Friday Food for Thought #9

Kaiju!
Month 8, Week 2

Pacific Rim, I have to admit I was looking forward to the movie... Like many of those that flocked to the theaters to see this blockbuster, I've seen many more of the source materials then the critics... I mean, yes there is Godzilla as a source of ideas and tropes for this story, and a bit of independence day, but the one thing that struck me big time while watching this was the sheer amount of references in style, look, and even design to various Anime.

I do have to say this, those of you that panned this movie before it's release as being an Evangelion rip-off need to take a serious chill pill.  Yes, there are many similarities in plot and design with Evangelion... but then Evangelion was a distillation of the entire genre of the mecha robot movies.

In the same way Pacific Rim is a distillation of the various mecha robot and 'real robot' anime, the Kaiju monster movie, and enough references to other bits of popular culture to seem fresh and quite funny.  One cannot watch this movie coming in hoping for a serious film, as the level of irreverence is astonishing.  Gags, jokes, and puns are plentiful and unlike most of the recent blockbusters, this movie has that essential mix of fun and action without becoming dark and brooding.

The characters are a bit flat and two-dimensional, but I can live with that... You simply can't create the sort of complex character arcs that you have in anime series when you've just got a bit over two-hours run time to play with.  So instead, they're turned into recognizable archetypes and even stereotypes to make the story flow quickly and put the focus on the levity and action.

The sheer number of references and jokes for those of us that know the genre is absolutely hilarious.  There are a number of subtler in jokes as well, for those that enjoyed their share of movies and anime... from the geeky scientist feeling his way around for his glasses as a monster approaches (Nedry in Jurassic Park), to a kaiju spreading a set of wings and soaring into the air with a hapless Jaegar clutched in it's claws (Rodan), and so many others...

One of the things that I think really makes the film different, is the style.  It doesn't have the clean dystopian feel of say Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex instead it goes full on Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell the movie.  The giant Jaegars look battle-worn, in fact the mech the principal character drives is a restored version of a broken down wreck.  The scenes shot in streets of Hong Kong have a definite dystopian flavor.  The Jaegar hangar if filled with unpolished rusty metal.

There also seems to have been a conscious effort to make it so that everything looks new and old at the same time.  Those of you that watched Cowboy Bebop will probably know what I mean.  Even the welding unit that the main character is carting around in a scene looks like it was made just for the film, and then given to someone to beat up for a week.

Of course, we can't forget the lynch-pin of the series... Giant Robots fighting Giant Monsters.  It's interesting that Del Toro chose to set most of the climatic battles in conditions of relatively low visibility.  Hong Kong during the rain, the Bering Strait in a squall, and the depths of the Pacific Ocean.  Despite this, most of the battles are easier to follow then what other directors have created recently.

Visually it's a treat, though I have heard some complaints about it being dark and difficult to see in 3d.  To which I have to respond this way.

Del Toro designed the film to be shown on 2d... In fact he specifically said that when you're looking at things as massive as the Jaegar and Kaiju, 3d serves no purpose as they're too big and too far away for 3d to give any benefit that your mind isn't doing already.

So watch it in 2d or Imax 3d...

It's great fun, and probably the most 'fun' I've had in the movie theater this year.  I hope Ender's Game gives it a run for the money this winter though.  It seems to be a great year for Science Fiction.