few weeks.
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    The dialog was a little on the weak side. That is it for the criticism. Coming from me that's pretty high praise.

    This is a giant monster movie done right. Enjoyed the entire experience, and I will probably see it again. (in theaters) While films like Transformers demonstrate open loathing for their target audience, Pacific Rim maintains an obvious affection for its inspirations. The film has far more "heart" than most popcorn blockbusters in recent years. It also never got up its own ass with mythology. There was no McGuffin in this film.

    If you have ever enjoyed monster movies, you will like this film. If you have ever loved giant robots, you will like this film. Go see this movie.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Loved it. Only real downer for me were the two scientists. That uppity snob was just horribly annoying and the biologist dude was just stupid and yelling all the time. Really not liking them. Ron Perlman also went out like a bitch, which sucked.

    Otherwise, I really enjoyed it.
  • artquest
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    artquest polycounter lvl 13
    Loved it. Only real downer for me were the two scientists. That uppity snob was just horribly annoying and the biologist dude was just stupid and yelling all the time. Really not liking them. Ron Perlman also went out like a bitch, which sucked.

    Otherwise, I really enjoyed it.

    You should have stayed after the credits to see how bad ass he actually is.
    He cuts open the gut of the monster that ate him and shouts, "Where the hell is my dam boot!"
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    3D effect was the best I've seen in theaters, looked better then even Avatar.
    Fun (though brainless) movie, but the parts with the Newtons Cradle punch, and how not a single fuck was given by the seagulls until nearly being flattened, were a bit much.
  • The Mad Artist
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    The Mad Artist polycounter lvl 13
    I'm definitely planning on seeing it in big ol Imax 3d the next time I catch it.
  • skylebones
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    skylebones polycounter lvl 10
    Saw it this afternoon in 3D. And HOLY CARP SAMMICH!!! I haven't been in such awe of something on screen since seeing Jurassic Park. Mind was totally oozing.
  • IronHawk
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    IronHawk polycounter lvl 10
    3d Pr0n =)

    Had a blast.
  • blancaruby
    This is one of my favorite! :) Who's got a free copy for me?
  • ysalex
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    ysalex interpolator
    I'm not going to go see this because by all reports, it's a good time but a bit brain-dead. I don't have anything against brain dead movies except that I personally don't enjoy them. But as Del Toro fan I'm disappointed to see that it's not performing particularly well in the box-office, to the point where Del Toro might be out of making blockbusters for a while.

    I waited soooo long for his take on at the mountain of madness, and then prometheus killed that (even though prometheus was a good movie, I'd rather have seen Del Toro make his instead). I kinda hoped against hope that if PR did well, Del Toro would make his version despite the problems, but now... uhg.
  • WarrenM
    Guys, yes, it's brain dead ... It's a summer block buster with giant robots fighting giant monsters. FFS.

    That said, AWESOME MOVIE! Fuck, I was staring slack jawed at the screen for most of it. Any and all 3D artists need to see this movie. It's incredible and humbling...
  • skylebones
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    skylebones polycounter lvl 10
    How is grown ups 2 beating it at the box office?!?! This is why we can't have nice things.
  • WarrenM
    You know, it's weird. It's got a lot of awesome word of mouth among all the artists I know but the theater wasn't full last night. That is NOT a good sign...
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    This isn't surprising. Genre movies generally flop unless they're tied into some already known universe.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    I'm looking forward to this.

    I must say the name is probably a part of the problem. The name pacific rim doesn't really conjure up giant robots and aliens.
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