Monday, February 3, 2014

Movie/book review: Pacific Rim

Like most never-grow-ups, I love giant monsters and giant robots. Pacific Rim is a movie with both. I also bought the novelization, and I'll say that the movie and book go hand-in-hand. The book contains the full story (told in normal fashion, but interspersed with newspaper clips and dossiers) which the movie doesn't quite fully contain. The movie doesn't leave any questions unanswered; the book simply answers more.

Pacific Rim is incredibly entertaining. The monsters are spectacular, the robots each have a personality, and the story is quick moving. Naturally, it's all hopeless at the beginning, yet the soldiers carry on, finally coming up with "the plan." It all works, and it's wonderful to watch. I won't go into the story overmuch, but I will say that it does offer up some nice surprises towards the end. Perhaps because I'm a scientist at heart, but the nerdy guys are a lot of fun and have great chemistry together. There are plenty of fights, where the monsters and robots go at each other. It kind of reminds me of Top Gun, with hotshot pilots, and even a love interest. All together, the movie is a total blast and I highly recommend it.

I hope that movies like this are proof that the pendulum in Hollywood is swinging, and that fun for the sake of fun is back in style. I sure hope so, because they've taken themselves far too seriously. We mostly go to movies for entertainment, and movies such as Pacific Rim fill that desire well. I look forward to more stories like it, not necessarily campy but foolish in a good way. Now, everyone go out and check it over!

- M

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