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So.... why does a giant robot punching these critters in the face work while a cruse missile doesn't? Don't give me that stuff about hard skin cause we have bunker busters that'll go right through that.

 Breotan wrote:
So.... why does a giant robot punching these critters in the face work while a cruse missile doesn't? Don't give me that stuff about hard skin cause we have bunker busters that'll go right through that.

Whose to say it will? I'm not a xenobioligist, are you? It might scratch them, it might hurt them, but given their size I don't think a cruise missile will be all the power they need to stop them.

The giant robots were made to pull them away from civilization and be dealt with in more remote areas.

Cruise missles do work agianst them. it just takes ~3 days worth of munitions to bring one down.

 NELS1031 wrote:
This movie will never live up to the majesty that was its spiritual father, Robot Jox. I mean, robots with chain saw peens ffs.

Na I think this movie's spiritual father, is Evangelion... its pretty close to the same story.

Got invited to go see this with friends from work and I did.

I will say. I'm pleased. The beginning of the film was about as corny as I was expecting and as silly but once the movie got to the robots fighting monsters part I could sit back and enjoy myself. The acting is blarg, the dialogue cheesy, and the plot inveriably stupid;



Also the first movie that I've ever been glad to see in 3D. Some of the camera tricks like water splashing against my 'eyes' were much better than previous attempts I've seen that really just felt gimmicky. The film is all spectacle and no substance but its spectacle that's worth going to see.

Oh this is one of the few cases that I am really optimistic about a movie, I want some big stompey robots fighting big stompey monsters. Mechwarrior Online has been giving me my fix for the former but not so much the latter.

Yeah, normally I hate 3d, but it worked really well in this. It wasn't a bunch of gimmicky popout crap.

As for the viability of using the robots, of course it is illogical, that isn't what the movie, hell the entire genre is about. If you go in with a curmudgeonly attitude expecting realism from something like this, you've rather missed the point.

I saw the trailer.
That alone removed any interest I had in seeing it.

I gave up on kaiju when I was 9 or 10, when I discovered SF with spaceships and explosions. Sure, Gamera was cool when I was 8 - but compared to space dogfights and shiny chrome robots it just no longer rated.

I've liked ALL of GDT's previous stuff - but this is just one movie I have absolutely no desire to see.

The same holds for man of steel, Iron man3, or any other superhero flick.

 Bromsy wrote:
Yeah, normally I hate 3d, but it worked really well in this. It wasn't a bunch of gimmicky popout crap.

As for the viability of using the robots, of course it is illogical, that isn't what the movie, hell the entire genre is about. If you go in with a curmudgeonly attitude expecting realism from something like this, you've rather missed the point.

As I stated when the film was first announced, I love giant robots. I'm a huge Gundam fan. Mobile Suit Gundam may well be my favorite anime of all time! But as awesome as giant robots are, I can't get over the whole "tanks and jets aren't working sir. I propose we build a giant robot and have it beat the monsters with its fists" illogical brilliance. They even have the robots armed with firearms but bizarrely they still engage in primarily in hand to hand combat even when not underwater. This film doesn't even boast the rehumanization of mechanized warfare angle present in Gundam and other works like it for thematic justification.

If you can look past that, awesome. You'll definitely enjoy the movie more for it. I have a harder time with it XD

I just got back from the movie and thoroughly friggin' loved it. The paired pilot angle makes perfectly fine sense when they actually explain it, but they also cunningly don't make the folly other scifi movies make and go too far into trying to explain how the fake science somehow "works".

It took all of the awesome robot fighting from Transformers, but completely eliminated the idiotic half-naked chicks thrown in for pre-pubescent boys to lust after. The female lead was the perfect non-sexpot. She was definitely cute and tough and I'd go after her, but she wasn't a random Victoria's Secret model.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
The female lead was the perfect non-sexpot. She was definitely cute and tough and I'd go after her, but she wasn't a random Victoria's Secret model.

Yes, she gives the film a bit of soul. Idris Elba doesn't disappoint either.

I absolutely loved it as did the crowd of 15 or so friends I saw it with. I thought it was a brilliant homage to the kaiju films of the 50s through 80s and was pretty much everything I expected and hoped for.

I was actually baffled when I went to see it. I showed up 20 minutes early expecting a huge crowd and I didn't want a crappy seat. The theater was empty by show time and I must say I was quite confused. Only four or five others in there with me. Same theater same time Man of Steel was packed to the brim and I imagine PR would attract the same crowd.

 LordofHats wrote:
I was actually baffled when I went to see it. I showed up 20 minutes early expecting a huge crowd and I didn't want a crappy seat. The theater was empty by show time and I must say I was quite confused. Only four or five others in there with me. Same theater same time Man of Steel was packed to the brim and I imagine PR would attract the same crowd.

Yes, my showing had hardly anyone in it either. Probably needs a bit of word of mouth.

GO SEE THIS FILM! Seriously. Go see it in 3D, I might add...IMAX if they have it in your area (sadly, the closest IMAX to me is over an hour away, but I may go see it again just to see it in IMAX). Sure, the story isn't deep, but the action is awesome, and NO SHAKY CAM NONSENSE!

Breotan wrote:So.... why does a giant robot punching these critters in the face work while a cruse missile doesn't? Don't give me that stuff about hard skin cause we have bunker busters that'll go right through that.

Somewhat of a spoiler, but it doesn't ruin the movie:

LordofHats wrote:

Spoiler:

Whoa whoa whoa world leaders. Let me get this straight. You're stopping your giant robot program, to build a massive ocean spanning wall? I must say. For all my complaints about giant robots being impractical in all aspects you managed to find the only other solution to your problem that is even more absurd!

Also, how the feth is a nuclear reactor not digital?

Spoiler:

Unlike some movies that use it as a gimmick, Pacific Rim is by far the best experience in 3D. The water and rain effects are very impressive, especially.

 spectreoneone wrote:

Spoiler:

The main character narrates during the beginning description of what happened when the first Kaiju arrived. They used conventional weapons to kill it, but it took far too long for them to bring the monster down, and it destroyed three cities in the process. Cruise missiles and other weapons do indeed hurt them, but they're so big that it's like a death by a thousand cuts; slow and agonizing.

We need bigger guns for our bigger robots.

Spoiler:

A nuclear reactor does not have to be digital. Obviously, that isn't really the case nowadays, but how do you think they operated nuclear reactors before digital computers existed? The nuclear reactor pre-dates the digital computer (back when the first reactor was created, computers filled up entire rooms). You'd be surprised at how many military electronics nowadays still utilize electron tubes and analog components, specifically because of the risk of an EMP event like the one Kaiju used in the film.

 Bromsy wrote:
It is amazing. If you don't go see it, be very ashamed. Cause you are a jerk.

I personally liked it because unlike say Man of Steel, when giant robots were crashing around cities and fighting giant monsters, I wasn't all "Why aren't they saving the people?" Because even though they tried, it was made very clear that this was the best humanity could do. And somehow they kept the action more grounded than I would have thought, considering y'know, giant robots fighting giant monsters.


....Awesome!

Is this going to get me to want to buy Monstropolis?

I refuse to pay 15 bucks to watch giant robots punch giant sea monsters. I've fallen for that before, and I won't be had again. This is absolutely a wait-for-redbox-and-watch-plastered movie.

 rubiksnoob wrote:
I refuse to pay 15 bucks to watch giant robots punch giant sea monsters. I've fallen for that before, and I won't be had again. This is absolutely a wait-for-redbox-and-watch-plastered movie.

Then you miss out because this is the best giant robots punching giant sea monsters movie you're likely to see in a while

Nobody is claiming this is high art, but the punching of giant sea monsters is very well executed and really has to be seen on the big screen to be enjoyed.

 Flashman wrote:

 rubiksnoob wrote:
I refuse to pay 15 bucks to watch giant robots punch giant sea monsters. I've fallen for that before, and I won't be had again. This is absolutely a wait-for-redbox-and-watch-plastered movie.

Then you miss out because this is the best giant robots punching giant sea monsters movie you're likely to see in a while

Nobody is claiming this is high art, but the punching of giant sea monsters is very well executed and really has to be seen on the big screen to be enjoyed.

Pretty much!

Saw it today with my oldest daughter and we loved it!

Made me think of all those Saturdays I spent watching Channel 56's Creature Double Feature.

I was always there for the giant monsters (I didn't know they were called Kaiju back then in...the late 70's and early 80's!) and the giant robots - wasn't really all that into Dracula and the Wolfman!

This movie is a lot of fun and well worth seeing in the theater.

That is, of course, if you're at all into these things!

Just got back from seeing this and it was fun for the 1st 90 minutes or so but I was checking my watch towards the end.

There was also a hell of a plot hole right at the end.

I watched it and I enjoyed it. Kind of wished there was more of it. The thing is now it's got me on a giant monster kick. I wonder if I can get mechs into my D&D game without people griping too much.

Someone really needs to make a good set of rules for a miniatures game that will allow us to use 6" action figures amongst 15mm terrain. Kind of like a 15mm Monsterpocolypse.

I remember all the fun I used to have fighting my robot figures against Godzilla monster figures, while 15mm plastic army-men futilely died as collateral damage. Make that a miniatures game, and I can form an argument as to why I can do that as an adult (I don't have a kid yet).

I wonder how it would work to just use the stats for Warjacks and Warbeasts from Privateer Press, but proxy in my own figures? They already have rules for good melee, throwing, and the like.

 LuciusAR wrote:
Just got back from seeing this and it was fun for the 1st 90 minutes or so but I was checking my watch towards the end.

There was also a hell of a plot hole right at the end.

Spoiler:

According to the scientists the rift will only let something with Kaiju DNA can pass through it. Hence the need for Gipsy to grab the Kaiju corpse to pass through the rift to get to the Kaiju universe and detonate it's reactor. So a one way trip for the crew in other words.

But no, they eject their escape pods and make it back to Earth, with absolutely no explanation given whatsoever.

Not neccessarily...



As an aside saw this two times already, once in IMAX 3D. Worth the price of admission both times

nobody wrote:

As an aside saw this two times already, once in IMAX 3D. Worth the price of admission both times

I saw it in IMAX as well, and it was definitely worth the additional cost. As with most films built around scale and spectacle, Pacific Rim benefited greatly from the format.

I really liked the film as I got exactly what I expected: massive amounts of spectacle, Charlie Day being manic, and Ron Perlman being Ron Perlman. The obvious technical problems within the universe didn't bother me, as the implied subtitle of the film has always been "rule of cool".

 Frazzled wrote:
OK this isn't really a spoiler but why don't the humans just nuke the monsters?

I know they do it in the comic, and the reason given for end of the practice was a combination of radiation, and the difficulty of luring kaiju out to sea. I don't remember if they addressed that in the movie, though.

 LordofHats wrote:

Spoiler:

But it's just so plot convenient. The Jeagers weren't built in 1960's and given that even the diesel powered robot is apparently digital, it just seems so corny that the mk3 is immune to what shut down all the other older and newer models. It's a great chekov's gun for the ending, but the way they used it in the middle of the movie is just blah to me.

Nuking monsters that are actively seeking out population centers is generally a bad idea. The Jaeger's job is to enforce the "miracle mile" off-shore.

The only glaring hole I saw in a great action flick is that even lacking ranged weapons on the Jaegers, why they all have to full-on grapple with the Kaiju, rather than using melee weapons like swords, flails, and motorized saws (other than one tragically limited occurrence of the latter)? Other than the rule of cool, of course. It would be generally accepted as "boring" if the opening move of a fight was to light up the Kaiju from a half-mile out with mega-shells and then return to base.

I completely understand the visceral thrill of a 25-story MMA fight, but without any spoilers, when the pilots suddenly "remember" to pull out the on-board melee weapons, it definitely amps the fights up to "11".

 Breotan wrote:
So.... why does a giant robot punching these critters in the face work while a cruse missile doesn't? Don't give me that stuff about hard skin cause we have bunker busters that'll go right through that.

Who cares?

Giant Robots vs Kaiju. You really want to go in to the science of that?

Just got back from the theater.

Holy. Freaking. Crap.

I don't think I've ever had more fun watching a movie in, well, forever.

If you walked away from a a movie about giant crazy mechs fighting giant crazy monsters, and the only thing you can think about is how it's not realistic, then about the only thing I can says is that you hate fun, and I pity you.

 dogma wrote:

Spoiler:

But that's true of the entire movie. I mean, as bio-weapons go, the kaiju are really gak. If you can genetically engineer a massive monster, you can probably design a pathogen to kill everything on the planet you're trying to conquer while also rendering yourself immune to it.

I find that simpler to work my mine around. In my mind, I know how a human thinks. So when a human character does something that strikes me as absurd, it irks me.

 Breotan wrote:
So.... why does a giant robot punching these critters in the face work while a cruse missile doesn't? Don't give me that stuff about hard skin cause we have bunker busters that'll go right through that.

Going to answer in spoilers since some of it comes from the movie and some from the prequel graphic novel....