Pacific Rim Delivers an Expected Fun Experience, about Giant Robots Fighting Aliens

Pacific Rim (3 1/2 out 5 Stars)

Directed by Guillermo del Torro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

Written by Travis Beachum (Clash of the Titans), and Guillermo del Torro (Pan's Labyrinth)

Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, and Rinko Kikuchi

I went in blind on this film, reading no trailers or reviews prior to seeing the film.  There was never even a Pacific Rim trailer in front of any of the summer blockbusters I have seen, may be why it's going to end up number two at the box office this weekend.  I knew the basic premise, and had heard about the buzz from last year's Comic Con, but never investigated.  I often like going in blind with films like this, it tends to lower expectations, and allow you to prepare for many different interesting experiences.

The film starts with the concept that most people believe that when aliens would come to Earth they would come from outer space.  In this film a portal has opened within the Pacific ocean letting the Kaiju through, and they first attack San Francisco.  The first alien is defeated but it takes, days, this process continues until human create Jeagers, which are giant robots piloted, or run by two humans.  As the the Kaiju keep hitting the Earth, the worlds leaders work toward building a wall to prevent them from attacking.  Former pilots including Stacker (Elba) Raleigh (Hunnam), and others go rogue in order to use the Jaegers for one last effort to to destroy the portal and save Earth.

What doesn't sound fun about this film?  I guess if you any form of science fiction this was never your cup of tea either way, but if you enjoy the genre and the material it resembles, you will enjoy this film.  Guillermo del Torro has one of the most creative imaginations, his film Pan's Labyrinth is still one of the best films within the 2000s.  Del Torro also brought an interestingly dark graphic novel character, Hellboy to life, which is still the best series based on a non-traditional comic book hero.  Del Torro knows how to work to create films which stretch the imagination.  Rim feels like a wink and a nod to sci-fi fans, but also a fun film.  Del Torro is a master at blending these elements within his films, and he succeeds on this effort here.

While the film is fun, do not think to deep about the plot.  The script is incredibly weak, the dialogue is bad, and there seems to be a lot of poorly constructed characters, but there is just enough character development for this to be passable.  The script and story were written by Travis Beachum whose first major "blockbuster" was the tragic remake of Clash of the Titans.  Beachum's work along side del Torro has elements of Power Rangers, Avatar, and so on, the script is lacking originality, but again as I said in my earlier review of Oblivion, what sci-fi film doesn't borrow to make the better recipe.

While the script is a bit weak, I must say props to this duo for creating one of the best action heroines within a film.  Mako Mori (Kikuchi) is a trainee with the pilots; she is also the surrogate daughter of Stacker who runs the pilot program.  Kikuchi was an Oscar nominee for the film Babel back in 2006; she lost to Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls.  In this film she is the most fully developed character, and gets to show just how great an actress she is, though her vulnerability in reliving past painful memories, but also showing her strength.  Ryan Adams stated Mako Mori is up there with Alice Ripley from the Alien film series and I have to agree; she is badass.

The rest of the cast is fine, Hunnam proves he has "leading man" quality, but he has done that for many seasons on Sons of Anarchy.  Elba proves he is so charismatic, and like when he was on The Office playing Charles there is something magnetic, which draw you to any character he plays.  There is a fun cameo from a regular player within the del Torro world, which I will not spoil.  I will say I find Charlie Day annoying in everything he does, and he doesn't change that here.  Burn Gorman who play the scientist Gottlieb has to be the most annoying character in the film, I do not understand why del Torro took the character in this direction, it felt cliche.

While the script was not perfect, and the film is not re-inventing the wheel, the action is cool, and the visual effects were some of the best I have seen.  This film should have an easy lock on a win in that category come Oscar time.  These visual effects are stunning, and feel life like.  Beyond the visual nature the film is a worth while fun experience, that should not be missed.

Did you Know They Played Gay

Today I discovered a couple of fun things, first Queer as Folk the BBC version is on Netflix watch instant, and second there were a few actors in the show who have since become major characters in television.  There are a lot of people who played LGBT characters that people, mostly heterosexual audiences do not know about.  I would say most LGBT folks know these faces, but there may be a few surprises in the mix, which range from screen to stage.

Aiden Gillen played the "Brian Kinney" character in the UK version of Queer as Folk, his characters name was Stuart Jones.  Since Queer as Folk Gillen has since taken two different roles from Stuart one of HBO's The Wire as Councilmen/Mayor Tommy Carcetti; he also plays Petry Baelish in Game of Thrones.

Charlie Hunnam played Nathan the Justin type character in the British version of Queer as Folk.  Watching Hunnam play the naive/innocent Nathan and then grow up to play Lloyd in Undeclared was fun, but watching him transform into Jax on Sons of Anarchy is nothing short of brilliant.

Billy Crystal played a gay character at the beginning of his career of the television sitcom Soap.  While Crystal was never seen as the typical leading man this never stopped him from getting any major roles in fact he is one half of one of the most famous film couples in When Harry Met Sally, and a lot of the time played somewhat of a ladies man.

The first few people on this list are people a lot of LGBT folks may not know, but the rest of the list falls under the surprise realm because of either the roles in small LGBT films or incredibly popular within the LGBT community.

Dean Cain, Zach Braff, Timothy Olyphant, and John Mahoney (The Broken Hearts Club).

After Dean Cain was Superman in Lois and Clark; he move on to play a shallow gay man, based on watching him the reality series where he tries to pick a date, the shallow part may not be far off, but playing gay was an interesting choice for him.

Before Zach Braff was seeing images in his head of what might be in Scrubs as a doctor, or before he wrote, directed, and starred in Garden State, he played a bleach blonde obsessed with "gym bunnies."

Timothy Olyphant may be known as the killer in Scream 2, or two different tough guys one in HBO's wild west drama Deadwood or now the bad ass Raylan Givens on Justified, but before any of these he was the romantic lead in Broken Hearts Club.

John Mahoney played the cranky non cultured dad on Frasier, but took on the complete opposite as the guide to his boys in Broken Hearts Club.

Chris Meloni made all gay men melt when he played Chris Keller in the HBO prison drama Oz.  Keller's character could easily be defined as queer because he slept with both me and women on the show, but it was his relationship with Tobias Beecher that made us swoon, about two men in prison ironically.  He broke that mold playing the bad ass Detective Elliot Stabler, and those without HBO never knew otherwise.

The same can be said for Michael C. Hall and his first major role as the funeral director David Fisher.  David was an insecure man who struggled with his sexual orientation even though he identified as a gay man.  Hall has transformed into an incredibly different character in the Showtime series Dexter where plays a forensic blood spatter expert turned serial killer who enacts vengeance on those commit crimes, these two characters could not be more different and I think many of his Dexter fans would be surprised.

Dream Emmy Ballot: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

I was looking at my list of nominees and the Television Critics Awards nominees and I realized something pretty interesting, my lead nominees are the same as theirs.  Now before you skeptics say I just picked the same nominees, look at my supporting dream ballots,they are different.  I also picked my nominees before these nominations were announced, guess I should should be part of this group, I will be sending my application posthaste.

Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Breaking Bad-This may be one of my favorite categories this year.  Like all of the other men within this category Walter White is an incredibly complex character.  Cranston has continued to make this one of the best characters to ever exist, and as the year passed by not only did he reach darker places, but there is this incredible balance where Walter still tries to be a good husband/father even through the muck.  This year was no different, and unlike most Cranston has taken on this role without flinching.

Kelsey Grammer as Mayor Tom Kane in Boss-Grammer played this incredible comedic roles on television the last 20 years from Cheers to Frasier to Back to You.  Grammer shatters each of these images as Mayor Tom Kane.  Tom Kane is a brilliant heavy man who not only works to crush his opponents, politically, but he also does this while hiding a debilitating neurological disorder. While Boss is a clunker in the ratings, Grammer carries this show, and makes it one of the most realistic portrayals of the complex political structure.

John Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men-I never thought I would see the day when Don Draper was speechless, but the moment Peggy walked away from him, the look on Hamm's face was priceless. Cut to a week later when he found Lane Price hanging in his office.  Don Draper went through a bit of a change this year, an almost evolutionary change.  While still misogynistic (by nature) his new wife made him a better husband, along with being faithful.  I liked seeing the softer sides of this man, especially his night out with Joan.

Charlie Hunnam as Jackson "Jax" Teller in Sons of Anarchy-Hunnam has always been an incredible force within this show, but this category always seemed to hold too many strong contenders which prevented him from making my list.  This year Hunnam took his performance to the next level as he challenged his Machiavellian stepfather, and finally took their relationship to a crossroads.  Like with Homeland Hunnam often gets lost in the shuffle to Katey Sagal (Lewis to Danes).  Hunnam is a lesser known actor, but his talent should no longer be hidden.

Damien Lewis as Nicholas Brody in Homeland- Where do this man's loyalties lie? Brody is a master manipulator; he is the soldier long thought dead while fighting in Iraq, but surprise he has been alive, and now be a sleeper agent sent to wreak havoc on the government using his hero status.  This is one of the most brilliant cat and mouse narratives ever to play out on television, and while most give the credit to Danes (she is brilliant) many forget the sheer complexity to Lewis's role, and the way he makes love and hate him without knowing him, brilliant work!

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens in Justified-U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is one kick-ass guy, and Timothy Olyphant exudes this raw magnetism when he walks on the screen.  Olyphant brings on the southern charm while being a complete bad ass in the next breath.In an article I read about Olyphant and his portrayal as Raylan Givens the writer said "he is the kind of man who "buys you a drink before he puts a bullet in you."  I love watching this man on the screen; he is a terrific actor, and does a great job with this role.