PACIFIC RIM (2013)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*                                                                                                                                I tried at least once before to review PACIFIC RIM and couldn't seem to find much to say about it. I re-watched Guillermo del Toros "ode to Japanese kaiju films" again today, and finally concluded that, even for a big splashy popcorn flick, there's not much to the film.        

In Japan the battles of giant human-piloted mecha against titanic mutations was old news, but no one in the US had devoted the full extent of American-made FX to the subject. And the big CGI scenes of battling robots and monsters always looks great, though I don't know how much credit Del Toro deserves for that-- aside from lending his directorial clout to the project. Del Toro also collaborated on the screenplay with Travis Beacham, who, along with two other writers, had delivered a much more intelligent script in the 2010 remake of Harryhausen's CLASH OF THE TITANS. (Maybe CLASH benefited from having just one big monster?)                                    

I don't expect a lot of psychological subtlety from a movie focused on robots battling giant monsters, but the Beacham-Del Toro script gives every impression of holding contempt for the "kaiju" genre. For some time, the human race has been united against the attacks of various colossal beasts that pop out of a dimensional hole, "the Breach," beneath the Pacific Ocean. The main weapon of defense has been huge robots called "Jaegers," but these need at least two pilots to operate, and those pilots must be able to synch up their neural networks in order to interface with their Jaegers. One of the best teams during the early attacks is that of brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket. However, when the Becket Boys deviate from the orders of their superior Marshal Pentecost (Idris Elba) -- a deviation undertaken to save a small contingent of potential victims-- Yancy dies as a result. Emotionally shattered, Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) retires from the service.                                                                         

 Sometime later, the attacks of the kajiu escalate, and perversely the world government sidelines the Jaeger program to focus on other, never-specified defense options. To prevent the extinction of humanity, Pentecost brings Raleigh back into the program-- which I guess hadn't been terminated after all? Raleigh naturally needs a new partner to synch with, and the best nominee is a young Japanese woman, Mako (Rinku Kikuchi). Pentecost has a vague paternal reason for not wanting Mako to team with Raleigh, but this subplot proves a big waste of time. In fact, of the few characters RIM puts on stage, Pentecost is the least developed, and even Idris Elba can't do anything to enliven him.                                                                     

  Though Raleigh and Mako aren't any deeper, there's a little more interplay between these two characters as they bounce off one another, but their collaboration is somewhat set in stone and thus it's no big surprise when they are instrumental in saving humanity's bacon. Hunnam and Kikuchi do fairly well with their limited characters, but because there's not much room for them to grow, the script introduces a couple of nerdy scientists for comedy relief. One of the scientists manages to meld his mind with that of a mostly dead kaiju-brain, whereupon he learns the underwhelming truth: that the giants are bioweapons, sent to cleanse the planet for habitation by a race of invading aliens. I caught the smell of Del Toro's politics in the characterization of the ETs as "colonizers." But in real history, colonizers don't usually wipe out those whose lands they wish to usurp. Rather, they subjugate and/or marginalize the native peoples, and while this isn't good either, Del Toro muddies the already superficial script for a popcorn picture by introducing his superficial political stance. In conclusion, I also have to say that all of the bioweapon-creatures lack the iconic personality of either Japanese kaiju or even American colossi like The Black Scorpion and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.