[CRITICAL] PACIFIC RIM

Let’s be honest, I had huge a priori on the PACIFIC RIM. The trailers and the first images were frightening to kitschy, more about teasing than expectations exacerbated. The director, Guillermo Del Toro , to me, was a man of a great film, the superb Pan’s Labyrinth. The rest of his work left me relatively cold. Yet it is clear, despite an avalanche of shots and a concept gnawed down to the bone (Evangelion, Transformers, all that, all that..), it is here the blockbuster of the year, at least.

And yet, it all begins quite badly. From the first seconds, the viewer is left aside. A monologue of endless as well as an action scene quite pataude portend the worst. And it will have to wait a little over a half hour for the film to take off in earnest. The narrative takes its time, and the first act serves only to raise stakes drama transparent. Relations father-son, student, mentor, sibling destroyed, everything seems too cliché fake. It should say what it is, the relationships between the characters are not credible for a single second. And, with the exception of a fabulous trio comic trained by Charlie Day, Ron Perlman and Burn Gorman, it’s hard to get attached to the protagonists.

But as soon as the film enters its second part, and that the attacks begin, everything shifts. In front of the magnificence of the show, all our doubts will evaporate and weaknesses and plot are forgotten. It is simple, PACIFIC RIM is one of the action movies, the most beautiful of recent years. Robots and monsters are wonders of design and animation, as every muscle, every circuit, every patch of skin seemed to come to life before our eyes. The sets are not left out, if only at the level of the light. Hong Kong, at the first attack seems to be a creature alien to him-even, treated through a sublime filter fluorescent blue and red that is reminiscent of Blade Runner by Ridley Scott.

“Pacific Rim is akin to blockbuster ultimate, it is a guilty pleasure without interruption, a show total and certainly the best entry of its kind for a long time.”

And what does that say about the action except that it is spectacular? As expected, these are the clashes Jaeger-Kaïju that carry the film and bring it up to the skies. All is here ventured into fights as absurd, as over-the-top without any dead time. One goes from surprise to surprise, in an exponential growth of the dramatic, leaving the viewer speechless and riveted to his seat. So well that it never tires, even after over an hour of struggle, the enjoyment in a child-like and regressive.

What distinguishes this film from the wave of Blockbusters today is his until endianness and his honesty, every plan, every second we can feel the pleasure of the team and the affection boundless, a producer for his project. And if the scenario proves to be as predictable as a draft in the party narrative, they do not hold it against the face of the satisfaction which seizes the spectator, as soon as the lights switched back on. PACIFIC RIM is akin to blockbuster ultimate, it is a guilty pleasure without interruption, a show total and certainly the best entry of its kind for a long time. Until the sequel, already announced? It is hoped.

Elias

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