Pacific Rim: Giant Robots, Giant Monsters, Giant disappointment

Earth is being attacked by giant creatures known as Kaiju, which rise out of the sea and wreak havoc. To fight these monsters, humanity creates Jaegers, giant robots with unmatched weaponry and strength. But will these machines, and the pilots who control them, be able to stop the Kaiju from annihilating humankind?

Thinking of this film in terms of its action, my buddy David astutely described it as, “Voltron vs. Godzilla.” It was essentially giant robots fighting giant monsters (none of which, thankfully, were men in rubber suits). And even though the action was repetitive and overwhelming at times, the sequences provided enough thrills, bombast and suspense to keep the audience intrigued.

Where Director Guillermo Del Toro failed was in giving the audience a story and characters that they could relate to or care about on any kind of emotional level. That was disappointing, because he had the perfect plot device to do so (I’ll try to explain without giving too much of the plot away). It takes two people/pilots to operate those massive Jaegers and in order to do so, the pilots must sync up their minds, opening themselves up to one another’s memories, thoughts, etc. The hero of the film, Raleigh (played by Charlie Hunnam) is mentally scarred due to a terrifying event that took place the last time he piloted a Jaeger. His new co-pilot, Mako (played by the beautiful Rinko Kikuchi) is also scarred due to a past experience with a Jaeger and a Kaiju. Rather than taking the screen time to show these two building their relationship and leaning to trust each other in and outside of the Jaeger, Del Toro forced more fight sequences down the audience’s collective throats and included a ridiculous sub-plot involving a lame, comedic relief scientist (played with the utmost annoyance by Charlie Day) who was trying to figure out how the Kaiju could be stopped. As a result, the budding relationship/romance between Raleigh and Mako felt forced (as only Hollywood can do) and the ending of the film lacked the emotional punch that it could have had if the studio had spent less on CGI and more on a script.

Pacific Rim is a big, loud blast of a summer popcorn flick, it’s just too bad the story did not match all of that action.

GRADE: C

Prometheus: It's kinda like a prequel...maybe?

Elizabeth Shaw believes she has found a clue to the origin of man. Together with other scientists and explorers she travels to the far reaches of the universe and discovers a planet that might hold the answers she seeks. But what they find on that planet could not only lead to her destruction, but that of all life on Earth.

So what should one expect from Prometheus? First and foremost, it was a visual feast. Director Ridley Scott filled every frame of the film with so many interesting things (landscapes, cool tech/gadgets, spaceships, etc.) that it was next to impossible to not keep one's eyes glued to the screen (if you have the chance to see it in IMAX 3D, I highly recommend it). Scott was also able to squeeze out as much suspense and thrills as possible  in order to keep the audience at the collective edges of their seats. While not equaling Alien in this regard, Prometheus certainly held its own against other recent science fiction films. Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron also provided tremendous turns in their individual roles. Where the film faltered was in its story, which aimed high content-wise, but failed to deliver any real answers to the heavy handed questions it posed. The story did not concern a bunch of space truckers being chased on their ship by a big, nasty nightmare of a xenomorph, rather it pondered just where we as humans came from (against the back drop of a number of nasty things attempting to harm the human protagonists). Were we created by the Engineers (the beings that Shaw and her co-horts discover on the planet)? If so, who or what created them? These are questions that can be tackled/explored within a science fiction film, but the script just posed them and never presented the audience with an opportunity to get enough information to come to their own conclusions. This, along with unexceptional dialogue and the fact that the story was extremely difficult to follow, left the audience feeling alienated (no pun intended) and wanting everything in the film to be just as spectacular as all of the amazing visuals they were seeing on screen.

It's funny but while getting ready to go to the theater and check out Prometheus I found myself thinking, "it's going to be great to finally see a good sequel in the Alien film series." However after the credits started rolling, I realized that my attitude (which I am sure was shared by Alien fans), was the wrong one to have. It is true that there are certain links to the original Alien universe in Prometheus (Weyland Yutani remains an evil corporation, androids are nefarious and dark haired heroines kick butt), but this film is done almost a disservice by the weighty expectations fans of the series have unfairly placed upon it.

Prometheus was not another Alien, which may be disappointing to some, but its visual flair and solid acting made it a worthy companion piece to the series.

Grade: B-