Pacific Rim (2013)

Heck yeah.

I love this movie. Every GIANT FRICKIN' ROBOT VERSUS GIANT FRICKIN' MONSTER moment of it. This is a film that sets out to deliver an action-packed tale of oversized mayhem, and goes so with the whimsy and joy that is so often lacking from blockbuster films. Pacific Rim's failure at the US box office, when the latest tedious Baysplosion extravaganza is printing money by the truckload, is a huge shame.

Now it's not a perfect film. It's been suggested that it would be improved if Mako Mori was the protagonist. There's some merit in that, though unfortunately we still live in a time when the leads in action movies tend to be handsome, buff white guys.  And given it sticks within that mold, I think it does a pretty good job of giving us a flawed and conflicted but ultimately very likeable and sympathetic lead.

It could also be said this is not an especially nuanced or subtle film ... at least not in the dialogue. There's a lot of clever non-verbal stuff though. You get a sense of characters from the colours they wear and the way the move, even if they barely speak on camera.

This is two hours of big damn heroes taking on big damn bad guys, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, and at the end of it, I wanted more.