Pacific Rim (2013)

I will admit that Japanese monster movies are among some of all-time personal favorites. So there may be a little bias in my review of this film, because this honestly the closest thing to an American version of that genre as possible. Director/writer Guillermo Del Toro, who has been responsible for some of the most creative films of the last two decades, has made a movie that is so gleefully geeky in its execution, that it is extremely hard to not get lost in it. The dialogue lacks the kind of punch in some areas that his other films generally carry, but the plot moves along well, and the action sequences are thrilling and fun. Each new monster, called Kaiju in the film, is as imaginative as the last, and each massive robot (Jaegers) was even more jaw droppingly cool, though I felt some got dispatched a little faster than they should have.

There is a list of fun, and at times appropriately hammy, performances in this film that really make it worth watching. Charlie Hunnam essentially plays his role from "Sons of Anarchy", but he makes it work for this role. Idris Elba plays the seasoned veteran, and leader of the resistance, with a depth and heaviness that gives the movie an emotional core. Pulling up the comedic relief are Charlie Day and Ron Perlman, who both seem to be trying to out overact each other. Their combined talents give "Pacific Rim" the perfect amount of laughs to make sure the picture isn't a joyless string of cities being destroyed.

Grade: B
3D: Why not?
Easter Egg: Yes

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Writer(s): Travis Beacham (also story) & Guillermo Del Toro
RT: 131 min
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief language