Pacific Rim, a Geek's Thoughts

I'm not reviewing Pacific Rim, even if this sounds like it. You'll read plenty of Pac Rim reviews on the Interweb. What I want to do is geek out on the movie, tell you what one mecha fan thinks.

Pacific Rim spins the tale of an alien invasion birthed from a giant chiasm in the ocean floor. The aliens are sending giant, I mean way bigger than the folks that super-size it at MacDonald's, monsters to destroy humankind, and then (presumably) the aliens will walk in to mop up. But humans, being the contentious creatures we are, take exception to the plan. Our exception takes form as Mechs Jaegers, building-tall biped weapon platforms controlled by a pair of mentally linked humans. The

plot is simple: we want to close the fissure emitting the monsters, the monsters have a problem with that plan.

The acting is just fine; these movies are rarely a vehicle for rich character development. Idris Elba plays Stacker Pentecost, the typical over-the-top commander officer that Hollywood loves, but in 23 years in the Navy, I never met. Charlie Hunnam plays Raleigh Becket, the bad ass rebel dude, Rinko Kikuchi is Mako Mori, the mandatory semi-cute girl, and Charlie Day is the comic relief, sans south Philly bar.

The fight scenes are amazing. The Jaeger's sprout swords, Wolverine-type blades, and rocket assisted punches. My favorite is when Becket's Jaeger smashes a Kaiju (that's what the monsters are called) with an ocean-going tanker. It's like watching Battletech on the big screen. Almost...

This is where I go full-on geek. Let's pause for a quick review.

1. Giant monsters attack. Cool.
2. Planet develops huge Jaegers to fight them. Cool.
3. They collide in epic boxing matches. Cool.
4. The Jaegers don't have any weapons. WHAT?

Yep, the Kaiju can only rip, claw, tear, throw, and sometimes spit acid. Physical stuff. Why not create Jaegers that that stand back and saw the Kaiju up with Gauss Rifles, autocannons, lasers, etc? Sure, the Jaegers have a plasma gun, and it takes about a third of the movie to charge, and they only use it when they are close enough to spit on a Kaiju. Oh yeah, another Jaeger has missiles in its chest, but it never fires them. For me, that hurts the suspension of disbelief.

Sorry, I told you I was going geek on you.

Despite the dearth of pulse lasers and magnetically accelerated metal slugs, I liked the movie. The fight scenes are thunderous, the plot good enough, and the acting competent. Bottom line, geekness aside, the ride is worth the price of the admission. And yeah, I guess that was review.