Trailer Trashin’: Giants Robots vs. Giant Monsters in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim

It’s been an embarrassment of riches, dear readers. In the past week-and-a-half, new trailers have been released for no less than six of next year’s big movies. Obviously, these trailer are coming out in conjunction with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which was a ton of fun, and I highly recommend you go see it. Because there were two trailers in particular that I wanted to examine – Pacific Rim and Man of Steel – it’s time for the second-ever Trailer Trashin’ Double Feature. Now, let’s take a look at the first trailer for director Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi epic Pacific Rim.

Premise: When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, start rising from the sea, a war begins that takes millions of lives and consumes humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon is devised: massive robots called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers prove nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a washed-up former pilot (Charlier Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) – who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

My take: First off, I love giant monster movies; they played a big role in me developing my love of cinema, and I consider the original 1954 Godzilla one of the finest examples of allegorical science-fiction in film history. I also love the work of Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican writer/director whose films include The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). So when I first heard about Pacific Rim, a movie about giant monsters fighting giant monsters, directed by Guillermo del Toro, I was ecstatic. Now the first trailer for the film has landed, and it looks just as awesome as I hoped.

Del Toro has assembled an interesting cast for the film. Our two leads are former pilot Raleigh Antrobus – played by Charlie Hunnam, best known as the lead on Sons of Anarchy – and trainee Mako Mori – played by Rinko Kikuchi, who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Babel (2006). Also on hand is the great Idris Elba as the awesomely-named General Stacker Pentecost, who delivers that rallying-the-troops speech we hear toward the end of the trailer. Not seen here is del Toro’s frequent collaborator Ron Perlman, who plays a character named Hannibal Chow; this is the fifth film directed by del Toro in which Perlman has acted. Other people not seen here are Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Diego Klattenhoff, and Clifton Collins Jr. And if the computer voice sounds familiar, there’s a good reason for that: it’s none other than Ellen McLain, best known as the voice of GLaDOS in the video game Portal and its sequel.

I was thrilled by the action and scale on display here. This is basically taking all the cool imagery we see in stuff like Japanese monster films, but do it on a big Hollywood budget with cutting-edge visual effects. I’m almost salivating at the notion of seeing giant robots and monsters fighting in a city in glorious IMAX 3D. The designs of the Jaegers are good, and I love the fact that at least one of them has a literal rocket-powered punch. The monsters also look really cool, and I can’t wait to find out how many there are and how varied their designs will be.

The only thing that’s even slightly dampening my enthusiasm is the fact that we don’t get much sense of the story. Of course, this is just the first trailer, and subsequent ones will presumably give us more idea of what’s happening. Even though I’m totally riding high on the imagery, I do want the movie to also have a solid narrative and characters I can get invested in as well.

It’s actually difficult to put into words how excited I am about this movie. Projects like this are what created my love of cinema, and this movie feels like a wonderful present just for me. And the fact that this looks so good also gives me hope for the upcoming American reboot of Godzilla, which is also being made by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Right now, Pacific Rim is THE movie of summer 2013 for me, and I’m chomping at the bit to see it.

ANTICIPATION: No power on Earth can stop me from being there opening weekend.

Release Date: July 12^th, 2013

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Ron Perlman, Diego Klattenhoff, Clifton Collins Jr., Ellen McLain, and Robert Maillet
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writers: Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro