what is Action Figure cinema, you ask?
Films that successfully recreate the blissfully apocalyptic
landscape of a young boy’s imagination as he strings together a weekend
afternoon narrative drawing in any and all playthings at his disposal,
displaying an infectious carelessness with regards to their intended relation
to one another. Robocop and Swamp Thing will ride dragons to take on the
Shredder’s army of Inhumanoids for the fate of Thundara… that sort of toy chest
Mad Lib opens up an expansively rich universe, so creatively pregnant and
removed from predictability, which acts as the germ for the increasing handfuls
of entertainment on the high and low ends of the creative spectrum. MANBORG,
FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY, the comic/upcoming animated series AXE COP; Most of these
have snugly been embraced by cult fans across the globe, but Guilermo Del
Toro’s PACIFIC RIM is the first to truly capture this aesthetic vastness on a
near-incalculably large scale.
The story is simple: a transdimensional rift in the pacific
ocean enables Kaiju (a Japanese term meaning “strange beast”) to enter our
world, where they level pretty much anything in their path. In order to combat
the monsters, the nations of the world unite to construct Jaegers;
Skyscraper-size Mechs piloted by two via a neurological link. For awhile, the
Jaegers are successful, until bigger and deadlier Kaiju make their way to the
surface. That’s where the story picks up.
Some have written the film off as a Monsters vs. Robots
punchfest with little in the way of story or character. These people either
haven’t seen the film, or they haven’t seen the film. All we need to know about
each character is established pretty much as soon as we meet them; a Kaiju
attack survivor who is seeking vengeance, a Scientist who is also a Kaiju
enthusiast, a shady black market dealer of decontaminated Kaiju parts, a
retired Jaeger pilot who lost his brother during a fight with a Kaiju… their
motivations are clear and consistent, and much of the soul these characters
posses is revealed in wordless gestures rather than didactic declarations or
convoluted symbolism. The fights are cool as cool can cool, but there is no
“Awwwww YEAH!” posturing, nor any lunkhead one-liners; it’s a big fucking thing
doing everything in its power to stop another big fucking thing. There is much
shown of both the construction of the Jaegers and the biology of the Kaiju, and
how they’re both evolving to combat their respective menace, and you can feel
the weight of every touchdown. There in lies the multiplying genius of Del
Toro’s work; whether it’s probing art-horror like THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE or
freeplay escapisim like PACIFIC RIM; a rich surface doesn’t conceal depth, it
informs it, spawning an intricate universe where nothing is superfluous.
Where the GI JOE and TRANSFORMERS adaptations were
aggressively tepid and contemptuously joyless, PACIFIC RIM is bewitchingly
graceful and undeniably welcoming; a labor of love so unconditional it crosses
over into pop-artful psychedelia, a relieving antidote to the bleakly explosive
bombardment of self-glowering post 9-11 fear-bait that has regretfully become
the primary driving force behind many contemporary blockbusters, where thrill
seeking escapists are made to feel guilty by the peddlers of their fix. No such
hypocrisy can be found in PACIFIC RIM. No jingoistic pandering, no bad jokes
about Kaiju genitals (though their excrement is mentioned in passing, it is
done in such a brief way that it doesn’t feel like forced gross-out humor), the
Kaiju and the Jaegers simultaneously invoke fear and awe, commanding our
respect and attention.
As for the unfortunately inevitable “haters”, well if you
find anything offensive about this film, you must have been molested with a
Godzilla doll while Ultraman watched or something. To find fault in PACIFIC RIM
is like lamenting a 15 minute eye contact heavy ass-in-the-air hummer from
Amber Heard because the long licking/whispery dirty talk combo between imbibes
made you cum too hard. I understand it’s the internet era and we’re supposed to
display nothing but contrarian vitriol with regards to anything that might
bring forth a modicum of excitement to our otherwise unremarkable routines, but
the whole “NERD RAGE” hand is beyond played at this point. i get it; you know
everything about everything, posses a labyrinthine wealth of genre knowledge,
and should act as a consultant for every single “geek” project under the sun,
cause everyone knows you can do it better than the people who spend YEARS of
their time, dedication, finances, and passion actualizing the material that has
brought them so much emotional satisfaction and spiritual pleasantry. Please,
do pick apart the minute flaws in this colossally gorgeous work, because in the
end it’s YOUR sneeringly vicious needlessly opinionated blog post people will
come to remember and revere, and not the monument to engrossing spectacle that
carries with it the strength to unlock our own creative possibilities.
you're a dick, is what i'm getting at here.
go see this big fucking thing so the other big fucking thing (GROWN UPS 2) doesn't survive.
