I watched probably the only and last decent Summer blockbuster of this year, Pacific Rim (haven’t tried but The Wolverine seems decent too). This is what you mean by raising a bar.
You may read other reviews for its beautiful set design, incredibly realistic CG, and Japanese monster/anime influence. I would like to point out one thing that makes this film stand out from the rest of the pack: weight. In my eyes, the triumph of this movie lies in successfully capturing the heaviness.
The body: Both kaijus (monsters) and robots are very, very heavy in this film. When they throw each other, they crash everything on their way: buildings, infrastructures, and sightseeing spots. In the golden age of clunky Godzilla movies, one of the highlights was to witness a landmark demolished into the ground (and the number of sightseers doubled from then on). We watch a beautiful castle turn into a pile of lego blocks or the tallest building in the city turning into a split pretzel. That’s what we’re talking about.
The attack: The robots use few firearms and instead rely on punches and flames and swords and a club made of a vessel to strike the kaiju. Every fight is an epic brawl with tremendous weight and slowness built into motion: kaiju bones get cracked and robot limbs get torn. How awesome is it?
The death: Being a PG-13 film, we do not see much blood (except for that of Kaijus) but there are several brutal scenes where our mighty heroes meet slow and painful demise instead of blink-and-gone disappearances. I felt their agony, fear, and desperation, which all added extra weight to my sinking heart because they aren’t anonymous crews wearing red shirts but chosen ones that had the power to save our world. The scenes temporarily brought me back from the safe screen to the brutal reality of the real world. For me, it was the most spine-chilling experience since Immortals (beware: the linked clip is fully R-rated).
How does Pacific Rim compare with the other recent robot movie, Transformers? Polar opposite. The Transformer series can be succinctly described by this keyword: lightness. The robots were light (they jumped and flew around defying gravity), the battles were light (even a human being could counter-attack them using shoulder rockets), and the deaths were light (robots were discarded a dime a unit).
If Transformers series were the equivalent of Asian bread, fluffy and air-like with too many holes, Pacific Rim is fully German (the robots are called Jaegers, meaning hunters in German) where density and solidity rules all. Or popcorn vs. hot dog if we use the movie theater analogy. (Both films share the same amount of absurdity, which is an essential ingredient in a robot film.)
Well, the movie is still showing in local theaters. Just go watch it. It is one of the very few movies that justify the 3D surcharge.
P.S. I still cannot help introducing where their insane robot weapons came from. The overall design might be influenced by the recent Evangelion series, but the insane weapons and mechanism probably took cue from this series (the clip is from the remake version). Breast missiles, flying punches, giant swords…those were essential elements in the classic Japanese anime robots. Thank you, Guillermo.
Saw it a couple of days ago as well.
A few details bugged me a bit. It kind of felt like a Tsui Hark movie (without the frenziness): lot of potential and good ideas that I really liked (the dual pilot system linked by their mind, the fact that the story is happening worldwide, and not just american-centered…), but not enough digging into all the good ideas : I would have loved a bit more background stories from the russians and chinese teams (my favorite robot design of the movie), or more in-depth side stories about the drift between the pilots, a few actors and actress that could have been a bit less wooden…
All those details that REALLY bugs you when a good movie could just have been that much greater !
But yeah, all in all, still a very impressive and enjoyable movie. Quite a nice creativity for all the choregraphies, that makes each fight refreshing, and gosh, indeed, this WEIGHT !!!
In animation, we learn quite soon that in order to make an animation looking “real”, so people can believe in it, you have to animate its weight correctly. I believe Guillermo’s digital artists and animators team knew that rule very well !
Talking about Go Nagai, one of his anime made it big in Europe as well (including France and Belgium, where I grew up) : Grendizer (renamed Goldorak in French ^^).
The very first japanese animation that rocked the french TV. I can tell you, at the time, it was nothing short as a revolution !
It was one of the 1st animation I’ve seen in my life (probably even before any Disney), and like almost every kid of my generation, at 5 yo, I was totally hooked by it !
Good to see that almost 30 years later, one of its brethen (mixed with some Gojira spawns) is still alive and kicking.
It also reminded me a bit of the 1st Patlabor movie, with the comparison between the “old” Mark 2 (Alphonse, in Patlabor) with the supposedly superior brand new Mark 5 (Zero) for the final showdown.
I loved the final message of the movie at the end of the credits, paying its respect to the 2 titans of giant monsters on screen, Harryhausen and Honda !
By the way, if you listen well, the main theme of Pacific Rim is actually pretty close to the main theme of Return of Gojira.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aKtjGBtf9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vU7XqToZso
I’m pretty sure Del Toro slipped a note to the main composer of the movie telling him to make it sound like “the ancestor” (the composer being Ramin Djawadi, composer of Game of Thrones, who did quite an incredible job here as well into making a simple but not as easily forgettable soundtrack as most blockbusters which are always build in the same John Williams or Hans Zimmer like all-for-the-orchestra pattern).
Too bad I saw it a bit too late, I missed the 3D screenings… I’m wondering what it would have been in 4Dx at Vieshow. Must have been quite a ride.
My oh my, likewise when I was living in Malta more than 30 years ago, I was watching what you were watching, dubbed in Italian 🙂 It is always great to see proper respect for previous works, unlike the other robot film directed by Michael bay, so that the spirit lives on. Too bad this movie isn’t making a lot of money. If I am rich I would give Del Toro 200million dollars and ask him to do whatever he wants to do with it. I say that for only two directors, the other being Terry Gilliam.
Yes! Everything looks — and sounds! — so solid! Which is usually a problem with 3D CGI animation and art. I used to think that CGI looked like everything was made of glass bubbles, pretty and shiny and weightless, not real at all.
It’s gotten better with time, but it still often doesn’t look real, the way that the styrofoam rocks on old TV and movies don’t fall or crash right. I read a feature that the SFX department struggled and struggled with the animation physics, to make the water fall slow enough and the robot movements look ponderous enough to be credible.
(I also agree that the old Go Nagai cartoons were much more of an influence over the story AND production design, than EVA — I watched all of those that were available on American TV in the 1980s and others have said they were even bigger in Mexico, South America and the Philippines…)
Oh yes isn’t this the best way to blow up 200 million dollars? We will be remembering before and after PR in terms of realistic CG battle. Forget Avatar.
Guillero Del Toro himself stated somewhere that thanks to the pirated Japanese cartoons in the 80s he got all these influences on him. The original Go Nagai cartoon was created in the 70s but it typically takes several years (and several re-runs) for an anime program to reach the world, and that luckily influenced a young geek in the name of Mr. Toro.
I was brown away by this film, too. Honestly, I was a bit reluctant for it but my daughter insisted our family had got to go. She was so right. I hope that this movie encourages people in Japan to turn the tide against them. Go big or go extinct, but go big to make it small – something truly for the whole mankind.
Your daughter is awesome and has a good taste! I felt this movie worked as a requiem for the dying good-old Japanese pop culture (but the spirit remains alive over the world). In my case, I hope this movie encourages people in Japan who wants go out of the country. Get out and be free…