Pacific Rim

There are movies that define a particular point in time and there are others are quickly forgotten. Pacific Rim is the former. It's the Jurassic Park of 2013.

The plot is that gigantic alien creatures, called Kaiju, are traveling to earth via a dimensional rift in the Pacific Ocean and are destroying civilization as we know it. In order to combat the threat the nations come together and create the Jaeger Project, huge robotic automatons each piloted by two mind-linked individuals. Can they avert the apocalypse?

The answer is… well, I won’t ruin it for everyone. But I will say that this is quite possibly the most consistently entertaining film I’ve seen all summer and there were times that my jaw literally dropped. Even during the character development scenes and filler in the second act I still was absolutely mesmerized by what was flashing by on the screen and when the end credits began to roll I wanted more. It’s rare that a flick sucks me into its world in the way Pacific Rim did, and I’m here to say it is one incredibly awesome ride.

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite filmmakers. Not only does he know how to tell a story extremely well, he is supremely imaginative and comes up with some of the most hauntingly beautiful designs I have ever seen (the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth, the marketplace scene in Hellboy II: The Golden Army). The sad part is that, Blade II aside, his American made movies usually fail to find the audience they deserve. I have loved all of his films (if you haven’t seen his debut, Cronos, get off your ass and do it now) and I now stand by Pacific Rim being my absolute favorite (The Devil’s Backbone being a close second). Not only does he give his characters a good amount of development, he also has created a world where the population has adapted to the constant threat of the Kaiju. All the world’s resources are focused on the Jaeger program, so the rest of the world is on a ration program, walls are being built along the coastlines to (hopefully) protect from Kaiju incursions, the remains of defeated Kaiju are harvested by black market dealers who tout their medicinal properties and the Jaeger pilots are treated like rock stars. It’s well thought out and intriguing to boot. I want to see comic books or novels that further expand on this world.

On the filmmaking side of things del Toro can do spectacle like no other. The Jaeger vs. Kaiju battle scenes are epic in every way and are super cool to watch go down. There are geeky touches thrown in once in a while that just adds to the awesomeness of it all (when Gipsy Danger’s head attached to its body the first time it forced me to quote Voltron aloud – “And I’ll form the head!”). He’s also not afraid to make things comical to lighten the mood. Some of the funniest moments of the summer come from Pacific Rim, most I’m sure were adlibbed dialogue by his cast. The Kaiju, a homage to Toho’s iconic Godzilla (or Gojira for superfans), all are unique and look rad as hell, each new one topping the design of the last. The Jaegers, which are glorified versions of the battling ‘bots in Robot Jox, are not quite as cool at first, but as we get to see their capabilities they get so awesome that it will make your brain melt. But the reason I like del Toro’s films so much is that even though they feature fantastical shenanigans and ridiculous action they never lose sight of the human element and they are ALWAYS full of heart.

Guillermo has always had a way with actors, and gets the majority of his cast to turn in great performances. I’ve never heard of Charlie Hunnam before (I have never seen a single episode of Sons of Anarchy), but he impressed me here. He’s not entirely successful in covering up his British accent, but for the most part he did well. Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) comes off a little restrained, but it is all part of her character and in the end I thought she was great as well. Charlie Day steals every scene he’s in and gets all of the good lines (“I can’t tell you, it’s classified. But it’s awesome. I might tell you. Okay, I’ll tell you.”). The oddball casting of the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia vet turned out to be a gamble that paid off. Burn Gorman (Torchwood) seemed to be a strange bit of casting too, but he fit in better than expected. Ron Perlman isn’t given a large role as a black market Kaiju organ dealer, but his inspired costume and props, along with his eccentric performance, make for some of the best moments in the film. When he’s paired up with Day its comedy gold! But it’s Idris Elba (Prometheus, The Losers, Thor, Luther) who impresses the most. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he is the MVP, as he always turns in fantastic performances no matter what the quality level of the project may be. Here he gives a measured portrayal that ends up being the stabilizing force of the whole film. When his character gives his short, but rousing speech about “cancelling the apocalypse” I wanted to stand up and cheer. He’s the real deal and I always look forward to seeing what role he might take on next. Some of the supporting cast don’t fare so well, as they are either too dull or too over-the-top for their own good (Clifton Collins, Jr., I’m looking at you).

There is one scene that stayed with me long after the movie ended, and that was a flashback scene involving a young Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), played by little Mana Ashida. Holy crap did del Toro go all out to make you feel for this character by showing the horrors of her past and the moment that defines her current state. Ashida is one talented little actress and sold every single second of her screen time and more. So awesome.

As with most of del Toro’s films there is always something “off” as well. In Pacific Rim it’s the major plot holes that pop up during the finale. I will not discuss them due to their spoilery nature, but when a specific thing needs to happen to make something work and then it is conveniently ignored in order to make for a happier ending I have to call bullshit. Plus, there was such an easier solution to the rift problem that was so obvious that it was twenty feet away from the damned thing, but it was pushed aside to make for a more histrionic and visually stunning finale.

A minor quibble are the names the characters and Jaegers are given. Who names someone Stacker Pentecost?! The robots get handles like Gipsy Danger, Striker Eureka, Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha and Coyote Tango. What the hell is a Gipsy Danger?! What does that even mean?!

Regardless of my issues, which are minor, it didn’t take away from the complete and utter geekgasm that is Pacific Rim. Visually stunning, strongly acted, action packed and filed to the brim with humanity, it’s THE movie event of 2013 (at least so far, but I don’t see any movie even coming close to topping it). I just saddens me that more people decided to see Grown-Ups 2 this past weekend instead. What is wrong with America?! Stop giving Adam Sandler’s talentless ass money and go for what is clearly the superior choice! I know the good word of mouth will win out in the end and Pacific Rim will be a success. Not only is it the most fun I’ve had at the movies this summer, but it has me super hyped for next year’s Godzilla reboot. And I hope its success will allow Guillermo del Toro to finally make his long gestating Lovecraft adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness. Make it happen Hollywood!

4.5 out of 5

Europa Report

I’m a sci-fi type of guy and will usually watch anything from that genre within reason. When I saw that Europa Report, an indie science fiction drama, was being released on VOD before its limited theatrical run in August I decided to check it out. It stars two actors that I admire greatly – Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A-Team) and Michael Nyqvist (the Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), and the plot was being kept a mystery which led me to want to see it all the more.

An international group of astronauts and scientists traveling to Europa, the fourth largest moon of Jupiter, in search of life must instead fight for their own survival when the mission goes horribly awry.

As much as I wanted to like Europa Report I just couldn’t get past the fact that it’s nothing but a generic rehash of a hundred other movies like Mission to Mars, Red Planet, The Core, Sunshine, 2010: The Year We Make Contact and every other disaster flick from the past forty years. It’s so by-the-book and cliché that I’m surprised that it even got made, let alone managed to snag two great actors and a decent effects house.

The story unfolds with a mix of found footage and interviews with some of the Earthbound characters about the Europa Mission. The found footage aspect is pulled off decently and is given a nice explanation as to why this tired storytelling gimmick was necessary. There was a constant feed of video being streamed from the ship to ground control that was interrupted by a random solar flare. All the video being recorded from that point on was streamed all at once once the communication systems were repaired during the film’s climax. The interview segments, mainly focusing on the characters played by Embeth Davidtz and Dan Fogler (!?), are the exact opposite and seem forced and phony.

The script by Philip Gelatt is as routine as they come and follows the standard outer space disaster film to a “T”. People go into space, things go wrong and they die one by one usually due to their own stupidity. Example: you’re out on the surface of Europa and are told that you only have a certain amount of air left and the radiation has reached a dangerous level… would you go and explore something you saw out of the corner of your eye? Is it any surprise that what you think would happen happens? The screenplay is predictable and tedious, never gives the crew members any real character development (Copley receives a small amount) and ends in such a sudden and anticlimactic fashion that it is frustrating beyond belief. The non-linear storytelling gimmick used is also extremely confusing and disorienting.

Director Sebastián Cordero seems more interested in making sure his found footage gimmick is working than directing his actors or making them likable or relatable. Sure his visuals of Europa are breathtakingly beautiful, but when I don’t give a crap about any of the characters it’s kind of a moot point. His pacing is lethargic, the interior shots are boring and horribly staged (the spaceship set looks really cheap) and nothing going on is made out to be even remotely interesting. Disappointing to say the least.  And could the clock that pops up on screen to tell us what month/day/time it is be any more confusing looking? Using this method to get across the non-linear story structure lost me more than I ever should have been.

When it comes to the acting Copley is the most successful of the cast by turning a nothing character into someone mildly likable. Nyqvist doesn’t do much but sit in one spot and stare at a screen. The same goes for the rest of the players: Christian Camargo, Karolina Wydra, Anamaria Marinca and Daniel Wu. They just go through the motions for the most part, with Marinca only coming to life within the film’s final moments. The way they acted once they landed on Europa reminded me of all the shots of the bridge crew from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. You know, when they would just stare wild eyed at the viewscreen as they traveled deeper into the V’Ger cloud? Maybe Cordero used that film as a reference? Whatever the case may be, their bland performances make a slow moving movie even more tedious.

Sure the special effects are rad and some of the stuff that goes down is decently entertaining, but like I said at the top of this review, this is about as by-the-book as these flicks come. I saw everything coming minutes before they did, and I even had the order of the character’s deaths sussed out beforehand. Europa Report is not worth your time unless you love your entertainment ultra-predictable, boring and (thankfully) under 90 minutes. As you can probably already tell, I do not.

1.5 out of 5

Jack the Giant Slayer

I really like Bryan Singer. He has made some entertaining films in his career and single-handedly made Hollywood superhero movies bankable after years of epic failures. However, the quality of his work has nosedived as of late and if he continues along this path it may never recover. I mean, Football Wives? Really?! At least he recognized this and signed on to direct the new X-Men movie before he slipped any further down the slope of mediocrity. Case in point – Jack the Giant Slayer.

Young Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is given a sack of magical beans, and when he accidentally gets some wet they grow into a gigantic beanstalk that reaches high into the sky to the land of vicious and bloodthirsty giants who have waited for years for an opportunity to conquer the humans.

I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to make a feature length “Jack and the Beanstalk”, but if someone with the immense talent of Bryan Singer can’t make it even remotely entertaining that person should not be working in Hollywood to begin with. The flick is overly childish one minute and gruesomely violent the next, so there are radical tonal shifts which is never a good sign. It’s just a joyless affair and a little hard to sit through due to how mediocre and meandering it is. There is no high adventure feel, no real character development and a script that basically serves to show off some not-so cutting edge CGI. And when a movie is pulled from release (in mid-2012) so that it can be post-converted into 3D (also undergoing a name change from its original title, Jack the Giant Killer) and unceremoniously dumped into theaters in March 2013 (see G.I. Joe: Retaliation) it’s a clear sign to steer clear and see something else.

I like Nicholas Hoult as an actor. I have enjoyed all his recent films I’ve seen (X-Men: First Class, Warm Bodies) and he has a naturalistic way about him that allows me to more readily accept him in whatever part he is playing. That is not the case here because he is awkward, boring and not once did I believe he was taking the part of Jack seriously. It feels like the only reason he accepted the role was to work with Bryan Singer, but all Bryan Singer was interested in was the computer generated images. He shares zero chemistry with his romantic interest, Eleanor Tomlinson, and just feels out of place for the most part.

There are plenty of recognizable faces in the cast such as Ian McShane, Stanley Tucci, Ewen Bremner, Eddie Marsan, Warwick Davis and the voice of Bill Nighy as the leader of the giants. The sad thing is that they are given absolutely nothing to do once the CGI giants show up and that’s pretty sad. The only actor that looks like he gave a shit about his part was Ewan McGregor as Elmont, one of the King’s soldiers. He gives his character a likable personality and without him the movie would be a complete bust. Is it any surprise that McGregor ran circles around the rest of the cast? I mean, out of all the actors in the shitty Star Wars prequels he was the only one who kept his dignity intact. Dude’s awesome, even when he’s in a garbage flick like this.

The script by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney is dull, lacking any sort of grandeur or even a decent character to rally behind (if McGregor weren’t putting his all behind Elmont the character would have been a bust too). It takes its sweet time getting to the point of the story, and when the giants are introduced none of them are given any development and are just like the dwarves in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - they all look and act alike. The only reason I knew Fallon, voiced by Bill Nighy in the exact same manner in which he played Victor in Underworld and Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, was because he had a second head. I’m sure Bryan Singer had a say in what went down in the screenplay since McQuarrie, who wrote and directed last year’s Jack Reacher, is his longtime collaborator, so some of the blame falls on his shoulders as well.

My issue with Singer is that he feels like he’s asleep at the wheel. He doesn’t push his actors, his vision for the film is dated and cliché, the action is stale and taken out of any number of fantasy films (although the tossing of the flaming trees was a nice touch) and he goes for the cheese instead of the drama. The whole project feels like a big budget episode of Fairy Tale Theater. Shit, I was expecting there to be commercial breaks at some points. I was severely disappointed at every turn due to his poor choices behind the camera.

Since a lot of the focus of the film is on the CGI giants you’d expect that aspect to be one of the few highlights. Unfortunately they are not since they look overly cartoony and unmemorable in the extreme. The animation is like something you would have expected to see in the early 2000s after George Lucas pioneered the completely computer generated character with, gulp, Jar Jar Binks. Due to the ever changing tone of the film I couldn’t figure out if Singer was going for a storybook sort of look or not, but when you have a person being gutted by a sword one minute and a giant dying in a slapstick manner via bees it’s easy to get frustrated by all the contrasting styles on display.

Jack the Giant Slayer is a mess. It’s directionless and there is no fun to be had even though the source material screams entertainment value at every turn. Sadly it was in the wrong hands and the end result is crap. It would be a smart move to just wait until X-Men: Days of Future Past is released in the summer of 2014 to see what will (hopefully) be a return to form for the once legendary director who wowed jaded audiences everywhere with his out of the blue debut, The Usual Suspects. I long for the day when he wows me again.

1 out of 5

Hitchcock

The life and times of Alfred Hitchcock, one of the most well-known and successful film directors throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s, have always been a point of contention. It’s common knowledge that he was a bit obsessive about his leading ladies, but until recently we never really had any insight into just how far that compulsion went. Director Sacha Gervasi and John J. McLaughlin decided to take on this subject and develop it into a feature film based on the book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho” by Stephen Rebello.

Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins), hot off the success of his latest movie North by Northwest, cannot seem to find a new script to focus on as his follow up project. When he reads Robert Bloch’s “Psycho”, based loosely on the life of serial killer Ed Gein, he scoops up the rights and finances the film himself since no studio in Hollywood is willing to back such a violent and sexually deviant story. Along with his wife, Alma (Helen Mirren), they embark on a production that could either keep them in the spotlight or ruin their lives.

While Hitchcock does tell an interesting and somewhat comedic tale about the making of the defining movie of the man’s career, the details about his actress fixation are glossed over and made to look like they really weren’t that big a deal. Oh yeah? Tell that to Tippi Hedron. I dare you!

Anthony Hopkins embodies the role of the master storyteller through some impressive make-up and an uncomfortable looking fat suit. While he does at time go overboard with the facial expressions and mouth movements while speaking (“Good eeevening”), he comes off as the man we all remember hosting Alfred Hitchcock Presents. We also get to see him during some rough times and Hopkins manages to make him sympathetic and relatable as well as somewhat detestable in the way he treats his wife like shit. He’s pretty damned good here.

Helen Mirren is even better. I’ve always found her performances to be entertaining and powerful, even in popcorn fare like Red. She does what she does best here as well even though the script does make her look like an uncaring shrew at times. She knows her husband gets jealous easily and tries to make it look like an affair is forming between herself and writer Whitfield Cook, played by Danny Huston. You can’t blame her character for doing this as her husband gets all cray cray over his ingénues, and even though the script makes her look like an immature brat about it, Mirren comes off as classy as ever. She’s one of those ultra-talented actors who can overcome the deficiencies of the screenplay with a simple gesture. I can’t get enough of her.

The rest of the cast is great as well. I especially liked Scarlett Johannson as Janet Leigh. She makes the character completely professional and likable through all the craziness going on during the production of Psycho. I especially liked her during the shooting of the infamous “shower scene”, because from now on I will have a new insight into what went on behind the camera thanks to her performance. Seeing Michael Wincott once again was a pleasant surprise. He plays an imaginary version of Ed Gein that Hitchcock routinely gets into debates with over the production of the film. I haven’t seen him in a film since Alien: Resurrection. Ralph Macchio made me giggle as screenwriter Joespeh Stefano and James D’Arcy played a great Anthony Perkins.

The only weak link in the chain is Jessica Biel as Vera Miles. I just didn’t like her character or Biel’s aloof portrayal. Her scenes bring the movie down a notch or two because I got the feeling that the only reason she was in this movie was to fulfill a contract obligation. She half asses it, and the script doesn’t help either.

The movie flies by at a fast clip, it’s entertaining and sometimes witty and clever. Seeing the old school methods of movie making duplicated here were just as interesting to me as the story itself. Sacha Gervasi puts a lot of effort into selling the time period, but either due to the script or by his own choice makes light of the creepy aspects of the story. I would have liked to have seen the seedy happenings involving Hitchcock’s obsessive behavior and the fallout it caused. I guess I’ll have to watch The Girl for that.

Hitchcock could have been a great biographical account of a severely flawed genius, but in the end it’s just a disappointingly flawed film. It goes for a cutesy and comical take on the story and steers clear of the darker moments. The performances are wonderful for the most part and it definitely feels like the movie takes place in the 60s, but the script goes for the safe route and in the end it’s just a passable film. I recommend watching it, but once will be enough for most people.

2.5 out of 5