I had high hopes for Pacific Rim when going in. I was a Transformers, and I liked the movie for Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. This movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro, and had to be better than both of those! Plus, two ladies that I like very much, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenebris and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
himawari liked it a lot. It definitely had to be good, didn't it?
And it was good. It had great action and the visuals were gorgeous. The movie handed about 5 different story arcs and handled them all very well, with each contributing to the entire plot as a whole. The world building was awesome and the logic of the sea monsters/kaiju made sense. The characters were awesome.
But it could have been a great movie.
If any of you have been reading my Iron Man posts, you know how annoyed I get by heroes that don't get the chance to win. It's the same in Pacific Rim. The remaining giant robot/Jaegar pilots are supposed to be very good at what they do: fighting monsters.
The thing is that I didn't get to see any Jaegar pilots winning in the movie. We see pilots failing due to turning their back on an enemy that they think is down. We see pilots failing because they forgot that the monster had an extra limb despite seeing it used to defeat other Jaegars. We see pilots using up all their weapons on one monster even though they know there's another one wrecking the city behind them.
And that to me just kept throwing me out of the story. Who taught these people how to fight? You don't throw enemies when you're fighting in water! The water cushions the fall unlike hard land. And if plasma cannons take so long to charge, why use them as primary weapons? Shouldn't simple hacking and slashing be the main resort?
It's a plot point in the show that the Jaegar program was being closed down because it was too inefficient. One of the characters even voices that it is bad pilots that is messing up the program. Well, show me a good pilot then!
I have to admit I'm also disgruntled that the pilots who failed are the Russian and Chinese pilots. Because we only can have the white pilots win.
In the middle of this all I cling on to the main Asian character, Mako, but I was also a little disgruntled at how they handled her plotline. Did they really need to have her exit the climax of the battle by fainting? The story already had her low on oxygen - she could have been too weakened to make an effective protest/fight back when being ejected from the Jaegar as Raleigh, the other main character, was making his suicide run. It would have served the same purpose, while not removing her agency where she could have exercised it!
Maybe I gripe because I care too much. As we speak, I already have 3 - 4 Pacific Rim fics planned. Yes everyone, I just might have a new fandom. Mako and Stacker are awesome, as are Herc and Chuck. Don't let anyone else tell you different.
Edit: I forgot to mention the movie made me cry a few times. And some of the fic are already having the same effect too.
Recs!
The best Stacker-Mako fic I've found so far: What Is Built Endures
The best Mako/Raleigh fic I've found so far: Reconstruction Site
tenebris and himawari liked it a lot. It definitely had to be good, didn't it?And it was good. It had great action and the visuals were gorgeous. The movie handed about 5 different story arcs and handled them all very well, with each contributing to the entire plot as a whole. The world building was awesome and the logic of the sea monsters/kaiju made sense. The characters were awesome.
But it could have been a great movie.
If any of you have been reading my Iron Man posts, you know how annoyed I get by heroes that don't get the chance to win. It's the same in Pacific Rim. The remaining giant robot/Jaegar pilots are supposed to be very good at what they do: fighting monsters.
The thing is that I didn't get to see any Jaegar pilots winning in the movie. We see pilots failing due to turning their back on an enemy that they think is down. We see pilots failing because they forgot that the monster had an extra limb despite seeing it used to defeat other Jaegars. We see pilots using up all their weapons on one monster even though they know there's another one wrecking the city behind them.
And that to me just kept throwing me out of the story. Who taught these people how to fight? You don't throw enemies when you're fighting in water! The water cushions the fall unlike hard land. And if plasma cannons take so long to charge, why use them as primary weapons? Shouldn't simple hacking and slashing be the main resort?
It's a plot point in the show that the Jaegar program was being closed down because it was too inefficient. One of the characters even voices that it is bad pilots that is messing up the program. Well, show me a good pilot then!
I have to admit I'm also disgruntled that the pilots who failed are the Russian and Chinese pilots. Because we only can have the white pilots win.
In the middle of this all I cling on to the main Asian character, Mako, but I was also a little disgruntled at how they handled her plotline. Did they really need to have her exit the climax of the battle by fainting? The story already had her low on oxygen - she could have been too weakened to make an effective protest/fight back when being ejected from the Jaegar as Raleigh, the other main character, was making his suicide run. It would have served the same purpose, while not removing her agency where she could have exercised it!
Maybe I gripe because I care too much. As we speak, I already have 3 - 4 Pacific Rim fics planned. Yes everyone, I just might have a new fandom. Mako and Stacker are awesome, as are Herc and Chuck. Don't let anyone else tell you different.
Edit: I forgot to mention the movie made me cry a few times. And some of the fic are already having the same effect too.
Recs!
The best Stacker-Mako fic I've found so far: What Is Built Endures
The best Mako/Raleigh fic I've found so far: Reconstruction Site
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