Pacific Rim Review

Pacific Rim

Release Date: 11th July 2013 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Legendary Pictures (presents)
Double Dare You (DDY)

Distribution

Roadshow Films

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: M

Runtime: 131 minutes


Budget: $200,000,000

Box Office Gross: $411,002,906 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

The war began with deadly monstrous creatures called Kaiju that emerged from the ocean through an inter-dimensional gateway, and they began to attack humanity. To battle against these giant monsters, the humans have created massive robots called Jaegers as a weapon against the Kaiju. As the war rages on, the Jaegers are becoming nearly defenceless. Now, a

Kaiju apocalypse is

growing, and humanity's

last hope is a former

Jaeger pilot and an

untested trainee when

they're teamed to pilot a

legendary but seemingly

obsolete Jaeger.

Cast

Charlie Hunnam - Raleigh Becket

Idris Elba - Stacker Pentecost

Rinko Kikuchi - Mako Mori

Charlie Day - Dr. Newton Geiszler

Max Martini - Herc Hansen

Robert Kazinzky - Chuck Hansen

Ron Perlman - Hannibal Chau

Burn Gorman - Dr. Hermann
Gottlieb

Clifton Collins, Jr - Ops Tendo Choi

Diego Klattenhoff - Yancy

Becket
Mana Ashida - Young Mako
Robert Maillet - Lt. S.
Kaidanovsky
Heather Doerksen - Lt. A.
Kaidanovsky
Charles, Lance & Mark Luu - Wing Triplets
Ellen McLain - Gipsy Danger AI (Voice)
Joe Pingue - Captain Merrit

Milton Barnes - McTighe
Paul Michael Wyers - Young Raleigh
Tyler Stevenson - Young Yancy
Jane Watson - Raleigh and Yancy's Mum
Robert Morse - Raleigh and Yancy's Dad
Peter Kosaka - Young Mako's Father
Yiren Stark - Young Mako's Mother
Trek Buccino - Young Newt
Drew Adkins - Young Gottlieb

Santiago Segura - Wizened Man

David Fox - Old Man on Beach

Jake Goodman - Child

Robin Thomas - American UN Representative

Julian Barnes - British UN Representative

David Richmond-Peck - Canadian UN Representative

Brad William Henke - Construction Foreman

Larry Joe Campbell - Construction Worker

Joshua Peace - Officer

Sebastian Pigott - Engineer

Crew

Screenplay/Producer/Director - Guillermo del Toro

Story/Screenplay - Travis Beacham
Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Callum Greene
Producers - Jon Jashni, Mary Parent

and Thomas Tull

Co-Producer - Jillian Share

Casting Director - Margery Simkin
Production Designers - Andrew Neskoromy
and Carol Spier

Conceptual Artists - Wayne Barlowe,

Oscar Chichoni, TyRuben Ellingson,

Hugo Martin, David Meng, Carlos Salgado,

Stephen Schirle, Keith Thompson,

Simon Webber, Simon Lee and Allen &

Doug Williams

Supervising Art Directors - Elinor Rose Galbraith

and Richard L. Johnson

Set Decorator - Peter P. Nicolakakos

Property Master - Christopher Geggie
Costume Designer - Kate Hawley

Head of Makeup Department - Jordan Samuel
Director of Photography - Guillermo Navarro

Director of Photography: B Camera - Checco Varese

Unit Production Manager - D.J. Carson

First Assistant Director - Alexander Gayner

Second Assistant Director - Jack Boem

Third Assistant Directors - Kathryn Hughes,

Travis McConnell and Gerrod Shully

Trainee Assistant Director - Andrew Pritchard

Choreographer - Troy P. Liddell

Stunt Coordinators - Branko & Robert Racki

Fight Designer and Choreographer - Bradley James Allan

Creature Effects Designer: Spectral Motion/

Visual Effects - Mike Elizalde (Uncredited)

Creature Effects Supervisors: Spectral Motion -

Jason Detheridge, Steve Newburn and

Sean Sansom

Creature Effects Coordinator: Spectral Motion -

François Dagenais
Special Effects Supervisors - Rocco Larizza

and Clay Pinney

Special Effects Coordinator - Laird McMurray

Visual Effects Supervisors - John Knoll
and James E. Price
Visual Effects Co-Supervisors: ILM -

Lindy DeQuattro and Eddie Pasquarello

Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM Signapore -

Nigel Sumner

Visual Effects Art Director: ILM - Alex Jaeger
Animation Supervisor - Hal T. Hickel

Digital Production Supervisor: ILM - Michael Di Como

CG Supervisors: ILM - Tim Belsher,

Pat Conran, John H. Han, Ryan Hopkins,

David Meny and Victor Schutz

Digital Model & Viewpaint Supervisor: ILM -

Dave Fogler

Digital Creature Model Supervisor: ILM -

Paul Giacoppo

Creature Supervisors: ILM - Michael Balog

and James Tooley

Roto and Paint Supervisor: ILM - Beth D'Amato

Compositing Supervisors: ILM - Jeff Sutherland

and Jon Bowen

Pipeline Supervisor: ILM - Brian Cantwell

Editors - Peter Amundson and John Gilroy

Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor -

Scott Martin Gershin

Sound Mixer - Glen Gauthier

Dialogue/ADR Supervisor - Becky Sullivan

Re-Recording Mixers - Tim LeBlanc,

John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff,

Joseph E. Colmenero (Uncredited)

and Michael Jesmer (Uncredited)

Foley Artists - Gary A. Hecker,

Jeffrey Wilhoit, Gary Marullo,

Christopher & James Moriana and

Catherine Harper

Music - Ramin Djawadi

Ambient Music Designer - Mel Wesson

Music Scoring Mixer - Alan Meyerson

Review

Many people had sought a real movie about "mechas" fighting giant monsters. These audiences instead had to watch Michael Bay's series of Transformers when there were just giant robots fighting each other. Contrary to the belief, PACIFIC RIM is not another movie from the same director that brought the franchise. It's a colossal motion picture that never ceases to amaze me. The idea for the film came from screenwriter Travis Beacham and is intriguing for Guillermo del Toro of Hellboy fame. It's been a long time coming for a director like del Toro, who is creative and daring enough to bring us a visual epic about machines battling giant monsters. This film is a homage to the mecha anime shows and old Kaiju movies. PACIFIC RIM creates a world filled with these two retro sci-fi fantasies and is a childhood dream brought to life. What seemed impossible for Hollywood that something wouldn't work has proved ingeniously fantastic.

Looking at PACIFIC RIM, the concept and some of the characterisations have turned out brilliant. However, the film's acting is exceptional, with new actors proving their worth as credible Hollywood celebrities. Idris Elba was perfect for the role of the Marshal. Perhaps the director cast Elba after seeing him in Thor as the bridge keeper and recognised him for his strength in portraying a character that is a leader and an authority figure. More recognisable actors like Ron Perlman and Charlie Day are there as the supporting leads. Perlman gracefully takes on the role of an arms dealer with an over-the-top performance. He had been the director's lucky charm because Perlman had starred in almost all of Del Toro's successes.

The most notable aspects of PACIFIC RIM are the explosive action sequences and the awe-inspiring visuals, in which the latter created the biggest of the creatures and the machines. Without CGI, the film could have ended on a cheap, low-budgeted scale.

PACIFIC RIM achieves the impossible, cementing itself as one of the few films in this category. This movie has proven better than Michael Bay's Transformers, which lacked a few crucial ingredients, including a sense of nostalgia. I rank it on the scale of excellent movies. I highly recommend it.

Star rating: (9/10) Excellent Movie

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