Whew, I'm tired

 

This is how I feel every time I try to get my son dressed in the morning

 



Yep, I went to see Pacific Rim today and I am exhausted. I've never jumped, flinched, or gasped more in a movie. So yeah, it's pretty good.
I love monster movies because they combine my interests in special effects and disaster scenarios in one efficient package. Pacific Rim delivered both wonderfully. The CGI was the highest quality I've seen to date and the designers did some really unique things, like having debris floating around in the underwater fight scenes. I really appreciate details like that. Despite a lot of the scenes occurring at night/in the rain as is typical with these sorts of films, it was easy to see what I was looking at. They kept the contrast at a level that worked for me. The only time I squinted was when I wasn't sure if I wanted to actually see what was going on up there. The sound was mixed really well too, I didn't feel audio assaulted like I often do in an action movie.

Knife head kaiju lookin' for some fiber



The world-building was good too. Of course it needed to be since these monsters were going to tear it all up. Ha Ha. As a science fan, nothing throws me out of enjoying a movie more than when basic logic is ignored by a filmmaker. Pacific Rim didn't have any glaring problems once you accepted the idea that there was some sort of time-space crevasse in the bottom of the ocean. I'm willing to do that for a monster movie. The contrast between a digital jeager and an analog jeager was a little problematic for me, but it was a necessary plot device so I'm going to let it slide. I would have let a lot more slide because the monsters were superb; cool attributes, realistic movements, and diabolically malevolent. I loves me some monsters.

 

Hmmmmmm....what was I writing?

Here are my two criticisms. The movie needed more Idris Elba. Please? Pretty please? I could have watched him command people to clean commodes for two hours straight and been perfectly happy, but some other stuff happened too. Like giant monsters with acid vomit or electromagnetic pulse burps. But more Idris Elba would have made Pacific Rim even better. Last criticism; no sequel possible. Darn it.