Watching Pacific Rim
(And occasionally glancing at Ina, who has gone to sleep. I expected that. Nothing bores her more than big machines hitting each other.)
Before I start, I must say that, though I love anime, I have always hated mecha.
However, I love the aesthetic of this movie. The design is a joy. The music is fab too.
The same cannot be said of the logic of the world building or the plot. The characters are so stereotyped it's difficult to believe in them even for a moment. As for the technobabble... it seems to be words just strung randomly together. And the laws of physics have been suspended for the duration.
(Interrupt: Oh Christ - dinosaurs did not have two brains. THIS IS A MYTH. The man is supposed to be a biologist for pity's sake.)
The FX is occasionally dreadful (and there are bits that are just plain silly) the characters are stereotypes and racial stereotypes at that. The acting is over-the-top, while plot and background are basically illogical. Who'd let any of these people loose (and sharing memories) in huge robots?
And what I said originally about this not being a feminist movie goes double, unless things change drastically in the last third....
Later: DNA was bad enough. Now we get wombs and umbilical cords - if the bloody things are placental mammals then I'm an insect.
Afterwards: no change to my opinion. Cliché after cliché and, while Mako is the most interesting character, it isn't saying a lot. I can, of course, see why fandom adored it. (Mainly the Drift - oh, the opportunities for fanfic...) At least, as Ina remarked, you can always see what is happening, which is very, very unusual for an effects-based film, even one that is not made for 3D. I was pretty bored during the last twenty minutes...
Two and a half stars out of five, mainly for the design and the cinematography.
Before I start, I must say that, though I love anime, I have always hated mecha.
However, I love the aesthetic of this movie. The design is a joy. The music is fab too.
The same cannot be said of the logic of the world building or the plot. The characters are so stereotyped it's difficult to believe in them even for a moment. As for the technobabble... it seems to be words just strung randomly together. And the laws of physics have been suspended for the duration.
(Interrupt: Oh Christ - dinosaurs did not have two brains. THIS IS A MYTH. The man is supposed to be a biologist for pity's sake.)
The FX is occasionally dreadful (and there are bits that are just plain silly) the characters are stereotypes and racial stereotypes at that. The acting is over-the-top, while plot and background are basically illogical. Who'd let any of these people loose (and sharing memories) in huge robots?
And what I said originally about this not being a feminist movie goes double, unless things change drastically in the last third....
Later: DNA was bad enough. Now we get wombs and umbilical cords - if the bloody things are placental mammals then I'm an insect.
Afterwards: no change to my opinion. Cliché after cliché and, while Mako is the most interesting character, it isn't saying a lot. I can, of course, see why fandom adored it. (Mainly the Drift - oh, the opportunities for fanfic...) At least, as Ina remarked, you can always see what is happening, which is very, very unusual for an effects-based film, even one that is not made for 3D. I was pretty bored during the last twenty minutes...
Two and a half stars out of five, mainly for the design and the cinematography.