What follows is increasingly a rarity: a movie that's over two hours long but doesn't feel like it. Perhaps it is because we are given a nerdy "Kaiju groupie" scientist (alien biologist?) as an audience surrogate, who is fascinated by these creatures and excited to learn more about them even as he is terrified and repelled by them. Perhaps it is because this character's enthusiasm reflects Del Toro's own clear pleasure in playing with these fantastical creatures. Perhaps it is the magnificently handsome Idris Elba. Really, it could be all of those.
It could also be because, although it is after all a movie about giant sea monsters punching giant robots, there is much that is new and even unexpected here, and infused throughout it all is a sense of awe and delight that creature features and action blockbusters in general just don't have that often. Jurassic Park has it, and oddly I was reminded of that film as I was watching this one. I have seen Jurassic Park more times than I can count, and I still enjoy it. The main reason for that, and why I think the first movie is a classic while the other two are not, is that Spielberg does an amazing job there of capturing the awe of what it must be like to see these huge, otherworldly creatures in our world, where they do not belong and yet where they are far more powerful than we are. That film also takes delight in its visuals, which Pacific Rim similarly revels in. Everything in this movie is big, shiny, and beautiful.
Del Toro has always excelled at imagining the fantastic, and this movie is no exception. The monsters are disgusting but oddly beautiful too, phosphorescing lines of electric blue in the darkness. The camera conveys a sense of scale in a way that films like the Transformers series don't: these bastards are huge. And most importantly, when kaiju and jaeger meet, the physics feel right; several times I felt myself flinch when one or the other landed a blow. This is most important in a creature feature/punching picture (if I may coin a useful term): if I can't tell where one fist ends and the other begins, all the punching in the world will leave me unimpressed. That Del Toro has carefully considered the physics of these creatures is even given a winking acknowledgement with a Newton's Cradle sight gag, and really, what more could you want from a movie?
I also very much appreciated the orchestration of the fighting scenes. Each jaeger is operated by a two-person team (or, in one case, a three-person team), and each has a distinct combat style. Even better, the fighting is constantly adapting, right along with the kaiju themselves, so that each engagement offers something new to the viewer, including a few tricks I did not expect. The kaiju are crafty creatures.
Human-wise, there is nothing particularly deep here, although each main character is given enough of a story to give the viewer a sense of their motivations, and that is really all I need from a movie whose primary function is to smash things for my pleasure. The protagonist, Raleigh (whom Sons of Anarchy fans will recognize as being played by Charlie Hunnam), experiences trauma early on, must be brought back to the fold by an older mentor (played with gravitas and sympathy by Elba), is emotional and a bit reckless, yadda yadda yadda -- standard, but functional. His co-pilot, a Japanese woman named Mako, has secrets and emotional recklessness of her own, but also considerable strength. In a strange way, the story's central conceit -- that in order to handle the "neural load" of operating a jaeger, two pilots must undergo a "neural handshake," essentially a mind-meld in which you enter the other's thoughts and memories -- makes the inevitable love-interest element between the two more plausible: how better to fall in love at first sight than to have instant access to the other's thoughts and feelings?
It is also a delight to watch a city other than New York or D.C. be destroyed onscreen. Judging by most action flicks, in which inevitably either the Statue of Liberty or the White House topples and/or explodes, one would think those two were the only cities in the world. By shifting the focus to the Pacific Rim, the crew are also made more multicultural: in addition to the requisite white men, we begin with a Russian team, a team of three Chinese triplets, a Black English commander, and an ambitious and talented Japanese woman. Unfortunately, the cast gets whittled down by the monsters until it is once again mostly white guys, which is disappointing, particularly given the potential of the setting's geopolitics.
The gender politics are also still disappointing in ways: both the scientist and the mathematician, key figures in the plot, are male, as are all but one other of the jaeger pilots. Nevertheless, it was refreshing to see a woman in an action movie be both badass and keep all of her clothes on. Indeed, Del Toro's focus, as Zack Snyder's was with Henry Cavill's body in Man of Steel, is far more on the sexualized body of Charlie Hunnam, who is gratuitously shirtless in more than one scene. Chalk one up for the girls.
Most of all, this movie is fun. It is made by a director who clearly loves movies and has made one that he would wish to see. It is bombastic and extravagant and nerdy and delightful and keenly aware of its goals. It has a sense of childlike wonder in what it shows you: "Isn't this cool?" it asks. And, if you're like me, the answer is definitely yes.
And then it punches that cool thing in the face, and that's fun too.
No comments:
Post a Comment