Blu-ray Review: Pacific Rim Colin D Miller November 23, 2013 DVDs & Rentals 2825 Unfortunately, Pacific Rim was one of those films I missed when it was released in the cinemas. Which is a shame, as I can imagine it must’ve looked spectacular on the big screen. If you’re not familiar with the film, it’s essentially Guillermo Del Toros take on the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. By no means is that a dig to the film, as I enjoyed Pacific Rim immensely. But that is essentially the ultimate concept of the film – giant monsters (named Kaiju) come out of the Pacific Ocean, make their way to the mainland and batter the shit out of everything. Eventually humanity fits back by constructing giant robots called Jaegers to fight these monsters. It’s all very big and very epic, and ultimately cool. And with a cast that include Idris Elba and Ron Perlman, it’s bound to be. The main protagonist of the film is a character called Raleigh Becket, played by Charlie Hunnam. A washed out Jaeger pilot who is drafted back into the operation by Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost, who has a loan to win the war against the Kaiju by setting off a thermonuclear bomb within the Pacific Rim. Raliegh’s Jaeger co-pilot Mako Mori (played by Rinko Kikuchi) simply kicks ass as the film’s vengeful female lead, a well rounded character who’s backstory adds a bit of weight to the story and Idris Elba’s Stacker. Comic relief is supplied by bickering scientist duo Doctor Newton Gieszler (Charlie Day) and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman). And then of course there’s Ron Perlman as the colourful and charismatic Hannibal Chau, the black marketeer who deals in Kaiju organs. What Del Toro has always excelled at is creating tangible worlds – from the Hellboy series, to the grisly fantasy underworld seen in Pans Labyrinth. For the most part, his films have relied heavily practical effects, so Pacific Rim marks somewhat of a departure for the director. The film does retain some of the practical effects for various scenes, naturally however, the Jaeger and Kaiju battles are mostly CGI creations. That’s not to say they’re not any good. Far from it. Unlike Michael Bay’s Transformers films, it’s alway clear what is going on. So it’s nice to see the epic proceedings play out against a colourful backdrop of chaos and destruction. [three_fourth]It’s by no far Del Toros best film (personally, that honour still belongs to criminally underrated The Devils Backbone), but with a healthy balance of action, humour and some seriously impressive visuals, it is a lot of fun. Verdict: [rating=4] Extras: A Primer On Kaijus & Jaegers Intricacy of Robot Design Honoring The Kaiju Tradition The Importance Of Mass And Scale Shatterdome Ranger Roll Call Jaegers Echo Human Grace Inside the Drift Goth-Tech Mega Sized Sets Baby Kaiju Set Visit Tokyo Alley Set Visit Orchestral Sounds From The Anteverse Audio Commentary by Guillermo Del Toro [/three_fourth] [one_fourth_last] [/one_fourth_last]
