Bit Action, Big Effects and Big Attitudes - Big Deal
They thought aliens would come from the sky but in the end they came from beneath the sea in the form of mighty beasts known as Kaiju and their arrival brought war. It was a war which saw countries unite to create mega machines which required two pilots working in perfect harmony to defeat the Kaiju when ever they attacked. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his brother were pilots but when his brother died, killed by a Kaiju, Raleigh went off the grid, working on building defences instead of fighting. But with the situation becoming increasingly desperate, Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) tracks him down and persuades him to come back. His return is not without issues especially with current hot shot pilot Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky) resenting his re-appearance. But there is a job to be done and sacrifices to be made if mankind is to survive.
I thought he looked familiar but it took me a while to realise that Robert Kazinsky, who plays Chuck Hansen, once was one of the main cast in "Eastenders" no less. He's certainly come some way since his days of playing Sean in the British soap and whilst his accent seemed a little all over the place he does a nice job of playing the arrogant hot shot who has daddy issues.
That to be honest isn't important because for all the story, the back stories and the characters "Pacific Rim" is all about big special effects driven action with heroic men and women not giving up till they say it is over and putting themselves in danger with their giant machines to preserve the future of mankind. I wish I could say there was more to it, that there was some genuine emotional depth to Raleigh's return but it is only generic and lightweight because "Pacific Rim" is just big action, big special effects and with a cast of muscle bound actors both young and old it is big on personality as well.
The thing is that yes "Pacific Rim" is entertaining, the action does exactly what it is intended and the actors all have a touch of the Tom Cruise personality about them and lets be honest that Tom Cruise "I'm a hero" personality has made a lot of mainstream movies tick. But maybe my days of special effects wowing me are in the past because I kind of needed something more than CGI which would give the Transformer movies a run for their money.
What this all boils down to is that "Pacific Rim" seems to deliver what younger audiences want from their big budget movies these days which like movies from the past have big characters and big action. But they are also big on special effects and to be honest that is where I am not so bothered any more and why the big special effects driven action in "Pacific Rim" wasn't a big deal for me.
