Memorial Day weekend is always one of the prime release spots in the summer movie season, and this year there are three films coming out this holiday weekend – The Hangover Part III, Epic, and Fast & Furious 6 – none of which I care one whit about. Instead, I plan to finally see Star Trek Into Darkness, which I missed this past weekend. And speaking of movies I do care about, this week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ takes still another look at my most anticipated film of the summer, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim.
Premise: In the near future, giant monsters identified as “Kaiju” have risen from a crevice in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a war which takes millions of lives and quickly consumes humanity’s resources. To combat this new threat, a special type of weapon is designed: massive robots known as Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But as time passes, even the powerful Jaegers prove almost defenseless in the face of a relentless enemy. On its last stand and on the verge of defeat, the remaining defending forces of mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) – who are teamed to pilot a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the early trials of the mechanical titans. Together, they must stand the human race’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
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My take: Yes, we are here yet again, dear readers. I wasn’t lying when I said that I would examine and analyze every trailer released for Pacific Rim, but even I didn’t expect that I would write four separate Trailer Trashin’ columns about one single movie. At this point, I’m possibly running the risk of over-hyping it in my mind to a degree that it could never live up to, so I’m trying to keep my expectations somewhat in check. This is the fourth, and presumably final, trailer for the film, and it just reiterates everything that has me so jazzed about it.
Every bit that has been revealed of the action in the film is just amazing. The back-and-forth punches and blows exchanged by the Jaegers and Kaiju look as brutal and powerful as you would expect. And that money shot of the Kaiju being hit by a container ship wielded like a kendo sword is still totally awesome. I appreciate that this trailer shows off more of the Jaegers besides Gipsy Danger, the blue American mech. In particular, we get a beautiful close-up of Crimson Typhoon, the red, three-armed Chinese robot. We also see that the Jaeger getting ganged up on by two Kaiju is Cherno Alpha, the Russian mech with a head like a nuclear cooling tower. And I like that this trailer also shows that the Jaegers and Kaiju can do much more than just pound on each other. The shot of Gipsy Danger falling from the sky shows some sort of blade extended from its left arm, which is apparently a giant chainsaw. The Australian robot Striker Eureka also sports a quartet of extendible blades, two on each arm. And one of the Kaiju, apparently nicknamed Leatherback by the humans, is able to release a massive energy pulse of some kind.
As incredibly excited as I am about the movie, there are a few points that I have some qualms about. I find it odd that the trailers have shown so little of the human part of the storyline. Obviously, the main focus of the film and the reason why most people, myself included, will be going to see it is the action; but I still want to care about these people and root for them to succeed. But on the other hand, I love most of the films in the Godzilla series, and a fair number of those don’t have great human stories. Ultimately, the thing I’m really concerned about is how the film will be received in this country. I feel confident in saying that the film will be hugely successful overseas, especially in the East Asian markets. But I really want it to be a success here in America, and my biggest fear is that general audiences will just think it looks lame or stupid and write it off completely, regardless of what the word-of-mouth is like from critics.
Idris Elba in “Pacific Rim.” © 2012 – Warner Bros. Pictures.
But that’s just me fretting about what other people will think. This is a movie that seems like it was made just for me, and I feel like I’m going to love it. While there are certainly other films this summer that I want to see – Star Trek Into Darkness, Man of Steel, Elysium, and The World’s End – I don’t think that any of them embody the spirit of summer movies as much as what Guillermo del Toro and company have created here. For huge-scale action and sheer entertainment value, I don’t know if any other movie this year could top this. No matter what, you can be certain that I will be seeing Pacific Rim at my local theater on opening weekend.
ANTICIPATION: The monster war is almost here, and I will be on the front lines.
Release Date: July 12th, 2013
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Ron Perlman, Clifton Collins Jr., Diego Klattenhoff, Robert Maillet, Heather Doerksen, and Ellen McLain
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writers: Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro
P.S. Was anyone else able to make it out to Motor City Comic Con in Novi this past weekend? I did, and I had a great time, especially because I got to meet both Edward James Olmos and Alex Winter.
Timothy Monforton