This scene shows us a complete contrast from the Jaeger fights that we're shown in the recap. Of course, we also see them fight a Kaiju. We see how they get into their Jaeger, how the mental connection (known as "the drift") functions and how they co-pilot their robot. These machines were so powerful that they had to be piloted by two mentally-linked humans.Īfter the opening recap, we're introduced to two of these pilots – brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket. These monsters became known as Kaiju, the Japanese word for "monster." Knowing that the Kaiju would keep coming, nations of the world banded together to create monsters of their own – robotic machines of the same size known as Jaeger. Six months later, the same thing happened again. It took six days for military forces to bring it down, but it had already destroyed much of San Francisco and two neighboring cities. A monster measuring more than 200 feet passed through. In 2013, an inter-dimensional rift opened in the floor of the Pacific Ocean. The film starts off with a voiced-over recap of what happened across the globe between 20.
Watching it the first time, I couldn't help but think that this is the movie that ' Transformers' should have been. With fantastic special effects, tons of action, and a wildly loud sound effects, it's everything that a blockbuster should be. 'Pacific Rim' is an all-out fun summer blockbuster. With a worldwide gross of $407.5 million, the director and studios could feel successful and we could get a sequel. Lucky for del Toro, Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures, and us – the fans of the film – the international draw was huge. The film's negative perception was widespread and the movie became critic-proof in a negative way. By the time opening day came around, 'Pacific Rim' sat with a healthy Rotten Tomatoes rating in the low 70s – but that didn't matter. Considering the immense amount of fun that I had with it, I was happy to do so.
It wasn't until I attended a local press screening that my opinion of the film changed. As proven by the box office numbers, the majority of the moviegoers in North America felt the same way.
I'll admit it – based solely on the trailers, I had absolutely no desire to see 'Pacific Rim.' But I wasn't alone.
With a production budget of $190 million, Guillermo del Toro's grand scale monster movie barely managed to crack the $100 million mark stateside. Domestically, 'Pacific Rim' was amongst summer 2013's major flops.