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Pacific Rim confuses, enrages internet narcissists

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Canis lupus said:
Humanity has invented swords, shields, guns, rockets etc and the main weaponry of the jaegers consists of punching the enemies? Wtf? Why do they even need to engage them in close quarter combat when they house rockets in their chests?
The bird Kaiju takes the Gipsy danger to space(as ridicilous as it is coming from under the ocean), the pilots suddenly realize they had a SWORD all the time!
They didnt think about killing the earlier Kaijus with the sword that goes through the monsters like a knife through butter.
Preposterous and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
Click to expand...

If by "insulting the viewer intelligence" you mean this sentence is not in the movie : "they say the words : we didn't make swords for jaegers because X" than yes, they insulted the viewers intelligence.

If by "insulting the viewer intelligence" you mean showing why they don't and let you make "1+1" in your mind than... they didn't insulted anything.

Because in THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF THE MOVIE they explain that the Kaiju Blood is RIRIDULOUSLY poisoning and create an effect a devastating nature problem called Kaiju Blue, named after the coloration of the blood

83tYBrl.jpg

9a8ZJ18.jpg


In the first 10 minutes of the movie =P

The sword thing can be explained both by this (last resort) and the fact that Mako says that they did some upgrades on Gypsy Danger ("solid titanium hull with no alloys") but is not able to explain to Raleigh (who is the captain in the fight scenes) most of the new additions because they are called to combat sonner than they expected

The movie HAS problems.
This is NOT one of then
 
TheMan said:
And? Just because it's satire that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. Whatever the intentions of those who made it, the end product was just bad.
Click to expand...

I never said you had to enjoy it. Dislike the movie as much as you want, I really couldn't care less. Still, a person who recognized the movie was satire probably wouldn't criticize it for being cliche-ridden. It's fair to point that out.
 
Best film of the summer.

Not one person I know has called the movie bad or terrible. Liked the storyline, actors, and action scenes. CGI wasn't half bad either.
 
Borgnine said:
Well since it's the exact same thing, the only reason left is that you're racist.
Click to expand...

The whole time I was watching it, I was thinking it was a live action mecha anime. Corny and over the top and so much fun. Very glad that I went and saw it in the theaters in 3D when I had the chance.
 
I feel the OP is far too nitpicky for what the movie is presenting itself to be.

I can't agree at all that the battles were hard to follow at all. By far the best thing about the movie, and to me they seemed thoughtfully constructed and a great homage to Japanese Kaiju films as well as contemporary mech battles in anime.

I do think the scripted dialogue is ridiculously poor, and I feel like the characters were weakly portrayed. The Aussie team is the worst(best?) example. Very little screentime, they set them up, and then they have a resolution that feels completely unearned and not set up properly. The main two pilots of the Gypsy have no chemistry, even when they're bantering and enjoying their time together; and even these "character bonding" moments are limited to maybe two scenes in the movie. Most characters in this film were just unrelatable pawns. Mako was the closest person to a fleshed out character, but she wasn't given as much prominence as the character needed. At least the scientists and Ron Perlman were entertaining.

Canis lupus said:
Humanity has invented swords, shields, guns, rockets etc and the main weaponry of the jaegers consists of punching the enemies? Wtf? Why do they even need to engage them in close quarter combat when they house rockets in their chests?
The bird Kaiju takes the Gipsy danger to space(as ridicilous as it is coming from under the ocean), the pilots suddenly realize they had a SWORD all the time!
They didnt think about killing the earlier Kaijus with the sword that goes through the monsters like a knife through butter.
Preposterous and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
Click to expand...

As far as all these "logic" nitpicks, it's for the sake of drama and wanting to make it feel old-school. I give these kinds of things a pass on a lot of movies because logic isn't what their selling and isn't their vision of what they wanted this movie to be. It's like watching Avengers and critiquing their flying invisible aircraft carrier.
 
Lucario said:
I never said you had to enjoy it. Dislike the movie as much as you want, I really couldn't care less. Still, a person who recognized the movie was satire probably wouldn't criticize it for being cliche-ridden. It's fair to point that out.
Click to expand...
The movie isn't satire in the slightest. It's a loving homage to knowingly dumb genres.
 
Well if GAF has taught us anything about PR today it's that the movie is incredibly polarizing.

I was let down but don't feel like I was cheated of my theater ticket or anything drastic like that. You can tell a lot of money went into the whole thing and it was worth paying to experience in a bigass theater with 3d and a booming sound system, if you're honest with yourself.
 
Cudder said:
I watched it last night as well, and I agree with you OP. Though I really liked the main fights. Everything outside of the fights was straight doodoo though. Terrible characters, I hated ALL of the characters. They were just so annoying. Terrible melodramatic acting.

Oh, and also:

Setting the standard for great green screen.
1545133_710550137601_1481547908_n.jpg
Click to expand...

This is one of things that annoyed me the most about this movie. I kept hearing people talk about how the CGI was so amazing, but when I finally watched it, I was very distracted by the obvious green screen scenes.
 
Just saw it for the first time. I usually hate these CGI blockbusters, but I thought this was a very engaging and well directed flick. Usually During action scenes I roll my eyes and resist turning the movie off with all my will power, but I thought the action scenes had a certain "Weight" and because of the editing and the pacing of the fights, I could really get into them. Characters are dumb, cliche, and forgettable, but overall a very good popcorn movie. Costumes and set pieces were top notch. Surprised to see all the hate for this movie when it is it is the best in it's genre.
 
Loved it, big Kaiju fan here, so it goes without saying that I disagree with you. Strongly disagree.

Platy said:
If by "insulting the viewer intelligence" you mean this sentence is not in the movie : "they say the words : we didn't make swords for jaegers because X" than yes, they insulted the viewers intelligence.

If by "insulting the viewer intelligence" you mean showing why they don't and let you make "1+1" in your mind than... they didn't insulted anything.

Because in THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF THE MOVIE they explain that the Kaiju Blood is RIRIDULOUSLY poisoning and create an effect a devastating nature problem called Kaiju Blue, named after the coloration of the blood

83tYBrl.jpg

9a8ZJ18.jpg


In the first 10 minutes of the movie =P

The sword thing can be explained both by this (last resort) and the fact that Mako says that they did some upgrades on Gypsy Danger ("solid titanium hull with no alloys") but is not able to explain to Raleigh (who is the captain in the fight scenes) most of the new additions because they are called to combat sonner than they expected

The movie HAS problems.
This is NOT one of then
Click to expand...

Shitty comic explained this better. The mechs were literally made, to beat the living shit outta Kaiju with blunt force trauma, to limit the Kaiju Blue contamination.
 
I saw it three times in theaters and once on bluray. So I'm pretty sure it wasn't "near unwatchable."

It's even better in a cheapo theater (or probably a drive-in too). It just adds to the atmosphere of the movie.

Borgnine said:
Well since it's the exact same thing, the only reason left is that you're racist.
Click to expand...

this is fantastic.
 
What's up with the sudden GAF movie hate? First the Furious 6 hate thread, and now Pacific Rim?

Besides, we have an OT and a spoiler thread for this.
 
Canis lupus said:
Humanity has invented swords, shields, guns, rockets etc and the main weaponry of the jaegers consists of punching the enemies? Wtf? Why do they even need to engage them in close quarter combat when they house rockets in their chests?The bird Kaiju takes the Gipsy danger to space(as ridicilous as it is coming from under the ocean), the pilots suddenly realize they had a SWORD all the time!
They didnt think about killing the earlier Kaijus with the sword that goes through the monsters like a knife through butter.
Preposterous and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
Click to expand...

This movie ain't for you, dawg. Just move on.
 
Canis lupus said:
Humanity has invented swords, shields, guns, rockets etc and the main weaponry of the jaegers consists of punching the enemies? Wtf? Why do they even need to engage them in close quarter combat when they house rockets in their chests?
The bird Kaiju takes the Gipsy danger to space(as ridicilous as it is coming from under the ocean), the pilots suddenly realize they had a SWORD all the time!
They didnt think about killing the earlier Kaijus with the sword that goes through the monsters like a knife through butter.
Preposterous and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
Click to expand...

I agree, the fight choreography in PR was pretty crappy. Just clumsy, rock em, sock em robots action. Bay's Transformers films had much better giant robot fighting.
 
Did some people watch a giant robot versus giant monster movie expecting the next Citizen Kane or something?

Yeah, its a bad movie, we know that. We knew it was going to be a bad movie when we saw the first trailer.

But, it delivers on what we wanted to see: giant robots fighting giant monsters.
 
IceCold said:
This is one of things that annoyed me the most about this movie. I kept hearing people talk about how the CGI was so amazing, but when I finally watched it, I was very distracted by the obvious green screen scenes.
Click to expand...

Del Toro specifically wanted a certain kind of lighting for most of the scenes and even instructed ILM not to match lighting from shot to shot for stylistic reasons, even though it wouldn't be as realistic It's not as noticeable in the action scenes, but stands out more in other scenes.
 
Amidst all the "SEXISM IN VIDEOGAMES" furore, I found the character of Mako in this film one of the most offensively handled in a long while of watching films. That she gets entirely sidelined in the final battle was honestly amazing.

At least the Transformers movies had strong characterisation as well. This was just garbage with some cool-ish CGI fights towards the end.
 
Xiaoki said:
Did some people watch a giant robot versus giant monster movie expecting the next Citizen Kane or something?

Yeah, its a bad movie, we know that. We knew it was going to be a bad movie when we saw the first trailer.

But, it delivers on what we wanted to see: giant robots fighting giant monsters.
Click to expand...
Did you read the OP? A large amount of it was about how it failed as a giant robot vs giant monster movie.
 
I've never been as let down by a movie as I was by Pacific Rim. Big monsters, big mechs, and Guillermo del Toro seemed like the perfect recipe for success. Unfortunately the jaegers and kaiju had little actual screentime, the characters were poorly fleshed out and not endearing/charismatic in the slightest, the dialogue was cringe-inducing, and the plot was shit. I love dumb action movies but I still need a reason to care about the fate of the characters, and Pacific Rim failed at that. The special effects were great, but that's not enough to make a movie enjoyable.
 
Canis lupus said:
I'm a big fan of Japanese mecha anime shows

The bird Kaiju takes the Gipsy danger to space(as ridicilous as it is coming from under the ocean), the pilots suddenly realize they had a SWORD all the time!
They didnt think about killing the earlier Kaijus with the sword that goes through the monsters like a knife through butter.
Preposterous and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
Click to expand...

I dont know about Japanese mecha, but if you've ever watch Voltron, you know they wait until the end to Form Blazing Sword.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbaarqUEGbA
 
I agree. Everything that is not Mechs Vs Monsters was absolutely turd and its the first time ever I have slept during a film.

So bad!
 
Krev said:
The movie isn't satire in the slightest. It's a loving homage to knowingly dumb genres.
Click to expand...

I think we're both correct. It's absolutely true that Pacific Rim is a tribute to old dumb monster movies, but the movie has some moments where it's unquestionably mocking action movie tropes.

Even if I'm wrong and satire isn't the correct term -- which might be the case -- the goal is to make the movie as ridiculously over-the-top and cliched as possible.
 
It was full of joy, spectacle and fun. Whats not to like about a movie that embraces being fun and now a slog through anti-heroes and despicable people? The mech designs were great too.
 
Calling it unwatchable is hyperbole, but it was definitely a mediocre-to-bad script. There's no reason that an action movie "has" to be dumb and have bad characters, but the standard defense of this movie is "but man, giant robots!"
 
Kitsunebaby said:
I've never been as let down by a movie as I was by Pacific Rim. Big monsters, big mechs, and Guillermo del Toro seemed like the perfect recipe for success. Unfortunately the jaegers and kaiju had little actual screentime, the characters were poorly fleshed out and not endearing/charismatic in the slightest, the dialogue was cringe-inducing, and the plot was shit. I love dumb action movies but I still need a reason to care about the fate of the characters, and Pacific Rim failed at that. The special effects were great, but that's not enough to make a movie enjoyable.
Click to expand...

I agree with your sentiment. But be careful with the bolded, people will say you haven't seen enough actually bad movies to reach this conclusion.
 
Lucario said:
I never said you had to enjoy it. Dislike the movie as much as you want, I really couldn't care less. Still, a person who recognized the movie was satire probably wouldn't criticize it for being cliche-ridden. It's fair to point that out.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call Pacific Rim a satire. Self-aware is more like it. They know they built an impractical world and make nods to how crazy it is, but not to the extent of sarcasm and highlighting ironies that satirical pieces do.
 
There were multiple scenes where the jaegers were clearly seen wrecklessly running into populated areas and buildings, and throwing the Kaiju into populated buildings and cities as well. Aren't these pilots of the jaegers supposed to be heroes and protectors of the human race? Instead they show little regard for human life. Death and destruction everywhere at their hands and then they don't even care at the end. The two main characters decide that sharing a smile and a kiss is more important than mourning for those lost and a city destroyed. EL OH EL.
 
Shamrock7r said:
There were multiple scenes where the jaegers were clearly seen wrecklessly running into populated areas and buildings, and throwing the Kaiju into populated buildings and cities as well. Aren't these pilots of the jaegers supposed to be heroes and protectors of the human race? Instead they show little regard for human life. Death and destruction everywhere at their hands and then they don't even care at the end. The two main characters decide that sharing a smile and a kiss is more important than mourning for those lost and a city destroyed. EL OH EL.
Click to expand...

Ever watch an episode of any Sentai series?
 
ReturnOfTheRAT said:
I agree with your sentiment. But be careful with the bolded, people will say you haven't seen enough actually bad movies to reach this conclusion.
Click to expand...

Oh, it's definitely not the worst action movie I've ever seen, just the most disappointing considering my love for the director and subject matter. I expected a lot more from del Toro.
 
For people who call Pacific Rim a dumb movie:

The Visual Intelligence of Pacific Rim

I'm not suggesting that post ends the argument, but it makes a lot of good points and highlights a number of often overlooked details that are rather important if you're interested in evaluating the movie on its actual merits.
 
I borrowed it from a friend and started watching it yesterday. I got about an hour and 20 minutes in and just had no motivation to finish it. I almost never stop a movie before it's finished. This movie is just fucking dumb. If you accidentally allow your brain to work for more than 3 seconds at a time while viewing the film, you will involuntarily question everything that's presented to you. You have to be brain dead to enjoy this shit.
 
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