# Today, we are cancelling the Apocalypse! (Pacific Rim) SPOILERS! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355 "2013-07-12T20:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/81 "2013-07-17T21:00:00Z")
> [@cainxinth](#): > > [ul] > [li]Why did the riders have to be inside the robots?[/li][li]Why did the robots toss the monsters and grapple with them instead of stabbing them directly in the eyeball?[/li][li]Why didn’t the humans build the robots to be bigger than the monsters?[/li] > [/ul] > > The answer to all these questions? Because it looked cool. As for the helicopters thing, I think that was just laziness. They could have given the robots jetpacks that they use to get to the monsters and take off to fight. Would have been cooler. I think the choppers were a homage. I’ve seen the same thing in other monster movies. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/82 "2013-07-17T23:13:46Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > brilliantly dumb movie. That’s exactly the right phrase. I mean look at del Toro’s past work. We have many good reasons to be confident he knows what he’s doing here. “Mistakes” are on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/83 "2013-07-18T12:46:04Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > There’s a difference between a work that you _don’t have_ to think about to enjoy, and a work you _have to_ not _think about_. _Pacific Rim_ did not and does not have to be the latter—that’s a disservice to the fans, the genre, and most of all, to _Pacific Rim_. Which is better than that, and had the makings of _more_ than that. The revelatory scene for me was in the Hong Kong fight. The kaiju was getting its ass kicked, so it said, “Oh yeah? Oh YEAH?! Okay, I have WINGS!” and busted out with a pair of wings that it really should have been using all along, and these wings were as powerful as six helicopters (i.e., they could carry a robot). As those wings beat against the air, carrying the kaiju and robot into the upper atmosphere where there basically wasn’t any air, the robot pilot responded, “Oh yeah? You got wings? Well, if you get to have wings, I have a SWORD!” and busted out with the sword that it totally did NOT have up until that point. There are two universes in which this exchange makes sense: 1. An old Warner Brothers cartoon, in which the kaiju is Coyote and the robot is Roadrunner (or Animaniacs with Slappy Squirrel, you get the idea). 2. Children playing robots-and-monsters. Neither of these universes allow you to think too deeply about what’s going on in them. In both, if you do, everything falls apart. But they’re both immensely enjoyable universes. I kind of want to watch it again, imagining that it’s a brilliant retelling of a robot-and-monster battle enacted by kids. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/84 "2013-07-18T12:51:58Z")
That’s a beautiful thing, **LHoD**. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/85 "2013-07-18T12:55:48Z")
Oh, and don’t forget that when falling from that height, the robot was in flames, like it was falling from orbit or something. Super silly, but cartoon coolness. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/86 "2013-07-18T14:37:00Z")
There’s a thing I’m glad the movie left out: The cancerous, ubiquitous “but you gotta have ROMANCE!” No, you don’t. Now get back to the punching robots. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/87 "2013-07-18T14:41:04Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > The cancerous, ubiquitous “but you gotta have ROMANCE!” They had a incredibly understated one going. The protagonist even puts it into his little speech before the final mission. Something like “I never thought about the future before…blah blah blah…my timing was never good”. And then he proceeds to go punch monsters and dimensional rifts. I appreciated that he mentioned it only to work it into an excuse to have more giant robots fights. It seems like just about every little plot point was used to stage more giant robot fights. And that was the genius of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/88 "2013-07-18T16:07:11Z")
Sure, it was obvious that the leads cared a lot for eachother, but on which level is left open. Which is good, because that also sidelines the mood whiplash and narm that usually accompany such scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/89 "2013-07-18T16:18:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > That’s a beautiful thing, **LHoD**. I don’t mean to detract from the effectiveness of **LHOD’s** explanation, but I will register that it’s also a _completely damn obvious_ thing. How someone can watch the film without immediately understanding it is… I don’t know. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/90 "2013-07-18T16:20:18Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > There’s a thing I’m glad the movie left out: > > The cancerous, ubiquitous “but you gotta have ROMANCE!” > > No, you don’t. Now get back to the punching robots. There was definitely a romance, but it was awesomely underplayed. Right at the end when they should have had an end-of-action kiss scene, they just touched foreheads. That was an excellent decision. More evidence that the movie is _brilliantly_ dumb, and not just dumb. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/91 "2013-07-18T16:34:55Z")
Just listened to the BBC’s Film Programme’s podcast in which Guillermo del Toro is interviewed. I learned that the whole movie is about the evils of consumerism. Liked it better before I learned that. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/92 "2013-07-18T16:39:36Z")
Seems implausible. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/93 "2013-07-18T16:56:55Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Seems implausible. yeah, I don’t buy that at all… ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/94 "2013-07-18T17:07:11Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Just listened to the BBC’s Film Programme’s podcast in which Guillermo del Toro is interviewed. > > I learned that the whole movie is about the evils of consumerism. Liked it better before I learned that. Hm… big goverment program to build Jagers abandoned to build a giant wall. Former members of the Jager project rebuild their team and some of their Jagers using billions of dollars of private funding from a guy who got rich harvesting Kaiju. Privately-funded Jager mercenaries save the planet. Yup, clearly consumerism/capitalism are bad. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/95 "2013-07-18T17:23:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Seems implausible. For the record, it wasn’t the host of the show that said this, it was Guillermo del Toro. > [@](#): > > Host: [Sets up that Godzilla and other Japanese kaiju were metaphors for real world issues…] When I met Guillermo del Toro I asked him to unpack them. > > Guillermo del Toro: In the movie I wanted to present the kaiju as an unstoppable force of nature. We gave them categories like a hurricane or like a tornado or a natural disaster. And I wanted to make them living weapons fueled by a little society on another side that is consumerism. They just want to consume and they do this. And they are allowed into our world by the fact that we have ravaged our atmosphere. We have destroyed the oceans, we have created conditions that have terraformed for these creatures to live in. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/96 "2013-07-18T17:40:29Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > For the record, it wasn’t the host of the show that said this, it was Guillermo del Toro. Oh I know, I understood that. Still seems implausible. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/97 "2013-07-18T17:41:30Z")
Ah on reading the explanation, I can see what he means, but I’d call that a very minor thematic point rather than what the movie’s all about. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/98 "2013-07-18T17:58:46Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Ah on reading the explanation, I can see what he means, but I’d call that a very minor thematic point rather than what the movie’s all about. its why I never understand ‘art’ — this picture represents mankinds eternal struggle for self identitiy - pointing at a picutre of a soup can. If that was the message he was selling - it was so subtle that it failed. That mankind finds a way to market anything- that message I got. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/99 "2013-07-18T18:03:25Z")
Well, I don’t think he’s saying it’s _the message_ of the film. Like I said, it’s a minor thematic point. And the idea here wouldn’t be for the audience to necessarily go away thinking “I have learned something about consumerism today,” but rather, to go away with a slightly raised tendency to think negatively of consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355/100 "2013-07-18T18:10:02Z")
It’s a movie about giant robots fighting giant space monsters. It isn’t any deeper than that, no matter what Del Toro says. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-we-are-cancelling-the-apocalypse-pacific-rim-spoilers/663355.md?page=6)