by Brian LeTendre
As I was driving home from the movie theater Saturday, I started reflecting on how lucky we are as fans of science fiction, fantasy and superheroes to have seen our childhood dreams be brought to life on the big screen. For me, the first time I realized this was when I saw The Fellowship of the Ring in December of 2001 and broke down in tears when the credits rolled. A year later, the superhero I grew up loving and eventually named my son after was made real when I saw Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. And in the ensuing decade, so many of my childhood loves have been fully realized as larger than life movies that it’s almost easy to take them for granted.
And then along came Pacific Rim.
Guillermo del Toro has changed the game, folks. He has proven that filmmakers now have the tools to realize their wildest dreams. And he’s also proven that when you have the right person bringing a creative vision to life, it can be magical.
As I was driving home from the movie theater Saturday, I started reflecting on how lucky we are as fans of science fiction, fantasy and superheroes to have seen our childhood dreams be brought to life on the big screen. For me, the first time I realized this was when I saw The Fellowship of the Ring in December of 2001 and broke down in tears when the credits rolled. A year later, the superhero I grew up loving and eventually named my son after was made real when I saw Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. And in the ensuing decade, so many of my childhood loves have been fully realized as larger than life movies that it’s almost easy to take them for granted.
And then along came Pacific Rim.
Guillermo del Toro has changed the game, folks. He has proven that filmmakers now have the tools to realize their wildest dreams. And he’s also proven that when you have the right person bringing a creative vision to life, it can be magical.
To understand why I love this movie so much, you need to understand a couple things about me. First, I am a lifelong, diehard Godzilla fan. Godzilla is at the heart of my love of monsters, horror and even H.P. Lovecraft. Because a giant monster that lives at the bottom of the ocean is one of the most terrifying and completely awesome concepts the human mind has ever thought up. And don’t think that every time they pull a 30-foot squid onto some fishing boat in Antarctica that there isn’t a part of me that’s hoping Godzilla isn’t far behind it.
Second, I was 11 years old when Robotech and the first Transformers cartoons premiered in the United States, and they both blew my mind. What always fascinated me about Robotech in particular though was the idea that there were human pilots inside the mechs. For me, that grounded the concept in reality. These were things that humanity could build--the evolution of planes and space ships.
With Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro has perfectly married these two concepts that dominated my imagination for a good part of my childhood. The premise of this movie is that giant monsters are invading our world through a dimensional tear at the bottom of the ocean. To combat these monsters, humanity has created giant mechs called Jeagers, which are piloted by humans and built to engage these monsters in close combat.
If that’s not enough to make run out of your house right now and go see this movie, I don’t know what else to say to you.
Second, I was 11 years old when Robotech and the first Transformers cartoons premiered in the United States, and they both blew my mind. What always fascinated me about Robotech in particular though was the idea that there were human pilots inside the mechs. For me, that grounded the concept in reality. These were things that humanity could build--the evolution of planes and space ships.
With Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro has perfectly married these two concepts that dominated my imagination for a good part of my childhood. The premise of this movie is that giant monsters are invading our world through a dimensional tear at the bottom of the ocean. To combat these monsters, humanity has created giant mechs called Jeagers, which are piloted by humans and built to engage these monsters in close combat.
If that’s not enough to make run out of your house right now and go see this movie, I don’t know what else to say to you.
What I love most about Pacific Rim is that its unapologetic in it’s love for both giant robots and giant monsters. The monsters are actually called Kaiju, for crying out loud. The mechs all have unique designs and their crews are distinctive.
I could go on and on, and tell you about how Idris Elba completely owns this movie, or how well designed every single aspect of the world and the technology is, or how absolutely beautiful the monsters are, but all you need to know is this:
GIANT MONSTERS FIGHT GIANT ROBOTS.
Seriously, if you’re the type of person who reads this site and listens to the podcast, you are the target audience for this movie and you need to go see it.
5 out of 5 Why Movies Exists
I could go on and on, and tell you about how Idris Elba completely owns this movie, or how well designed every single aspect of the world and the technology is, or how absolutely beautiful the monsters are, but all you need to know is this:
GIANT MONSTERS FIGHT GIANT ROBOTS.
Seriously, if you’re the type of person who reads this site and listens to the podcast, you are the target audience for this movie and you need to go see it.
5 out of 5 Why Movies Exists
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