Embrace your creed

Of course I knew very well about the genre; Kaiju and mecha.  I have the need to highlight this because the general audience aren't very aware of this genre's traits and beauties.  This notion gives me that annoying assumptions that the masses will automatically compare with Transformers; even worse, saying that it's a rip off of the Cybertronians.  Screw this people.  But that is one of the challenges of tackling the genre and that's the easy part.  The hardest part, in terms of writing the story, was creating a solid universe that relinquish gimmick infringement from it's source material such as Godzila, Gundam and, the most common association from the fans of the genre, Evangelion.  But what can I see for sure, besides the breathtaking graphics, is the passion put into the film.

Perhaps the primary traits of this film is it's visual; not only with the epic battles but also the story.  I am not exactly a visual driven story teller.  Heck, I don't even know how one does that.  But upon entering film course, I have to and I begin to understand bit by bit.  The world's design was Del Toro's dependency on revealing the depths of the film; not much strong dialogues were used.  The Jaeger and Kaiju's design tell more stories behind the current conflict.  I am the kind of audience who bashes films that has action conquering over story; when exaggerated explosions has no story significance.  But the mayhem in this film was indeed significant in ways that reveals character development and monstrous beauties.  For instance, when Raleigh Becket piloted Gypsy Danger with his brother, I noticed a different fighting stance when Becket was piloting with Mako Mori.

Which brings me to the next topic about the characters.  First of, I've seen Rinko Kikuchi in another all time favorite of mine; seeing her finally in a big Hollywood film puts a smile on my face.  It's good to know that she's making it big now.  She's very talented and straight away I saw her performance being very good in this film; the distinctive body language and expression tells us all about the character Mako Mori and not the dialogue.  And the scene where Mako dwelling in her past was just. So. Amazing.  I just can't stand seeing a little girl crying; little Mako was just so helpless.  Man, that actress was amazing.  Stacker Pentecost was also a good character; it's freaking Idris Elba for god's sake, of course he was awesome!  The man, at most times, is always awesome.  He was even good in a Mumford & Son's music video, Lover of the light.  He was also awesome in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance! Good god that was an awful movie.  But to be frank though, I must say that Raleigh Becket wasn't a memorable character.  Mako is more memorable than him.  I can't say for sure whether if it was the acting or the writing.  Becket seemed one dimensional.  He's that typical hero you always see; a loner who's trying to get away from his past.  I can't feel the main character's presence in the film.  That's the down side of Pacific Rim.

Another aspect I'd like to point out is the amount of strong dialogue's presence in the story.  As I've stated, I'm a story drive guy so I have this feeling that the film could have been better if Del Toro took more time with character developments; of the dialogues and relationships.  The best representation of character development this film has is the Drift.  It's when two pilots share thoughts in order to control the Jaeger.  Again, visual dependency is high and the Drift is such a strong way to highlight the relationships such as Mako's with Pentecost.  Del Toro even took the time to explore the Drift's concept with Herc and Chuck Hansen; father and son.  Such care were given for this story; bit by bit, I'm learning how to tell stories visually.  Even character developments were taken to it's fullest potential with the huge battle scenes.

The battles were amazing.  I felt every punch and exhaustion the Jaegers had to go through with the Kaijus.  Yes, the CGI was breath taking but make no mistakes; it's not just ridiculous action that made it work.  Finally, I can see what's happening rather than what we see in Transformers.  Sometimes, I can't tell what the hell is happening when the Autobots are fighting.  I don't see the punches clearly.

I admire the passion so much.  To be frank, I have this assumption that I have to be a very deep artsy guy when dwelling in the film industry.  When I ask myself, am I an artistic person? After recalling all of my inspirations and past works, I'm a geek! A fan boy! So, seeing the film made passionately by a self proclaim Otaku gives me hope that I can be myself in this industry.  Thank god.