Pacific Rim

[Venkman]

Either your a fan of this type of shit or you aren't.

So as a fan, what would you have done to the movie to make it more to your liking?

I'm asking seriously.

There's a lot of entertainment I don't like but can understand why someone can like it (faux-reality TV, seven dozen versions of CSI, fucking Big Bang Theory). There's also schlocky stuff I do like which others don't and which have flimsy stories but at least try and hold themselves together (Back to the Future, some of the Die Hards, the new Treks with some exception).

But then there's movies like this which were ok fun for reasons that had very little to do with what was produced and more to what was promised. The entire experience was huge ass robots fighting huge ass monsters. I had to know that go in and hold onto only that to get through the rest of it.

I think the movie would have been better off without trying to explain itself at all. Just drop someone into the middle of the story without any preamble and let them neckbeard how the story got there, and then if there's enough sustained interest to produce quality fanfic, go make a prequel.

But what I feel like we got was what you complained about of LotR: 20 minutes of good fight scenes surrounded by a whole lot of extraneous filler dialog, walking around, and bromancing. And there's a number of fans who'd have liked LoTR to be longer too

Fastedit: and yes, I see the irony in there being two dozen pages about a movie that bears no scrutiny 

[Margalis]

There's a lot of entertainment I don't like but can understand why someone can like it (faux-reality TV, seven dozen versions of CSI, fucking Big Bang Theory). There's also schlocky stuff I do like which others don't and which have flimsy stories but at least try and hold themselves together (Back to the Future, some of the Die Hards, the new Treks with some exception).

The thing about movies like Die Hard, BTTF, Star Wars, etc (not so much new Trek, which is lame) is that the movies have a lot of good scenes that aren't just action scenes. Sure, they aren't Oscar-style films or films with incredibly deep emotional truths, but they are well-made movies that deliver fun action but also fun characters, snappy dialog, memorable moments, etc.

I don't mind films that have little pretense of plot and characters and just jettison that stuff, like say District B-13 or Dredd. What gets me are these 2+ hour blockbusters that spend a lot of time on plot and characters but little of it works.

[MediumHigh]

Either your a fan of this type of shit or you aren't.

So as a fan, what would you have done to the movie to make it more to your liking?

I'm asking seriously.

There's a lot of entertainment I don't like but can understand why someone can like it (faux-reality TV, seven dozen versions of CSI, fucking Big Bang Theory). There's also schlocky stuff I do like which others don't and which have flimsy stories but at least try and hold themselves together (Back to the Future, some of the Die Hards, the new Treks with some exception).

But then there's movies like this which were ok fun for reasons that had very little to do with what was produced and more to what was promised. The entire experience was huge ass robots fighting huge ass monsters. I had to know that go in and hold onto only that to get through the rest of it.

I think the movie would have been better off without trying to explain itself at all. Just drop someone into the middle of the story without any preamble and let them neckbeard how the story got there, and then if there's enough sustained interest to produce quality fanfic, go make a prequel.

But what I feel like we got was what you complained about of LotR: 20 minutes of good fight scenes surrounded by a whole lot of extraneous filler dialog, walking around, and bromancing. And there's a number of fans who'd have liked LoTR to be longer too

Fastedit: and yes, I see the irony in there being two dozen pages about a movie that bears no scrutiny  

Pacific Rim has many faults but ultimately it gave its target audience what it wants. The problem is that its target audience is a minority within a minority. Darniaq I think you miss understood, I saw this movie 3 times, this shit was awesome. What the movie suffered from is Hollywood writers. They can write a beginnning or an end but never anything in the middle. Which in my opinion is where the cream of the cusp lies, in the middle. If they had set the movie in the middle of the war it would have had a greater impact, the biggest flaw of the movie is the flimsy way it wishes to tie itself into a bow.

[Surlyboi]

Just saw this last night.

Reasons to be cheerful, Part Me.

Giant robots punching the shit out of giant monsters.

Rinko Kikuchi was fucking hot in this role. Like, ridiculously so. She was cute in Babel but so fucking broken it didn't matter. In this? A crazy, hot badass.

Idriss Elba. He was one of the few redeeming things in Prometheus. He didn't disappoint here.

Burn Gorman (Torchwood's Owen) and Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I was waiting for fucking Kaiju Mittens.

Last but not least, Ron. Fucking. Perlman.

[MediumHigh]

My thoughts in a nutshell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupWquPNoTc

[Ironwood]

Yeah.  That pretty much covers it actually.

Except I can't even remember my inner nine year old, never mind listen to him.

[Sir T]

My thoughts in a nutshell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupWquPNoTc

Oh my god I couldn't stop laughing for 2 whole minutes. Genius.

[Lakov_Sanite]

"pew pew pew"

[Mattemeo]

I can't even remember my inner nine year old, never mind listen to him.

At some point my inner nine year old got hold of a loud-hailer, and now I can't get him to shut the fuck up.
Also, you have no idea how much he wants me to work for Guillermo del Toro.

[Venkman]

Holy shit, 24 pages of neckbearding* the dumbest movie in decades was worth it all just to have that trailer result. 

* yes, including me

[lamaros]

Saw this. Really bad. No dramatic tension at all. The script was awful, and not in a 'knowingly hitting genre cliches' kind of way.

The non believability stuff didn't bother me much - though the pilots looking like Jedwin from Eurovision was pretty hilarious - but there was nothing there to enjoy.

[Soln]

I wasn't going to stir the pot, but I also saw it 2-3 weeks ago and it was entirely forgettable CGI shit. 

[Der Helm]

You guys just hate fun.

[Sir T]

Pew pew pew 

[Miasma]

I AM GOING TO PUT THE MOST EXPENSIVE (IS THERE A DIRECTOR'S CUT?) BLUERAY VERSION OF THIS BLISSFULLY STUPID ROBOT PUNCHING ALIENS MOVIE ON MY CHIRSTMAS LIST JUST TO SPITE YOU HATING SONS OF BITCHES EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED BY CHILL BROS LIKE TEN TO THREE.

My family isn't very technically savvy so I will probably wind up with Thunder Cats Season two but so be it (they already bought me Thunder Cats season one for some horrible reason it is still in the original plastic wrap I'm not watching that crap).

[Ironwood]

The new Thundercats ?  I'll take that off your hands.

[Miasma]

Didn't know there was a new Thundercats.

[UnSub]

Didn't know there was a new Thundercats.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it only lasted a season before cancellation.

It wasn't that bad.

[Salamok]

I just saw this and although I don't dislike it I will say I am a bit underwhelmed.  Maybe it was not seeing it on a giant screen, maybe it was the lack of 3d, maybe it was the judgmental looks my wife kept giving me.  Mostly I kept thinking that if transformers was filmed the same way it would have been a better movie.  I will say that I am now convinced that every effort will be made to view all future movies with glorious potential such as this in the imax 3d theatre next to my work and away from my wife's damning gaze.

[Setanta]

I got given this on DVD.

It was better than Ender's Game.














That's not a lot of praise because Ender's game wasn't a crash hot representation of the novel but at least the popcorn was fresh.

[Sir T]

and away from my wife's damning gaze.

Sounds like the Aliens would have been better off using your wife, and not giant monsters. 

[Venkman]

Ooh, I guess it has been 10 or so pages since the last thread reset

[Nerf]

The short answer on how these monsters would have been dealt with has not changed in half a dozen pages:

An endless supply of dumb missiles just constantly barraging that whole until schild's cement dump is ready.

Assuming they wouldn't run out of missiles or cement. How much cement would it take to plug up an interdimensional rift anyway? 

I'm waaaaay too lazy and uncaring to even pretend to do actual maths on this, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that it'd take less than a giant wall around every continent.  Or any continent.

[Tannhauser]

I don't know how you people missed this, but Pacific Rim is a clear comment on globalization.  The monsters represent IP piracy, cheap knockoffs and offshore manufacturing.  The monsters rising from the waters couldn't be a more clear metaphor.  The giant wall is a ridiculous idea, but not in the context Del Toro intends which is to show that protectionism is expensive and ultimately futile against foreign market forces.  What does work are the giant mechs from different countries that work together to defeat the monsters.  In fact, he's smacking us in the face with this metaphor for free market globalization.

I preferred Elysium's subtle, nuanced take on immigration and class struggle personally.

[jgsugden]

I don't know how you people missed this, but Pacific Rim is a clear comment on globalization.  The monsters represent IP piracy, cheap knockoffs and offshore manufacturing.  The monsters rising from the waters couldn't be a more clear metaphor.  The giant wall is a ridiculous idea, but not in the context Del Toro intends which is to show that protectionism is expensive and ultimately futile against foreign market forces.  What does work are the giant mechs from different countries that work together to defeat the monsters.  In fact, he's smacking us in the face with this metaphor for free market globalization.

I preferred Elysium's subtle, nuanced take on immigration and class struggle personally.

Seeing something in 'art' does not make it intentional.  And I, personally, would think that G. Del Toro would be the first to say, "Sometimes a cigar is just a big friggin excuse to have monsters battle robots."

[Der Helm]

I don't know how you people missed this, but Pacific Rim is a clear comment on globalization.  The monsters represent IP piracy, cheap knockoffs and offshore manufacturing.  The monsters rising from the waters couldn't be a more clear metaphor.  The giant wall is a ridiculous idea, but not in the context Del Toro intends which is to show that protectionism is expensive and ultimately futile against foreign market forces.  What does work are the giant mechs from different countries that work together to defeat the monsters.  In fact, he's smacking us in the face with this metaphor for free market globalization.

I preferred Elysium's subtle, nuanced take on immigration and class struggle personally.

Jesus Christ, I think I am getting vertigo staring down that sarchasm.

[rattran]

That tiny speck at the bottom is jgsugden.

[Der Helm]

That tiny speck at the bottom is jgsugden.

[jgsugden]

Consideringt he stuff I see around here, I see no reason to assume that was sarcasm.

[Der Helm]

Consideringt he stuff I see around here, I see no reason to assume that was sarcasm.

I preferred Elysium's subtle, nuanced take on immigration and class struggle personally.

You obviously have not seen Elysium. 

[jgsugden]

Again, considering the dumbfoundingly bizarre things I have seen on f13, I see no reason to assume...

Didn't someone praise the character development in Pacific Rim a dozen or so pages back?

[taolurker]

This thread needs less debate, commentary or rationalization, and more gifs/memes.




Or maybe discussion of the sequel they're sure to make?

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, that was me.  As an American I don't have time for an entire movie devoted to the protaganist's growth.  He's a saloon owner with a heart of gold.  We get it 'Casablanca'!
Jesus.  Get to the Nazi-killing already!

In Pacific Rim, we get a quick, concise snapshot of characters motivations.  The yelling black dude was dying, the American dude had something to prove, the Asian lady had her deal.  Bam.  Done. I don't need to know what type of cancer is killing Heimdall.  He's dying, he's in charge, he lets loose with a big speech.  Should he pick up a skull and go all Hamlet on us?  Hell no!  Let's move on to the action and the greater themes; the emergence of the nations of the Pacific Rim to a First World global economy.

[lamaros]

This thread needs less debate, commentary or rationalization, and more gifs/memes.




Or maybe discussion of the sequel they're sure to make?

[Margalis]

Yeah, that was me.  As an American I don't have time for an entire movie devoted to the protaganist's growth.  He's a saloon owner with a heart of gold.  We get it 'Casablanca'!
Jesus.  Get to the Nazi-killing already!

There's a difference between saying the character development was good vs. it didn't exist but also didn't need to.

My problem with that aspect of the film is that the character development is awful combined with the fact that the movie actually has a lot of character development. It's not like there's a little but what little there is is good - there's actually a lot, but most of it is bad.