I've never seen Pacific Rim because it was promoted (at least in my country) as a movie about fighting robots (not that different from how the Transformers movies are promoted) and that's not my thing. But from what I've gleaned on tumblr, there seems to be more to it. All this to say: sell me on Pacific Rim?

Aw man.

So, Pacific Rim is a movie with robots fighting giant monsters.

It is unapologetically, unashamedly a movie about robots fighting giant monsters.

And it is amazing.

Because yes, humanity is nuts and decides giant monsters from another dimension invading is a problem best solved with giant robots. BUT!

- The movie is done by Guillermo Del Toro, the guy behind Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Crimson Peak. So visually? It’s GORGEOUS. The monster designs are stunning. The art direction and color and visual themes are all brilliantly crafted. I could write a whole essay just on the use of color (and I’m sure someone here has!).

- The movie has leads of color. You walk in thinking Charlie Hunnam’s white boy character Raleigh is gonna be the main character, and then it turns around and focuses on the dynamic between Mako Mori (played by Rinko Kikuchi) and her adopted father Stacker Pentacost (Idris Elba). There are still a lot of white characters, but Mako and Stacker are the movie’s emotional core. 

- The movie is pretty feminist. Mako Mori is AMAZING, and the movie does not focus on sexualizing her or turning her into the object of a romance, but rather letting her be a total badass in her own right with her own important story arc. The movie and the characters respect her, and a lot of gender tropes get undermined with the film. The Mary Sue has a good write-up here. 

- The movie is original. It’s not a remake, not an adaptation from a book or comic, not made to sell toys, and not a sequel. And while I love adaptations, there’s something really cool about a fresh and original story, since Hollywood hasn’t been doing many of those. It takes the mecha genre and the kaiju genre and does something new in combining them.

- The movie highlights the importance of relationship bonds. It takes two people to pilot a jaeger (giant robot) to share the ‘neural load’ of controlling that big a robot with your brain. And in order to successfully pilot a jaeger, pilots have to be “drift compatible” – meaning they have some kind of bond or connection that allows them to be mentally in sync. Pilot pairings demonstrate every kind of bond, from platonic friends, to parents and children, to brothers, to married couples. And they’re all important!

- The movie is FUN. There’s beautiful, insane action fights with robots punching giant monsters and it’s a goddamn delight.  The premise is nuts, and it doesn’t try to apologize for it. It’s just plain enjoyable. 

In short: Pacific Rim, while certainly an imperfect movie, and while unabashedly a movie about robots punching giant monsters, is still good and still fun, and you should absolutely see it. The visuals are great, the characters are likable, the action is amazing, and it has a lot of heart, and a lot of hope in humanity’s sheer and utter ridiculousness.