I think one of the disappointing aspects of Pacific Rim for fans of the genre is that the human characters were somewhat underdeveloped at the expense of world building and the action sequences. Edwards has more of the luxury of not having to do much world-building (set in modern day) so he can explore more of the protagonists' motivations and set them (including Godzilla) to fight side-by-side. A very satisfying monster movie.
See, I don't have (or get) that problem with Pacific Rim. It's a totally different kind of monster movie. It's like one of the sillier Godzilla movies. It's not meant to be serious in the way Edwards' Godzilla movies are, and I think the characters are exactly what they need to be for that movie to work. In particular, I think the Mako character is great, and I think a lot of the supporting cast is fun and interesting. I love Pacific Rim. It's just a different kind of movie, it's supposed to be big and fun and broad and archetypal, and people hold it up to a more 'serious' standard for reasons I don't entirely get. And Pacific Rim has relatively few action sequences, actually. The entire first hour is all character and world building. My biggest issue with Pacific Rim, honestly, is that its best action sequence comes right in the middle, in Hong Kong, and the finale feels a little rote - it's the problem I outlined above. But I like the characters and the story.
I think one of the disappointing aspects of Pacific Rim for fans of the genre is that the human characters were somewhat underdeveloped at the expense of world building and the action sequences. Edwards has more of the luxury of not having to do much world-building (set in modern day) so he can explore more of the protagonists' motivations and set them (including Godzilla) to fight side-by-side. A very satisfying monster movie.
ReplyDeleteSee, I don't have (or get) that problem with Pacific Rim. It's a totally different kind of monster movie. It's like one of the sillier Godzilla movies. It's not meant to be serious in the way Edwards' Godzilla movies are, and I think the characters are exactly what they need to be for that movie to work. In particular, I think the Mako character is great, and I think a lot of the supporting cast is fun and interesting. I love Pacific Rim. It's just a different kind of movie, it's supposed to be big and fun and broad and archetypal, and people hold it up to a more 'serious' standard for reasons I don't entirely get. And Pacific Rim has relatively few action sequences, actually. The entire first hour is all character and world building. My biggest issue with Pacific Rim, honestly, is that its best action sequence comes right in the middle, in Hong Kong, and the finale feels a little rote - it's the problem I outlined above. But I like the characters and the story.
DeleteAgreed. I like them both.
ReplyDeleteWow. Nice review, well said. Couldn't agree more.
ReplyDelete