Pacific Rim
So... I watched Pacific Rim. Most of it anyway since I sorta missed the intro a bit.
I see the refs with the tokusatsu fandom yeah. And by now, half my memory of the movie have faded so I shall just... mention my thoughts that I still remember.
It's kinda funny that they're calling the monsters as Kaiju. Without the extra 'u' (yeah, I'm picky) and hearing all these gaijins talk about kaijuus like it's an everyday thang made you giggle like crazy. XD. To be honest, despite I'm not that familiar with Evangelion... I can see how people could see the semblance. Despite Del Toro never watched Eva. I find the accusation about him stealing ideas from Eva is ridiculous. Similar ideas that coincides do exist but being inspired by it does not equal copying. Yeap... the shared mind thing to control the movement of the Jaeger (plus the mind sync thing) as well as trying to connect minds to access the Kaiju mind does make you think about Eva. Can't help that. Tho... do be honest, despite the Jaeger system looked cool... it have a few setbacks. Like when the rangers minds are sync-ed and that also includes accessing each others memories and sharing minds. Impractical to use... like what if your Jaeger pilots' minds are unstable? Or when the two pilots don't get along? Since using the system do require synchronized movements and since the Jaegers needs two people to pilot (three for the Chinese one), it's be trouble if one of the pilots end up dead or outta commision. Finding replacement partners would not be simple find and replace.
Which is why... compared to Jaegers, I would have prefered to pilot gundams. (or any of the Macross aircrafts) Yeah~ Good old gundams. Or, if you really wanna be organic... Escaflowne. I'd drag in the mechas from Soukyuu or even RahXephon, but nah...
That aside, I also find amusement on random Shingeki impressions. No... not on the 'Jaegers', tho I do feel like cracking out "Sie sind das Essen und wir sind die Jäger!" on some scenes. No... it's those "Wall of Peace" thing. XD. Yeah... made me think of Maria, Rose and Sina. As well as the religious cult shown in the Hong Kong scene, remind me of the Wallists.
On the characters, I find that Kaiju geek really amusing. Because he reminds me of Oki from Ultra Galaxy, who also a Kaijuu fan. And his plot development also was kinda similar to Oki in that he was obsessed with Kaiju to the point of being an otaku. (I won't mention Teppei since Teppei's monster-otakuism pwns them both!) Like Oki, when he finally got his chance to see Kaiju up close... he realise that shit gone real. And the relationship with the Kaiju-geek and Burn Gorman's character reminds me also to Oki-Kumano dynamics. Despite the fact Kumano's more of an engineer with wizard-level abilities. Genius, regardless.
I like the relationship between Stacker and Mori. From early on you did feel the two being more like parent-child rather than superior-subordinate. And the flashback thing gave me emotions. The Tokyo battle remind me of a similar scene.... but I can't recall. It's like something from the older Ultra shows when a child nearly got killed and then saved in the nick of time. I like that scene when Stacker climbed out of his Jaeger.
Generally...Pacific Rim's not really that epic movie... but it's a good movie regardless. Very good effort by Del Toro. It's a fresh breath of air after the bulk of DC/Marvel movie adaptations. It's a good nod to the Tokusatsu industry... as well as Japanese mecha animes. For fans of these genres, they'll enjoy this movie regardless... as long as one do not be too overcritical on the dynamics. At least... from a toku fan perspective, this is better than that old western Godzilla attempt.
While the Kaiju here still are portrayed as aliens out to conquer Earth, it was still written well. It's kinda a mashed concept from Ultra/Kaijuu films and Kamen Rider/Sentai/other heroes genres. It was enjoyable. This entry was originally posted on Kaleidoscope World.
I see the refs with the tokusatsu fandom yeah. And by now, half my memory of the movie have faded so I shall just... mention my thoughts that I still remember.
It's kinda funny that they're calling the monsters as Kaiju. Without the extra 'u' (yeah, I'm picky) and hearing all these gaijins talk about kaijuus like it's an everyday thang made you giggle like crazy. XD. To be honest, despite I'm not that familiar with Evangelion... I can see how people could see the semblance. Despite Del Toro never watched Eva. I find the accusation about him stealing ideas from Eva is ridiculous. Similar ideas that coincides do exist but being inspired by it does not equal copying. Yeap... the shared mind thing to control the movement of the Jaeger (plus the mind sync thing) as well as trying to connect minds to access the Kaiju mind does make you think about Eva. Can't help that. Tho... do be honest, despite the Jaeger system looked cool... it have a few setbacks. Like when the rangers minds are sync-ed and that also includes accessing each others memories and sharing minds. Impractical to use... like what if your Jaeger pilots' minds are unstable? Or when the two pilots don't get along? Since using the system do require synchronized movements and since the Jaegers needs two people to pilot (three for the Chinese one), it's be trouble if one of the pilots end up dead or outta commision. Finding replacement partners would not be simple find and replace.
Which is why... compared to Jaegers, I would have prefered to pilot gundams. (or any of the Macross aircrafts) Yeah~ Good old gundams. Or, if you really wanna be organic... Escaflowne. I'd drag in the mechas from Soukyuu or even RahXephon, but nah...
That aside, I also find amusement on random Shingeki impressions. No... not on the 'Jaegers', tho I do feel like cracking out "Sie sind das Essen und wir sind die Jäger!" on some scenes. No... it's those "Wall of Peace" thing. XD. Yeah... made me think of Maria, Rose and Sina. As well as the religious cult shown in the Hong Kong scene, remind me of the Wallists.
On the characters, I find that Kaiju geek really amusing. Because he reminds me of Oki from Ultra Galaxy, who also a Kaijuu fan. And his plot development also was kinda similar to Oki in that he was obsessed with Kaiju to the point of being an otaku. (I won't mention Teppei since Teppei's monster-otakuism pwns them both!) Like Oki, when he finally got his chance to see Kaiju up close... he realise that shit gone real. And the relationship with the Kaiju-geek and Burn Gorman's character reminds me also to Oki-Kumano dynamics. Despite the fact Kumano's more of an engineer with wizard-level abilities. Genius, regardless.
I like the relationship between Stacker and Mori. From early on you did feel the two being more like parent-child rather than superior-subordinate. And the flashback thing gave me emotions. The Tokyo battle remind me of a similar scene.... but I can't recall. It's like something from the older Ultra shows when a child nearly got killed and then saved in the nick of time. I like that scene when Stacker climbed out of his Jaeger.
Generally...Pacific Rim's not really that epic movie... but it's a good movie regardless. Very good effort by Del Toro. It's a fresh breath of air after the bulk of DC/Marvel movie adaptations. It's a good nod to the Tokusatsu industry... as well as Japanese mecha animes. For fans of these genres, they'll enjoy this movie regardless... as long as one do not be too overcritical on the dynamics. At least... from a toku fan perspective, this is better than that old western Godzilla attempt.
While the Kaiju here still are portrayed as aliens out to conquer Earth, it was still written well. It's kinda a mashed concept from Ultra/Kaijuu films and Kamen Rider/Sentai/other heroes genres. It was enjoyable. This entry was originally posted on Kaleidoscope World.