Pacific Rim

There is a quote about this movie, which I wish to borrow from a review series called "The Isle of Rangoon"...

"This movie is the voice of a generation; of 5 year olds hopped up on coco-puffs. And it is awesome."

Pacific Rim is very awesome. It is a lot of fun, with cool designs, visuals, and amazing action.
I can fully recommend sci-fi fans to go see this movie, as well as fans of action movies. It isn't perfect (almost nothing is) but it is very enjoyable and satisfying.

As a side note, the characters are quite amazing as well. It isn't that they have extreme depth, but it is more amazing that they more have a list of bullet points to define them.
Now, I don't mean that in a negative way. What I mean is, certain descriptors, such as race, nationality, and gender, do not affect the actual personality of the character. The female love interest is written no differently from the rest of the characters, and barely any mention is made of nationality beyond one or two throw-away lines. The reason why I call these traits bullet points, is because you can add or change them, and it won't affect the character. They are not defined by one trait, regardless of what that trait is.


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Beyond this point are my musings on their universe. Nothing beyond this point is review. My opinion of the movie is that it is good and a lot of fun. Beyond here are minor nitpicks and questions. The actual "fixing" of the movie is also beyond this point, but I will put it simply: the movie has some flaws, but it does what it set out to do and succeeded. Perfection in this case would require it to be a massive video game franchise that delves deeper into the world... The movie is good as is, no repairs required. But, if you want to hear my further thoughts, read on.


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Why were giant Robots their first idea? Why not bombs? They say they tried bombing the breach and were unsuccessful, but what about bombing the kaiju (the monsters)? sure it'd later stop working (they evolve) but why were massive, expensive, difficult to use, giant robots, the first idea?
They said they were able to bring one down (I assume it is of the lowest level) with fighter jets and tanks. Why weren't they around to help? Or, why did they not focus on improving them first?
Take one of the jaegers (giant robots) out of commission, and humanity is screwed. Take one jet out, and there are still a dozen or so flying around. Not only that, but the jaegers fight the kaiju head on, in hand to hand combat... Jets fight from a distance.
But, I suppose a jet can't really house a nuclear reactor onboard... but how about an aircraft carrier?
Point blank, we have a lot of technology we can advance further, faster, than giant robots that fight the monsters man to man. That seems like... number ten on the list. something that one country works on, while the rest work on the current technology.

But, lets assume that the giant robots were the correct solution, and they saved time by going to them first... They were still very ineffective for one reason: blunt attacks don't really work on something that does not go squish.
Maces work on humans and most animals because we are spongy, and our bones can break easily. The Kaiju are much tougher than that. They have a hardened carapace, and very tough skin... If you are going to fight hand to hand, there is a much better way to do that... Swords, and axes. Piercing, and slicing.
The Jaegers actually do have swords, and they are immensely more effective than the punching, yet only start to pop up half-way through. A quick cut, and the kaiju are no more. The punching is cool, but ineffectual.

Finally, there is the aftermath to consider... The jaegers would change war as we know it. There is no way to fight them without another jaeger. Any country that cannot afford to make one (or a dozen) is screwed, and if another jaeger is better, they are still screwed. Jaegers would become the same as nuclear warheads, except reusable. Countries would be conquered in a matter of hours, quickly consolidating the world into a handful of countries engaged in a massive and very expensive game of Risk. The loss of human life would either be innumerable, or the smallest ever, depending on how the conquering goes. In the end, the world will be united as one massive country (my bet's on Canada), and we'll begin work in getting out into space with our jaegers.
Okay that actually sounds like an awesome sequel. The name can even be kept as Pacific Rim, since the countries that would more likely be able to fight all reside on the pacific rim (USA, Russia, China, et cetera). Giant robot versus giant robot, in a war to take over the world... You may take that idea film makers! Run with it! You've got a possible franchise!



This has been Fixer Sue.


Oh, by the way... listen for the female robotic announcer in the movie. She's being played by a certain testing obsessed AI that gamers all know and love...