Pacific Rim

Originally posted on: 15 July 2015

Reposted on: 07 August 2013

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Watched Pacific Rim last night as agreed by the family. Free is good so I got no complaint. By the way, I still haven’t watched the trailer of this movie. Oh well, I’m glad this was the unplanned family pick last night. When we got home, I posted this on my Facbook status:

Pacific Rim stressed out my neurons because of the ff:

1. The altitude effect. If you’ve dived before, you can imagine what could happen.

2. The nukes! (I hope no one from North Korea has watched this film. They might find an excuse to keep their nuke program.) Having read stuff about Fukushima power plant’s possible meltdown in 2011 then watching this film put me on the edge of my seat.

3. Water pollution. Remember TEPCO.

Erratum: I meant the ‘meltdown’ described by a Physicist that has the potential to wipe out northern Japan.

That was quite a troublesome, being aware of real current events while watching a sci-fi film. The nuclear thoughts didn’t actually start with thought #2. When I saw the jaegers and the prior attempts to bring down the kaiju, I believed their efforts were nothing. So I thought, “You’ve got to go nuclear.” With the circumstances that followed, I was actually surprised that they didn’t resort to the idea. The kaiju attacks have gone crazier but they’re using the same scheme.

When such thought pressed on inside my head, somewhere at the back of my mind was wishing, “I hope no one from North Korea has watched this.” They still haven’t given up on their nuclear ambitions and Pacific Rim might just strengthen their belief to keep going. Hopefully not.

When I first saw Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), I thought of Miss Minchin from the 1995 movie Sarah… Ang Munting Prinsesa. I also thought of Black Hawk Down when I saw that smexy chopper. I actually kept thinking that the chopper was so sexy, that I was close to focus on nothing but the flying thing.

How could you not fall in love with something smexy?

There was another smexy scene in Pacific Rim. I didn’t like how it “officially” started but I enjoyed how it progressed. The ‘preamble’ was sort of interesting. I love how they kept up with each other. And the finale? Oh, it was like having the most “poignant” connection of human beings without baring anything except one’s strength.

Mako made a pose that hit me with awe. Mako Mori was, without a doubt, an equal to any guy who could fight. That “pose” was really something. And you have to see the last strike.

Of course, there are also other smexy ones in this film. Though most of which were scenes, this time I’ll talk about someone. Yes, it’s the guy on his knee. He got me confused though. Judging by the way he looked in the film, he could pass as an American, but the way he spoke betrayed his roots.

So I wondered, “What is a non-American doing in an American government agency?” I had to say “non-American” because I couldn’t tell yet if he’s British or Australian. But I could tell that I love the fighting scenes of Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam). The one-on-one combat with Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky) was just impressive. But I was wondering how on earth has Becket been that effective in combat when he’s been… Well, I think the same fiction-principle applied was like that of Jason Bourne.

The other thing I like about Becket is his humanity. I believe what he’s gone through has kept his feet on the ground, reminding him always of what’s really important. I love the “warmth” of his core. And he’s such a gentleman.

Little Mako was played by Mana Ashida. While watching her, I kept trying to remember where I’ve seen her. I just found out today. She was in Tokujo Kabachi and was also present in one segment of VS Arashi. It was actually her whom Nino and MatsuJun were trying to protect when Sakuraiba was messing around.

If I were to rank the actors of the film, Mana-chan would probably top my list. I like how she portrayed a scared little Mako. But I don’t like how a red shoe was kept in the possession of Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba). I just couldn’t reconcile it.

Speaking of reconciliation, I was also having trouble with this film’s timeline. Since Mako was little until she grew up into a woman who can spar with anyone, there seemed to be some ‘missing’ years. It’s like there was no enough time to bring her up into the woman she has become. I don’t know how old Mako is, or is supposed to be. I’m just quite bothered about that. Why?

Because Mako has another connection that just didn’t sell to me. There was supposed to be a huge age difference but I didn’t see that. I actually wondered if it’s because I can somehow guess a person’s real age, or is it because there really was such fault.

I just remembered a statement of Becket when he found the truth about Pentecost. He asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Something like that. I thought, “Excuse me, mister. Your senior [officer] doesn’t have to tell you [the story of his life].” Seriously, Becket. Who do you think you are?

What Pentecost and Chuck did was poignant. I was so moved that I was close to being petrified. And I felt really bad for Max. I wondered how on earth could there be no other support. It was tough.

Speaking of which, I felt bad for soldiers who were and are not given enough time to recover from a traumatic experience. I think a lot of soldiers, and other people, end up brushing traumatic experiences and memories. That’s not going to work. One must make peace with the past, or be reconciled. If you try to suppress it, you’ll just get hurt eventually.

It’s true. “You can’t run away from the past.”

While watching Pacific Rim, I realized something about most robot-themed films I’ve watched. It seemed like these “good” robots used their upper body and extremities to fight the bad guys. It happened a lot in this movie. So I thought, “These movie-makers don’t watch Rugby [or Sumo wrestling].” I actually wanted to scream, during the first fights featured in the film, “Aim for the lower body!” I was recalling the trainings we’ve had while I still joined Rugby 101. These were my thoughts during battle scenes until I saw one or two kaiju that seemed to have heard my thoughts. Of course.

I thought, “How could they let the enemies think that way but not the good guys?” I thought it was unfair, and made the rangers’ trainings insufficient. Because if you aim for and secure the lower section, hip area down, you can easily put an enemy down because he will lose balance. While thinking about this principle, I was at the same time trying to imagine it being carried out by the Jaegers.

Another thought on Mori.. It’s amazing how “simple” she is, not trying to catch any attention. And I like it that she’s not a Mary Sue character.

Muchas gracias, señores Guillermo y Beacham.