Okay, first the previews:
The new trailer confirms that “Elysium” will be this year’s “Avatar“. Because it will be a jaw-dropping special effects extravanza of science-fictiony goodness? No. Because it will be another piece of ridiculous Leftist tripe that I won’t watch.
Ever.
Now, for the feature:
I won’t do any spoilers for Pacific Rim (I’m not really sure I could spoil anything). It’s a fairly predictable, big-budget science-fiction summer movie. That being said, it was not as bad as I feared it might be; it was even occassionally (but not often) clever. The real reason to see it is to watch giant robots fight giant monsters, and that it does extremely well. Some people (presumably bigger otaku than me) enjoyed it much more than I did; the Monday-night showing I attended actually received a standing ovation (I’m guessing from an anime/rpg club from one of the local colleges).
The natural comparison I find for this movie is Cloverfield. I think that the two form an interesting balance–yin and yang, if you will. Cloverfield is a thoughtful movie (an artistic homage to the original kaiju, Gojira, nestled in a framing-tale and done without needless exposition) which relies on a bit of spectacle (a giant monster caught with cutting-edge cinematography). Pacific Rim, on the other hand, is a spectacular movie (meaning that it relies on spectacle) which does only a little thinking (it’s more a tribute to Gigantor, and… well, there is some exposition. It’s bad. Also, at least two direct contradictions in the plot).
If you are looking for a fun action movie, Pacific Rim is probably worth the ticket price. If you are a fan of Japanimation, kaiju, mecha, etc., you will definitely want to see this movie.
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