Unfortunately, “Pacific Rim” was denied the really big box office success – and that, although the robo-monster brawl is so much better than Michael Bay’s “Transformers“. “Pacific Rim” is a deep bow by Guillermo del Toro (“Shape Of Water”) to the niche genre of kaiju cinema (Kaiju = Japanese for huge, foreign monster), which is often ridiculed in this country. You can stream the action-packed declaration of love on Amazon Prime until August 13, 2022, after which “Pacific Rim” will disappear from the streaming giant’s catalogue.
» “Pacific Rim” on Amazon Prime Video*
Del Toro fulfills a heart’s desire with this film and the love for the genre is palpable throughout the film. The escalating battles between chunky giant robots and gigantic monsters show that the childish joy of destroying the world can still function on screen, even almost 70 years (!) after the original monster Godzilla trudged through a miniature Tokyo for the first time.
But del Toro not only lives out his fantasies of destruction with a wink, but also creates a global mythology that would have offered enough starting points for exciting sequels. But unfortunately it didn’t come to that, because the film didn’t score well with American cinema audiences and fell well short of expectations financially.
With “Pacific Rim 2: Uprising” followed in 2018 a meager sequel, which at least with “Star Wars’ star John Boyega and Scott Eastwood (‘Fast X”) could score. After that, only the two-season animated Netflix series “Pacific Rim: The Black” followed, which was able to win over a small fan base. A third trip to the cinema by the franchise is not planned due to the moderate box office results of the first two parts.
Enormous monsters are reducing coastal cities around the world to rubble. There is only one remedy against this danger known as kaijus: pure technical violence! In order to oppose the creatures, oversized combat robots, so-called Jaeger, are built, which are equipped with all kinds of weapons to stand up to the monsters.
But despite an enormous human and financial effort, the situation seems more and more hopeless after a few years. The monsters are gradually gaining the upper hand and the Jaeger program is on the brink of collapse. Only the veteran Marshall Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) still believes in the possibility of triumphing over the monsters with the machines and brings the Jaeger child prodigy Raleigh Becket (“Sons Of Anarchy” star Charlie Hunnam) back into the ranks of the pilots.
“Pacific Rim” is still fun after the umpteenth repeat and offers the best blockbuster entertainment in a cleverly crafted dystopia that combines the glossy robo-actioner “Transformers’ and effortlessly outshines its much weaker successor. If you haven’t seen the film yet or just want to have a proper battle of materials, you can watch “Pacific Rim” on Amazon Prime until August 13, 2022 at no additional cost!
*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.
