25/08/2014

(spoilers) Standing at the Pacific Rim….




So i was left to my own devices as H was enjoying a coffee with a friend, so with nothing better to do I browsed the movie library looking for what I usually look for when I am bored. Fairly mindless action in a very pretty package. Lo and behold there in the middle of the shelf shined a handsome action movie. Pacific Rim… Know I know some people think it is stupid on the border of ridiculous. But I think it is brilliant in its own way and most of the problems I see with it is that it is not four hours long. Or more exactly it would need about four hours to lay out the story and have a good pace. I would watch the living crap out of that movie… But I would be pretty alone in that.
But seriously it has giant mechanical monsters punching giant non-metal monsters in the face... with a nuclear driven rocket fist… How is that not awesome? It is also rare that you have a story about a small, reserved and well educated girl with such a framing. Because this is sure as heck not Raleigh´s story. Sure he is our link in to this world but as we find out his role is more to be the anchor that Mako needs to be able to fulfill her story arc of paying the Kaiju back for pretty much running her entire life. Same with Pentecost, his primary role is that of the father and and the commander. Someone caught between duty and compassion as he tries to save his child, adopted or otherwise, from what he feels is a very destructive behavior.


Ok for those who have not seen the movie and thus might need a short recap…


So the reason why I say this is Makos movie is that nobody really have any motivation beyond saving the world. Mako I am not even sure cares about saving the world. She just want to get back at the monsters. Heck Raleigh, who lost his brother... while mind melded with him and as such felt all his brother felt seems to have come to peace with his situation and while he might not be happy with where he is he seems very reluctant to ever set foot in a Jaeger again. Pentecost at the same time is a man consumed, he lives only for his quest. Also the love story has a kind of nice twist in that it is the male who is the star struck teenager so to speak. Mako is the cold, distant creature of logic and Raleigh is the one who lights up each time she enter the room. So when he takes his place as her mentor, the one who has actually been in real combat he can also project his love and admiration for her and shield her from the worst of her anger and fear. So the story, while rather simple in the broad strokes have some nice sub-stories.

The movie is also absolutely gorgeous. Again I know some people have problem with digital effects and their suspension of disbelief does not really cover enough ground. But for me digital effects have come so far and are so far superior to practical effects when it comes to stuff like 80 meter tall walking tanks…. Or 2 meter tall talking turtles… And the scenes are for the most part just the right amount of vertigo vs readability to sell the massiveness of the machines and monsters without making it confusing ala Bays Transformers. But then again I would call del Toro a far superior visual storyteller. Now the thing that really brings the movie together for me is the music. The score is written by Ramin Djawadi, best known among the general public for the opening theme to Game of Thrones. Ramin also did the original music for the first Iron Man movie. His score is just the right amount of opulent tugging on what we have learnt to be dramatic or heroic. Just listen to this…




Or to even better demonstrate what I am talking about watch this sequence.  (not my clip... obviously.)


I will probably write an entire post on the subject of movie music at some point as music in movies is a make and break thing for me. But for now I will leave you with these ramblings on a movie I really like and that I think you should watch.

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