A long hiatus, I can’t think
of a single person who doesn’t need one every now and then. After taking off so
much time however, I was faced with the dilemma of how I should jump back into
my next review… more specifically, how I would justify it. I decided that maybe
a post-summer movie rundown would be best, after all, with the exception of Iron
Man 3 and The World’s End there wasn’t really anything this summer
that really popped, noting I was REALLY excited about seeing, so maybe judging
everything else on the same playing field was the best way to handle this.
Then I saw Pacific Rim…
and I decided that I would be breaking this idea model after all.
Pacific Rim is the newest film from
Guillermo Del Toro, the Oscar winning director of such fantastic pieces of
cinema as Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Devil’s Backbone. As great as
these films are however, it’s his work in American film that he is best known
for, such as Blade II and the Hellboy films. Now there are some
people out there who really hate the Hellboy films, I mean REALLY hate
them, but I believe them to be some of the best character driven comic films
out there. Are they simple? Yes. Are they effective? Very. Are they impressive
features of film featuring some of the best creature effects and modeling in
the business? Absolutely.
And right there we have the
first trait in the essence of what makes Del Toro, his first class creature
designs and effects. Del Toro has never been one to skimp on monsters, which is
fantastic because hearing him talk about monster movies is like hearing a small
child talk about their Halloween candy hauls, there’s nothing in their voices
except unbridled passion, love, and admiration. This adoration translates well
into his films, creating monsters that are believable and real not by using CG
like everything else in Hollywood these days, but by using practical effects
and models. After all, when you can make creatures that translate into film as
seamlessly as this…
or this…
or this…
then why wouldn’t you
be proud to display them at every possible moment in a movie. Hell, you could
cut out story entirely and have a kick-ass film based on kick-ass monsters.
Now this is where most of
you would cry “But Kyle! All you do is slam films that rely more on special
effects than on story!” and yeah, you would be totally right. BUT…
there are some very important distinctions between a film like Pacific Rim
and a film like Transformers 2.
First of all, Del Toro went
into this film with the intention of making a modern day monster film that
focused more on the monsters than the characters. With that mindset in place,
and a total disregard for deep characterization more or less on the back
burner, he STILL managed to make a film with characters in
it that I cared about and became emotionally invested in. Does he rely on old
tried and true tropes to do so? Oh my goodness, yes, but the sad fact is that
in this modern day Hollywood most action movies don’t even bother with simple
tropes and tactics to get us to connect with the characters. All these films
seem to be interested in is connecting action scenes with the thinnest thread
of story possible. The fact that Del Toro is able to transcend these films so
easily shows how effortlessly Del Toro can create a human drama in the middle
of an action film.
Nowhere is this effective
character/audience relation more apparent than in the Hellboy films.
While the films certainly have a few problems sprinkled throughout them, I
absolutely loved each and every one of the characters, and I have often
described the movies as “A human drama about a monster”. Hellboy, Abe, Liz, and
Professor Broom are such deep, interesting, and likeable characters that the
sometimes simple dialogue doesn’t tarnish their strong connection with the audience.
There is a scene in the second film where Hellboy and Abe get hammered and
start singing Barry Manilow that is so funny and so heartfelt that it just
plain makes you feel good watching it, no matter how ridiculous it looks or how
silly it comes off.
Now I mentioned that Del
Toro sometimes has a small problem with dialogue, but notice how I said simple
and not poor, or weak, and I think I know why Del Toro sometimes has this problem. I have noticed that a
lot of times there seems to two types of writing when it comes to Guillermo Del
Toro. The first type is the man who caught Hollywood’s attention with deep,
moving gothic character films such as The Devil’s Bacckbone and the
phenomenal Pan’s Labyrinth. The second type of Del Toro is the audience
favorite who makes wide appeal monster action films such as Hellboy and Pacific
Rim. Now while the former type is the one who always gets Oscar nods and
awards for their writing and characters, these films also happen to be foreign
films, and it should also be noted that English is Del Toro’s second language.
Do you see where I’m going
with this? Del Toro’s English speaking films are always the films that are
dinged for writing that sometimes comes across as “overly simple”. I think this
simplicity is due mostly to Del Toro’s language barrier, but really… when you
think about it, is simplicity really a problem in writing this type of film?
Larry King has had a thirty year career that many attribute to the simplicity
of his questions after all. Simplicity in a film like a monster movie can keep
the audience engaged no matter what age or demographic they fall into. Remember
again that there is a big difference between simple writing and immature/stupid/ insulting writing.
Unrelated video
Now even though there is a
bit of a problem with the writing, the acting of some of the main characters
was also a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, we had a slew of actors who handled
their roles masterfully, from seriously grounded (such as Idris Elba) to
necessarily manic (such as Charlie Day). On the other hand, the two male leads (Charlie
Hunnam and Robert Kazinsky) felt pretty flat and emotionless, not at all helped
by them both pulling off accents that neither one of them had any right doing.
The lead character seemed to be having the most trouble in the group though,
which is surprising considering how amazing I thought he was in Django
Unchained and Inglorious Basterds.
Wait… they’re different people? No joke?
So anyways, young Christoph
Waltz didn’t really seem to have any emotional commitment to his role and felt
underwhelming. On the other hand we have Charlie Day and Bern Gorman hamming it
up like pros as delightfully cheesy eccentric “mad scientist” archetypes that are
a most welcome addition in an original science fiction monster film such as
this. I particularly loved Day as a manic scientist obsessed with the Kaiju, going so
far as to have the defeated ones tattooed all over his body.
Simple writing, bad acting,
you’re probably wondering what’s so special about this film by now, so let me
just get it out of the way by saying “Fantastic awesome monster smashing robot
fights!”. Now yes, as a student of film I know I’m supposed to look past action
sequences and absorb a film for its deeper meanings, but sometimes action is so
unique, original, and exceptional that it transcends the shallow depths of
other aspects in the film.
The key to these riveting action scenes is that, like many other Del Toro
films, there is a lot of heart and personal feeling injected into the action
sequences. This is a far cry from the sterile and emotionless action scenes
that seem to permeate the landscape of most Hollywood action films. With this
film we get the sense that every single action scene advances the story in one way
or another, it’s not just an action scene for the sake of having an action
scene. Once again I’m going to pick on Transformers 3, which I know is
getting old, but when you have so many good examples of bad examples it
would be negligent to not use the case studies Mr. Michael Bay has provided us.
So one thing that really boils my blood in action films is the long, drawn out
action scene that doesn’t advance the story whatsoever. For example, in Transformers
3 there is a long car chase on a freeway with robots weaving, exploding,
and shooting their way through a freeway.
It’s a pretty little scene to be sure, but just think that five
whole minutes have passed in a film with absolutely no plot advancement,
character development, or even significant dialogue. This scene alone was bad
enough, but to make matters worse the finale is almost an hour long and follows
the exact same criteria of not advancing
the story.
Now you may say “Well how come you like the finale in The
Avengers so much?” and the difference is that The Avengers spent an
entire movie masterfully flushing out all of the main characters of the film. Every
single scene in Transformers 3 that doesn’t revolve around action feels
so rushed and condensed that I felt like I was going insane, and then once the
action scenes started the story would come to a screeching halt. A story should flow
through both slow, methodical, expository dialogue and well shot action scenes in
equal measure, action being used to advance critical key elements of the story
(the destruction or acquisition of something important to the story, the death of a character,
etc.). Imagine the storytelling of The Avengers and Pacific Rim
as a smooth, carefree drive through the countryside, while the story in Transformers
films is more like a jerky, shuddering stop and go drive through congested city
streets, and on top of it the driver is learning to manually shift.
Pacific Rim follows
the same format of using action scenes to punctuate important moments of the
story. Not a single Kaiju/Jaeger fight occurs without the destruction of a key
component, an important character moment, or the advancement of a critical plot
point. These action scenes are also crisp, well shot, and deliberately paced
while managing to be exciting and action packed. For example, instead of cars
racing at each and smashing into things in slow motion every second of the
fight, it may take a Jaeger (giant robot) several minutes to close the distance
between himself and a monster. Also, each haymaker, each kick, each blow
delivered on screen is a long windup that you feel every ounce of energy behind
as opposed to the super fast and snappy punches delivered by wisecracking
racist robot cars.
So why break the silence of my summer films with this
review? Well, I think it’s just really important to spread awareness of an
original film to the general audience, especially when the film isn’t getting
half of the recognition it deserves. This film is getting pretty ignored by
general audiences, and while it is still barely eeking out a top 10 spot in the
box office I think it is word of mouth that is keeping it alive. Is is the
greatest film ever made? Not by a long shot. However… it is a
film that has something for everyone, and you would be hard pressed not enjoy
the experience this film delivers.
7 OUT OF 10
I like
directing my readers to other works they may enjoy, and for a great listen give
the gentlemen on the podcast Reel Junkies a shot. A great and funny poscast
featuring knowledgeable insight into film.
