'Pacific Rim' is the Movie We Never Got As a Child

For a long time, Pacific Rim was my most anticipated movie of this summer. Ever since the first trailers started popping up and the positive buzz from WonderCon led me to be over-excited for this film. The problem with that, is it builds unreal expectations. When someone tells you that this movie is about giant fucking robots fighting giant fucking monsters, it's reasonable to have unreasonable expectations. The issue is not fulfilling those expectations. What Pacific Rim did on screen wasn't just spectacular for what it did visually, but in the way that it did it. It by no means let me down.

I was born in 1993. By that time, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, all of those disaster-monster films had already came and went. I didn't get to experience them on the big screen. The closest thing I got to experiencing it was Transformers. Which is really just unfortunate that I even have to bring that up. All of a sudden my childhood was gone, and I was moving on to college. Without any disaster-monster film. I was robbed.

A couple years ago Rise of the Planet of the Apes came out. And while mildly underwhelming, it gave hope that something spectacular is on the horizon. I wasn't as big of a fan of Apes as everyone else seemed to be, but I did enjoy the climactic battle on the bridge at the end. And that's when it hit me again that I really missed out.

So here I am, a 20 year old college student. The best monster disaster film I saw was Transformers. Which doesn't even qualify. I mean, there was Cloverfield, but it wasn't as gargantuan as I wanted it to be and as capable as it could have been. Same with Super 8 (which I was extremely underwhelmed by). I have hyped this movie up more than any film I've seen since Dark Knight Rises last summer. I spent months doing research and studying up on Pacific Rim. I completely nerded out. I walk in to the theater, and what's playing before the film starts? ALL OF THE PAST MONSTER FILMS OR SHOWS OR REFERENCES TO MONSTERS. Seriously. I enjoyed the hell out of that. It set the mood just right.

Five minutes into Pacific Rim now. I'm all in. I caught myself smiling a huge smile. Living this movie as if I was 12. It saved my childhood. It was the movie we never got. Us 90s kids and up. We never have gotten a movie like this (a good one).

I'm going to sum up the plot as brief as I can: Kaiju have come up from beneath the Pacific Ocean. We built big robots called the Jaegers that can fight them off. Humans control their movements, and they have to be piloted by two pilots. As time has gone on, the monsters have adapted and are now starting to take control. We still try and kick some ass with the Jaegers. And there's the movie.

Guillermo Del Toro directed this film and I couldn't have hand picked a better person to be behind the steering wheel. He cares so much about how it looks, how it sounds, how crisp everything moves-he's a perfectionist. He directed the hell out of Pacific Rim. Charlie Hunnam played the lead role, and he played his role just right. Nothing over the top, nothing too weak either. People have been complaining about Hunnam but I liked him. He voices over the first 5 minutes or so, and all I wanted was for him to voice over everything ever from now on. His voice was fucking perfect.

Idris Elba steals a few scenes, he always brings it though. Charlie Day was perfectly cast along with Burn Gorman. They have a playful rivalry and a bulk of the few comedic moments stem from Day and Gorman. Rinko Kikuchi was a total badass that was thoroughly enjoyable. And of course there has to be a mention of Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman. He has much more of a minor role than the film is advertising, yet if you're a fan of Hellboy and Sons of Anarchy, you'll appreciate what he does.

But c'mon. The real scene stealers are the Jaegers and the Kaiju. The visual effects in Pacific Rim are unlike anything ever put to screen. I can't remember the last time I saw a film where I was just in awe of what was being done visually. I mean, maybe Avatar? But even then, you knew what you were getting into. I thought I knew what I was getting into with Pacific Rim and I was even more impressed. Also, every big fight scene it just so happens to be nighttime and raining. Which makes it just that much more badass.

It's a perfect summer movie in a summer season that has lacked all sorts of blockbusters. Sure, we were spoiled last summer with the Avengers and Dark Knight Rises, but everything has pretty much been a let down so far. Pacific Rim kicks your ass and lets you know that summer blockbusters are still capable of being done well and done in a way that's fun. It knows what kind of movie it is, which so often films these days are lacking. They don't know if it wants to be funny, action packed, dramatic or what. Pacific Rim knows what it is. It's monsters and giant robots kicking the shit out of each other.

Often times as of lately, these action blockbusters have seemed to force humor on the audience for some reason. Transformers forced it more and more as the series went on, and even in The Avengers, where most of comedy hit, it got over the top at points. The good thing about Pacific Rim is that even when Charlie Day is on screen, there are really only a few forced comedic moments.

The last 45 minutes or so is fantastic. Just a visual masterpiece. It's a shoo-in for Best Visual Effects come awards season. It gets a little slow at certain points and the plot goes in very predictable routes, but it more than makes up for it with the ballbusting action sequences. If you go in with the right mindset of just having a mind-blowing braingasm, then you'll enjoy the hell out of this movie. It's what summer movies should be all about, and it's the monster film that my generation has been deprived of for so long.

I'm giving Pacific Rim a 4.25/5. It's not perfect at all, but it is a perfect summer film. A great movie to go to and just shut your brain off and just marvel at what Guillermo Del Toro put on screen.

Pacific Rim is in theaters July 12th. Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief language. Run Time 131 minutes. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro. 

You can follow Will Harmon at @willharmon8 on Twitter.