Movie Review: Pacific Rim
So this was the first action movie this summer that I loved without reservation. It was good writing, good acting, gender dynamics that made me SO HAPPY, POCs everywhere...yeah. ALL OF THE FEELS.
The thing that struck me the most is how I think this is the first film I've seen with a m/f dynamic where the woman doesn't have to "prove" herself. From the start, Raleigh wants Mako as his partner, and Pentecost forthrightly says that he knows she'll be a great pilot, he just doesn't want her out there because ~fatherly feels~. I love that the lead female character is not sexualized, is clever and physical, and is completely accepted.
I also liked that their love story, if you can call it that, isn't the typical love story; there's no fake obstacles, there's no misunderstandings, blah blah blah. It's "you're awesome, I'm awesome, let's be awesome together." I'm not sure exactly what their relationship is exactly--it's not standard romance, but it feels way more than just platonic.
**Sideways note, part of the drift-compatibility seemed to be genetic, as all teams we saw (up until the end) were siblings or father/son. The Russian team shared a surname but it wasn't clear if they were siblings or a couple, and they could be read either way.
I liked the idea of reading Raleigh and Mako as platonic just because that's something you don't see in popular culture, but I'm also not sure if that's what was going on. They never kissed but they did check each other out...well, she checked HIM out at the beginning, and he just said she looked good in the suit (which could be read either way).
I don't know, either way I just love them.
And Idris fucking Elba. IDRIS FUCKING ELBA. Just. asdfghjk. Okay. Let's start with how unreservedly awesome it is to have the BAMF leader be a POC whom everyone else follows without hesitation and whose loyalty is complete, who gets to make the St Crispin's speech AND gets to be the literal knight in shining armor to a young girl (did anyone else cry? I cried) and also the noble sacrifice play (I cried more).
And also: the abundance of POCs everywhere. It may seem like a small thing, but having the ton of Asian people in the base made me happy--it wasn't "let the westerners save people" it was "let everybody save everybody."
And Ron Perlman, because he just needs to be there, for reasons.
Sigh. I went twice. It held up really well on a second viewing. Definitely the most solid movie of the summer.
The thing that struck me the most is how I think this is the first film I've seen with a m/f dynamic where the woman doesn't have to "prove" herself. From the start, Raleigh wants Mako as his partner, and Pentecost forthrightly says that he knows she'll be a great pilot, he just doesn't want her out there because ~fatherly feels~. I love that the lead female character is not sexualized, is clever and physical, and is completely accepted.
I also liked that their love story, if you can call it that, isn't the typical love story; there's no fake obstacles, there's no misunderstandings, blah blah blah. It's "you're awesome, I'm awesome, let's be awesome together." I'm not sure exactly what their relationship is exactly--it's not standard romance, but it feels way more than just platonic.
**Sideways note, part of the drift-compatibility seemed to be genetic, as all teams we saw (up until the end) were siblings or father/son. The Russian team shared a surname but it wasn't clear if they were siblings or a couple, and they could be read either way.
I liked the idea of reading Raleigh and Mako as platonic just because that's something you don't see in popular culture, but I'm also not sure if that's what was going on. They never kissed but they did check each other out...well, she checked HIM out at the beginning, and he just said she looked good in the suit (which could be read either way).
I don't know, either way I just love them.
And Idris fucking Elba. IDRIS FUCKING ELBA. Just. asdfghjk. Okay. Let's start with how unreservedly awesome it is to have the BAMF leader be a POC whom everyone else follows without hesitation and whose loyalty is complete, who gets to make the St Crispin's speech AND gets to be the literal knight in shining armor to a young girl (did anyone else cry? I cried) and also the noble sacrifice play (I cried more).
And also: the abundance of POCs everywhere. It may seem like a small thing, but having the ton of Asian people in the base made me happy--it wasn't "let the westerners save people" it was "let everybody save everybody."
And Ron Perlman, because he just needs to be there, for reasons.
Sigh. I went twice. It held up really well on a second viewing. Definitely the most solid movie of the summer.