[DreamSword]

DS Watched the Pacific Rim Movies!

I just got done watching through both films, and, to put it lightly, I knew exactly what I was getting from like the first ten minutes of both movies.

One thing I've heard in passing about the first movie is that "it's a ripoff of Evangelion" and as someone who's actually seen alot more mecha shows than Eva, I didn't get it. Pacific Rim has alot more in common with 70s and 80s mecha anime such as Mazinger Z and Armored Troopers VOTOMs than it does with Evangelion.

And I mean that too. If you at all seen a mecha anime in your life, or heck, even a basic war movie, you essentially know upfront every single beat that the first movie is going to go through.

That's kinda what makes it fun to watch though?

Like, yeah, the movie is a total cliche, but it is UNAPOLOGETICALLY cliche, and embraces its simplicity in complete earnestness. So if you go with the intent of turning your brain off and just watching giant rips eachother to shreds like how many Godzilla fans do, then yeah, this is good for that.

It helps that alot of the cast is likeable too, most notably Mako, who I kinda felt like was the real main character of the movie? The Drifting scenes were the best aspect in this regard, as I love how it shows us little snippets of every pilot's' life in a really cool effect. While I felt alot of the character deaths were unfortunate, I get what they were going for, and there wasn't anyone in the cast of whom I out and out hated by the end.

Now, Pacific Rim: Uprising, on the other hand...

Maybe it's the fact that everyone warned me about this movie, maybe it's me being a total dum-dum, I dunno, but I actually kinda liked this movie?

Like, yeah, it's not as good as the first one, and yeah, the movie definitely could've stood to be like a half hour longer in order to flesh out the characters more, but as it was, I liked that it did feel like a proper follow-up to the first movie without resorting to just outright undoing the happy ending like how alot of sequels do.

There being an actual consequence for Newt Drifting with the Kaiju hivemind was great, the action was just as good if not better than the first movie, and whoever played Jake had awesome charisma that helped to carry the whole thing. Kaiju Mecha being an awesome concept in itself doesn't hurt either.

Plus, while still cliche like the first, this movie draws more from 80s and 90s mecha shows, which thematically is a good way to follow up on the various tropes that the first movie used.

Killing Mako off and retconning the Kaiju's' plan to be simply blowing up Mt. Fuji was bullshit though I will say.

In the end, these were both popcorn flicks to me. Didn't think too hard about 'em while watching; Just laid back and enjoyed the money on screen. Does that make them better or worse? Well, that's personal preference, but for me, I don't find the movies to be anything incredible, but they are a good way to kill a couple hours for sure.

I give both movies a 3/6.