Guillermo del Toro does “Transformers” meets “Godzilla” - and thanks to a spirited effort from Charlie Hunnam turns out quite a decent adventure. There’s some sort of rift between the surface dwellers and these prehistoric beasts that bide deep within the planet. They have an habit of coming up to visit every now and again and causing havoc, so mankind has developed these great nuclear-powered machines to guard the entrance and send them packing. Under the guidance of the grumpy “Pentecost” (Idris Elba) these “Jaegers” (that’s hunters in case you didn’t know) are our main line of defence, but when they start to become overwhelmed by the sheer size and power of their foes, the world must turn it’s hopes to the veteran “Becket” (Hunnam) and his novice partner “Mako” (Rinko Kikuchi) and hope they can find a way to seal this doorway once and forever. It takes a while to get going, indeed it could probably lose twenty minutes, but once it gets going there’s loads of action set amidst some impressive visual effects and featuring extended combat scenes that don’t just repeat themselves over and over. There’s a bit of testosterone zinging about between “Becket” and the other “Becket” (Diego Klattenhoff) and there’s also plenty of entertainingly geeky science from Bruno Gorman’s “Gottlieb” and Charlie Day’s “Dr. Geiszler” as the adventure hots up. Nobody watches these films for the writing, so little effort has been expended on that front beyond giving them something to do with their mouths whilst doing their own, more sophisticated, impressions of Sigourney Weaver from 1986 and it is all enjoyably easy on the eye for a couple of hours.

**It could be so much better with some logic.** Guillermo Del Toro is a good director, but he seems to be learning too much from Tim Burton instead of forging his own path. I really liked some of his films, especially “Pan’s Labyrinth”, but this film, despite its merits, has nothing to do with that and doesn’t even seem to be from the same director. The best thing about this film is the extremely high production values. Visually, the film is amazing and it's really nice to watch. We've got great visuals, stunning cinematography, and an absolutely immersive dose of high-quality CGI. In addition, the film has very well-made sets and costumes, thought out in detail and indisputably expensive. The special effects department, despite all the computer graphics used, also had a series of good opportunities to show its value, and it never failed to do so. The editing is good, the cuts are barely felt and the pace of the film is extremely pleasant. All good reasons to see the film, which was a great blockbuster. Director Del Toro, I have no doubt, had the courage to take a risk on a film that looks like nothing I've seen of him. However, and as I said, he is good, he is creative, and he is a perfectionist in his work, assuring us of an impeccable job in this film. The cast has great actors, and all of them were at the best level. Idris Elba is, for me, the most notable and the best of them all, but I also appreciated the efforts of Rinko Kikuchi and Charlie Day. The worst performance came from Ron Perlman, but this is largely due to the poor conception of the character, who is a crude caricature of a common drug dealer with no taste. Charlie Hunnam, honestly, was an actor that I completely missed. I felt that not only did he lack the charisma and ability to hold the audience and be the protagonist, but he also lacked the skills for the task. I deliberately left the script for the end because, for me, this is where all (or almost) of the film's problems lie. The script is based on an alien invasion of Earth: coming from the bottom of the sea, aliens take the form of gigantic monsters, forcing the entire planet to unite and create metal monsters capable of breaking their faces. The first problem is the illogicality of these premises: how and when did aliens arrive in our world, and how could they penetrate the Earth's crust? This is not explained, nor how countries funded the construction and maintenance of such metallic machines, nor how they manage to walk and fight in an ocean as deep as the Pacific. How did they withstand the heat of the planet? How did they withstand the pressures on the ocean floor? The battles against the monsters almost always take place in the coastal area next to the big cities, threatened, in a clear allusion to films like “Godzilla” or “Transformer’s”. The dialogues also lack any kind of authenticity. The movie simply makes up for it all with tons of action.

**Pacific Rim is outrageous and cliche but loads of fun if you embrace it for what it is: insane robot/monster action.** Pacific Rim is a ridiculous action monster movie that is a lot of fun if you have the right expectations. It’s a film about giant rock em sock em robots fighting giant Godzilla-like monsters, filled with shallow characters, goofy dialogue, great thrills, and exciting action sequences. Charlie Day’s wacky scientist was exceedingly annoying, but then you also have Idris Elba’s inspiring gritty performance of Stacker Pentecost in the same film. Those two performances perfectly define the movie as one of extremes. Extreme robot monster action. Extreme goofiness. All mixed in together for a unique movie worth a watch but not the movie hall of fame.