Monday, July 15, 2013
My apologies for not getting this up in the regular timeframe - happy reading!
Pacific Rim (M)
THE CHANCE humankind will become dependent on robots is increasing as technology rapidly advances, and while many are petrified of the thought, others believe it’s inevitable. Hollywood at least would like to make us believe larger-than-life robots will plausibly slip into our existence.
Following After Earth, human existence is again threatened as the world is the underdog in a fight against greater forces. An alien race in Godzilla-like form known as kaijus attempts to overtake Earth, able to adapt to various defences from the machines built to fight them.
The robots, known as jaegers, were once a formidable weapon. Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) was one of the best pilots. But a family tragedy leaves him scarred for years before Stacker (Idris Elba) insists he return in a time of crisis.
The story by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans) is as much an attempt to explore how people can connect as it is about an end-of-the-world situation.
In his eyes that connection is achievable through a drift, synchronising the minds of two pilots to control the robots from the inside. A solid, if not creepy, idea, but while integral to the overall story doesn’t feel properly utilised in the line of revealing more about those who go through it.
The relationship between Raleigh and jaeger pilot-in-waiting Mako (Rinko Kikuchi) does develop steadily as the film progresses, but lacks intensity. This action film is to be admired for the central male-female relationship even though it relies much more on drama surrounding their overall crisis.
Guillermo del Toro, co-screenwriter along with directorial duties, throws a mish-mash of global cultures in to give a more rounded representation of the problems at hand. It repeatedly refers to the need to stop bickering in the face of greater adversity - an admirable message but one dealt with too easily in this instance.
He returns to working with Hellboy’s Ron Perlman, who provides a lighter environment in scenes as black market dealer Hannibal Chau. Perlman’s idiotic character is frustrating but a good inclusion to a film otherwise riddled with a bleak seriousness.
Englishman Hunnam very much looks the part of an action hero, but his charisma gets lost in the lack of sympathy for Raleigh’s sufferings. The same cannot be said for Elba and Kikuchi, who get a better deal.
A fanboy’s dream brought to life in the same vein as Transformers, there will be plenty who get enjoyment from an idea that stands different within its film’s genre. Exploring an intergalactic apocalypse is not something audiences will be tired of any time soon.
*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 13/7/2013
MISSED THE LAST REVIEW? See what I thought of Man Of Steel.
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