Pacific Rim Watch - May 29th, 2013

Gypsy Danger fan-art by edcomics - Go see his DeviantART page here!

With the highly anticipated "Pacific Rim" coming in just over a month's time, I'll be doing articles like these, for both major and minor updates alike. And also, just to share my obviously bias opinions on the upcoming release - I am a giant monster fan after all!

Starting with today's recently released featurette, which explains the how the film's  'neuro-bridge', or The Drift works. Hopefully there will be more such shorts in the days to come, including ones focusing on the Kaiju antagonists themselves.

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Now I should mention my disappointment and related fears around the general public's rather flippant reactions towards this film. Along with Geek culture being more interested in the relatively minor casting of voice actress Ellen McLain (Glados from "Portal 2"), and the cheap accusations of this film being "Transformers 4".

Meanwhile, film critic and blogger (and fellow Kaiju fan) MovieBob own sentiments on "Pacific Rim" heavily mirrors my own, as seen in his own shout out towards the third trailer (also feature below).

Here's what MovieBob had to say on the matter, edited slightly for potty mouth tidbits:

I really, really hope that this (third trailer) marks the start of a much bigger push for this movie. Fairly or not, I feel like so much is riding on "Pacific Rim." An original (read: not a sequel, remake, reboot, adaptation, etc) big-budget genre movie? Guillermo Del Toro finally on the cusp of the blockbuster clout he should've had a decade ago? Giant monsters and robots up onscreen with no "apology" for their own existence or attempt to make them palatable to audiences that might turn their noses up otherwise?

If something like this doesn't "succeed," it validates all the worst chicken**** instincts of the current studio-system. "Joe Popcorn" (or whatever the current euphemism is) probably doesn't deserve this movie... but I hope "he" shows up anyway. There's more riding on this than just this.

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I personally doubt "Pacific Rim" will be one of the big bombs of the Summer 2013, though the possibility of it being a box office disappointment is still there, as mainstream American audiences really do turn their noises up at giant monster movies. The success of Michael Bay's "Transformers" films probably have to do more with everything surrounding the title robots, except for the title robots themselves. This being a situation not too dissimilar to "One Million Years B.C.", where one busty, red-headed cave girl was the box office draw, and not the (equally) fantastic dinosaur effects work.

Peter Jackson's "King Kong" remake from 2005 did well, but not well enough to really give the giant monster genre a shot in the proverbial arm. And the success behind  "Cloverfield" had more to do with its 'Mystery Box' marketing, over audiences even knowing, let alone wanting to see the movie for what it actually was about. For more on this nonsense, I refer you all back to MovieBob's video on the matter.

On the extremely bright side however; no matter how "Pacific Rim" performs, we can still rest assure that around this same time next year, Legendary Pictures has another Kaiju film in store for all of us. Isn't that right, Mister British Director Man?

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Than of course, there's the Japanese factor to consider.

Contrary to popular belief, Japan hasn't been that keen on giant monster movies for several years now, despite being the country that was once the most prolific in this sub-genre. And often for reasons very similar to American attitudes towards Kaiju films, as being 'old hat', 'outlandish', or met with just plain indifference.

And again, just like America, when these films do succeed, it's often for reasons outside the Kaiju themselves, like paring up some of the Millennium-era Godzilla films with more popular animated fair. Or the presence of some beloved actor or in-the-moment guest stars who simply happen to be in said monster movies.

With that said, I'd be interested in Japan's reaction towards "Pacific Rim", even if I have the sneaking suspicion that the hype around the film will be centered firmly upon child actress Mana Ashida, who's quite big there right now.

"What's this? Famed child star Mana Ashida, in an American attempt at weird Kaiju films? How can this be!?!?" is probably how most of the Japanese publicity might play out.

Regardless, director Guillermo del Toro hasn't forgotten the county that directly inspired his upcoming opus, and had this special trailer made for that particular distribution.

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Also worth mentioning (unfortunately), is that those infamous producers over at The Asylum are doing their thing again, with the 'mock-buster' "Atlantic Rim". In all fairness, this actually looks better than most of The Asylum's output. And the one (I repeat, one) giant monster in this does looks pretty neat, like a slender dragon-dinosaur-style hybrid.

But having seen my fair share of modern B-movies and Syfy Originals, I'm expecting we don't get any good fight sequences until the last 20-or-8 minutes, and the action and adventure will take a backseat to overused horror elements.

Oh and is that a token black man among the robot piloting trio? Surely nothing BAD will happen to him before film's end (sarcasms)!

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I know I'm coming off quite negative here, but I really am excited for "Pacific Rim". And will go see it either at a midnight screening, or first thing the following morning. And my comments here are only being realistic and level headed, at best. But please share all your opinions and speculation in the comments below. Out blabber mouth THIS blabber mouth!

And to further end this article on a high note, the site io9 has some concept art based on the film's monsters, along with newly released promotional photos here.