Mobile
Recent Comments
Re: “Pacific Rim: Guillermo del Toro's soggy summer blockbuster”
Aw Matt, I'm disappointed you didn't like it. I'm going to disagree that this movie has much to do with Emmerich or Bay as Del Toro clearly has a lot more sympathy for property damage than those two. There wasn't really a moment where someone walks by another person getting obliterated without batting an eye. There's a real sense of the effects of these fights on this world and some sympathy for the plight of people living under these conditions. I thought the actions in this movie had genuine consequences, which really don't happen in Bay or Emmerich's films.
Also I disagree with you that this doesn't fit in visually with Del Toro's previous work. Sure, this is a big budget Hollywood movie but it's also the grungiest looking big budget Hollywood movie I've seen in ages. Instead of creating giant robots and a base that was design by Apple, we have robots that look like they've been used repeatedly and a base that has certainly seen better days. Del Toro has a real affinity for world building in his films and while I can agreed it's a little subdued in this film, it's still on display. I doubt any other director would have had an entire section of a city built out of the carcass of a dead monster let alone actually make a set of it. Also I am 90% certain that if Del Toro didn't have a hand in this script, there probably wouldn't have been a black market for Kaiju body parts which I think is a very Del Toro thing. Also this film clearly had a color palette and honest to god cinematography which I don't think I've ever seen in a Bay or Emmerich film. It's a subdued aesthetic but it's definitely a Del Toro aesthetic firmly on display in this movie.
Is this my favorite Del Toro movie? Not by a longshot. Still I think there's enough of him in this film that it elevates it past standard blockbuster fare.
