Today, we are cancelling the Apocalypse! (Pacific Rim) SPOILERS!

Cafe Society
#1

This movie is 2,500 tons of awesome! I caught an early advance show last night.

I know there’s another thread here mentioning being “strangely psyched” to go see it, but having seen it, I’m already past that point. I’m already psyched to go see it again! Now I have to find some time this weekend to catch the IMAX 3D version.

On hovering over the title, even boxed spoilers get revealed, so I’ll leave some space here.

I went into this movie expecting giant robots battling the hell out of kaiju, and holy cow, it delivers! Even though the first ten minutes cover a lot of ground, the pacing seemed right - there was never a dull moment where I had to wonder what I was supposed to be following.

Comparisons to Neon Genesis Evangelion will never go away as long as both titles exist in the same universe, but after having seen the entirety of Pacific Rim and not just scrutinizing the trailers, I’d have to say it owes as much (if not more) to the Godzilla/Gamera/kaiju movies of the 60’s and 70’s as it does to NGE. Del Toro specifically sites Tetsujin 28 (remember Gigantor?) as an influence, but I’m sure the host of designers he had working with him shown in the featurettes had all sorts of other ideas, too.

My only real complaint is that we didn’t get to see enough of Cherno Alpha (I wanted Incinerator Turbines, darn it!!!), Crimson Typhoon, Horizon Brave, and Coyote Tango in action; Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka are the real stars of the show.

#2

I liked it, but I kept wondering if being a giant douche was a requirement for Jager pilots.

But then…

I realized there totally is a reason why they would be. Pilots go into the drift with each other, knowing intimately every detail about each other’s past, all memories etc. So no one would agree to be a pilot who believed he had anything to hide.

Believed.

What this means is that pilot volunteers are likely to be these hugely overconfident, arrogant self righteous types. Which explains everything perfectly.

#3

Just saw it, very fun overall. Things I liked:
-the completeness and detail of the world and backstory. So many tiny little details added up to form a very convincing world
-the fact that the monsters were vulnerable to conventional weapons, just not all THAT vulnerable. Way too often in movies like this all of the army’s weapons, including missiles that can blow up a frickin’ battleship, do nothing to the monster because, umm, monster. Here that was not the case, although why all those jet fighters were firing machines guns from close range rather than missiles from long range is unclear
-most of the time, the sense of scale and size on both the monsters and the robots was convincing and awesome

What I didn’t like:
-as is all too often the case in movies these days, super-quick camera cuts and a washed out palette left it frequently impossible to tell what was actually going on, what had just happened to who, etc.

#4

Just saw it- really enjoyed it. Managed just the right amount of camp and ridiculousness without going overboard. I like how it mostly (though not entirely) took itself and its world seriously. And the supporting cast was excellent- Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, etc.

#5

Dooo eeeeeet. I never bother with the IMAX 3D but I was glad I did for this.

I think I watched the whole movie with my mouth hanging open from all the awesome. The only thing I was disappointed by was that we didn’t get to spend more time with the non-Aussie, non-Gipsy Danger Jaeger pilots.

#6

Just got back from it. Was bored most of the times. Action scenes were nearly incomprehensible. I didn’t care about any of the characters. And the movie went on way too long.

Oh, and dinosaurs didn’t have two brains. But they still had one more than this movie had.

#7

I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m wondering if they explain why missiles don’t hurt the monsters, but punches from giant robots do?

#8

The missiles do hurt the monsters, but not very much. Obviously, robot punches are needed.

#9

Its a beautifully sunny day in Dublin, so naturally I went and sat in the cinema for two hours.

Best decision I ever made. Not only was I the only person in the room (making for the perfect cinema experience) but I thought the film kicked ass. I didn’t want a best picture nominee, I wanted an Armageddon style against all odds monsters fighting robots extravaganza, and thats exactly what I got.

Anybody who didn’t like this film has no inner child.

#10

Nah, my innerchild just has better taste :smiley:

(And as one who does videogame stuff for a living, and visits Disneyland 3-5 times a year, there’s really no room for an adult portion)

#11

Just like I felt when watching Godzilla movies as a kid, I couldn’t wait for the “People” scenes to end so we could get to the monsters! The monster and Giant Robot stuff was well done (although I would have liked more day time fights) but the movie could have used about 15 minutes of talk cut and it would have probably been perfect.

BTW I was sure the computer voice was the one from Portal and just checked and it was!

#12

I thought it was noisy nonsense. As stated above, the action was incomprehensible.

Also, is anyone else thoroughly sick of these creatures (Cloverfield, Super 8) that are multi-jaw, bat-like spider things with no face and zero personality? At least Godzilla had eyes.

#13

That was one of the better Anime films I’ve seen. The scale of things was just immense and amazing to me, up to and including the Wall project. Sure, it made no sense whatsoever, but it was just so cool that for the most part I didn’t mind. So many little throwaway details about the world and how it has gone straight in the toilet since the Kaiju showed up; riots, rationing, everything deteriorating because people just don’t care to maintain it anymore. Even the graffiti on the weathered sign announcing the Sitka wall project made me smile (Estimated Completion Date (crossed out and painted over) Never!.

Charlie Day was great too, but I have to admit I kept think of him as his character from Horrible Bosses. For some reason, that didn’t detract anything from the film.

Another lovely detail, the “personality” of the various Jagers - not just in how their teams handled them, but their actual design. The Russian one in particular, when facing off with the Kaiju and its lower arms extended and retracted quickly like a boxer shaking it off before plunging back in - genius.

Not a Best Picture contender, but I’d say I’ll see it again at some point. This one is a for-sure see it in the theater one though, you need the big screen and rumbling sound to really get into it. The theater I went to was packed, about half the audience was probably boys around 8-11 or so, most of the other half was their fathers. I’m sure those boys will be hooked on Jagers like I was when I was a kid on Shogun Warriors and the like - and like their fathers were too.

And one more vote for more daytime fighting - I assume they went all dark and rainy to help disguise some CGI issues, but the few daylight sequences looked great to me, so not sure what that was all about.

#14

That’s funny, the conversation I had with the people I saw it with covered both of these two points specifically and we all came to the opposite conclusion.

It was a lot of fun but might have had a few too many parallels to Independace Day for me to give it too high of a grade. Wasn’t a rip off or anything, but…

-thought the world building was great
-covered all the major flaws I thought I would have when watching the trailer
-decent story, good work with secondary characters
-understood its place in the world

Would love to drift(?) with Rinko but I’m confident she would be disgusted with what goes on in my head.

#15

Utterly awesome movie. Fantastic action scenes, Hellboy & Charlie were hilarious, Idris Elba was great. Loved the robots. The only belief I was unwilling to suspend was 6 helicopters lifting the Jaegers. At least make them ducted multi-blade choppers or add jets or something so they aren’t just standard helicopters!

Agree 100%. Imax definitely adds a ton to this movie.

#16

Also, did anyone else think all the nose-bleeds were somehow connected and setting up for a massive twist that never happened?

#17

We got back from seeing it a little while ago. I got totally wrapped up in it, so that I was all about “helping” with my body english. My uncle did the same thing when he watched Live Atlanta Wrestling 50 years ago. :rolleyes: Luckily the only person nearby was my husband, who just thinks I’m funny when I do that.

But that was part of the fun for me! I don’t get to lose myself in movies much these days. And any time I watch a movie and can say “F&C4 yeah, SWORD!!! Giant robot with SWORD!!!” is kinda awesome.

I agree that it was pretty hard to tell what was going on in a lot of the action sequences. We also found some of the dialog hard to understand. And I told my husband that carrying the Jaegers out with helicopters was a pretty chancy thing too.

But I liked it. It’s not every day you can see a giant robot drag a big ship down the street and hit beat a monster with it. That kinda made my day.

#18

Big dumb fun - in a good way. I want to nit about weapon choices - whaddya mean you had a sword all this time? - but I found myself rooting for the movie for all of its goofy spectacularity. Good movie to catch with my son. Del Toro’s visuals boggle the mind - yes, the fight sequencing was confusing at times, but always visually great.

#19

By the way how old do you think the actress was who played li’l Mako? It was a pretty damn intense performance for a kid that young, I thought.

#20

For any “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” fans, here’s my take on Charlie’s plan to read the Kaiju’s brain.