2013, USA
Guillermo del Toro
3 // 10
Does every film need a story? Is it a good idea to target a $190 million production exclusively at illiterate twelve year old boys? Could it possibly get any worse? There's only one way to find out!
Cutting to the chase, the only reason I watched the Pacific Rim to the end was this review. Slating it without giving it every last bit of a chance to redeem itself would simply be unfair. But I honestly regret wasting those two hours of my life. I've done my best to avoid reading about it after it came out, I wanted to have my own, clear view on his film. I wanted it to surprise me at least a little bit, even though, despite my appreciation for del Toro's previous work, I didn't expect too much. But this film is so disappointing it really hurts. This film is shockingly bad. In fact, it is so bad it's just unforgivable. And it's also quite terrifying when taken as an example of how low the standards are set these days. I mean, a film, where the story is so thin it could walk the catwalk during the London Fashion Week, where acting is just non-existent, where the only post-viewing impression is that of having sat through two hours of a computer game cut-scenes, a film where dialogues seem to have been written by a freeware movie lines generator, IS actually getting favourable reviews... Come on! Roland Emmerich's Godzilla was miles better, for crying out loud!
I must confess, I find it really hard to even decide where to start the litany of complaints. There is one thing, however, that really struck me as particularly difficult to turn the blind eye on. The inadequacy with which del Toro is trying to chuck into this film an absolute shitload of his own personal passion for popculture under the disguise of homages, tributes and inspirations. What immediately came to my mind as a comparison was The Matrix, but have in mind that we're dealing with total opposites here. What Lara and Andy Wachowski managed to achieve was a complex yet coherent story based upon a foundation comprising a plethora of religious, philosophical, mythical and cultural archetypes, only spiced up with some geeky winks. But where the Wachowskis are inspired, del Toro simply imitates. Let's take Ghost in the Shell, for example. The colonnade shoot-out in The Matrix pinches small visual elements from GitS' final tank battle. Shooting watermelons during the chase or cracking the pavement after the jump - this is what I mean by 'tribute'. The Wachowskis don't need to construct their world from 'borrowed' materials, but they included them just for that very subtle extra flavour. With del Toro and Pacific Rim it is not so. Del Toro does not wink, he just grabs and copies without shame. The jeager's base looks in details quite like the Nebuchadnezzar from The Matrix. Hong Kong is a mixture od Blade Runner's Los Angeles and GitS' New Port City (there's even an almost frame-by-frame copied scene with a little cargo bike turning at the crossing). And let's not forget the very principal idea for this film, which is basically a slightly modified version of Neon Genesis Evangelion. And then, adding insult to injury, del Toro crowbars into this monstrosity every possible cliché, some of them so bad even Uwe Boll wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.
When you add to this plausibility that would make baron Muchausen look like a newsreader, complete lack of any depth to the story or the characters and acting so wooden that the Vikings could sail all the way to Vinland on it, you end up with a film that would give Michael Bay a run for his money. There's no other word for it, in my eyes, Pacific Rim is a disaster. I wish it was never made. This film is, in fact, so stupid it really casts a shadow over del Toro's earlier milestones for me. I don't think I'll ever watch Hellboy without thinking how bad the Pacific Rim was.
So maybe at least the visuals are astounding? Alas. While there's surely no shortage of eye-candy here, I do have a sort of personal qualm about it. The CGI-ishness is something I'm still not totally convinced about. I know the very essence of acting is pretending, but pretending that a stick you're waving around is a lightsaber is one thing and pretending that you're terrified by a monster you won't even see until the post production is finished, is something else entirely. It's my obligation, as a viewer, to get fooled by the special effects in the film. It's something I neither oppose nor resist. But I do have a personal preference and I much rather be fooled by sticks and masks and rubber suits, by things that are actually there, than be fooled by things that are nothing more than a background on the green screen (unless you're James Cameron, but there's an exception to every rule after all). So, as far as I'm concerned, Pacific Rim fails to deliver even at this front as well. Before I watched it, I felt disappointed that del Toro didn't get to direct At the Mountains of Madness but right now, I'm actually rather relieved. I'll be happy to assume that the Pacific Rim was just an accident and that del Toro will be back to form with his next film (and seeing the short synopsis for the Crimson Peak I'm mildly optimistic) but for now, I'm in mourning after the artistic integrity of one of the most imaginative directors within the genre.
*Sniff*
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