Movie Review -- Pacific Rim: Uprising

It's been a while, but I decided to come back for another review or two. This time it's the sequel to the giant robot action-fest Pacific Rim. Unlike the first, this one isn't directed by Guillermo del Toro. Can it deliver a knockout?

The story begins ten years after Pacific Rim with party boy/smuggler Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), son of Stacker Pentecost from the original. He gets into trouble one day with orphan Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), a teenage rebel who has built her own mini Jaeger unit. This is illegal, and the authorities swiftly arrive and, after a chase in Amara's tiny Jaeger, the two are arrested.

However, both are acknowledged for their piloting skills by Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) and recruited to become Jaeger pilots. Neither are given a warm welcome, and both have to prove themselves. Jake is reunited with his old partner Lambert (Scott Eastwood) and they have to provide security for an upcoming summit. But things go from bad to worse when a renegade Jaeger unit shows up and attacks everyone. Unfortunately for our heroes, this is only the tip of a traitorous iceberg. Can Jake and his team prevent a Kaiju resurgence and the annihilation of mankind?

Sitting through this movie, I really didn't miss del Toro not being in the director's chair (he's a producer this time). This movie gives you everything the first one did, minus some key characters (where the hell is Raleigh?). It's got all the robot smashing action you could ever want, along with some genuinely funny moments. The plot, which I initially thought was predictable, proved to be less so. I thought for sure I knew who the villain was, but I was wrong. Other than that, it's about the same as its predecessor (giant monsters threaten the world, a hero and heroine have to form an unlikely team to save it), but is that really so bad? Perhaps my standards have fallen a bit, but I quite enjoyed Pacific Rim: Uprising, and the clapping throughout the theater at the end let me know I wasn't alone. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like the sequel. If you didn't, Uprising won't change your mind.

Note to the creators: Next time, bring back Ron Perlman, dammit!

Movie Review -- Godzilla

Today we have the return of the radioactive giant lizard, Godzilla, in his new movie.

The story begins in Japan in 1999. Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) works at a nuclear power plant with his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche). One day a massive tremor shakes the facility and Joe is forced to seal off the area Sandra is in. She dies and authorities evacuate the entire city, quarantining it in the process. Their son Ford witnesses the disaster from his school nearby.

Flash forward to the present. Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is now an army lieutenant. He goes on leave to visit his wife and son. However, he gets a call that his father has been arrested for violating the quarantine zone which is still in effect. Joe, convinced the destruction of the power plant was not a natural disaster as had been reported, brings Ford along as he again ventures into the abandoned city. Joe feels vindicated when he discovers no radiation whatsoever, but instead finds a military operation going on. Where the power plant once stood there is now an enormous glowing egg. It soon hatches and out pops a winged monster they dub MUTO (which I guess is supposed to be Rodan) which goes on a rampage. It isn't long before they discover the creature has a mate, and the pair proceed to wreak havoc across the Pacific and eventually the west coast of America. Our only hope of stopping them may be the big-ass lizard that just showed up: Godzilla. The three monsters then fight it out. Ford and the military--along with Japanese scientist Dr. Serazawa (Ken Watanabe)--form their own plan to halt the destruction, but will there be anything left when all is said and done?

This is certainly better than the last American Godzilla movie in 1998, but that's not saying much. Whereas that one was hokey, this new incarnation takes itself very seriously. What helps it rise above its predecessor is strong acting by the cast. Bryan Cranston shows why he's an acting juggernaut with his stellar, emotional performance as the grieving widower. Ken Watanabe is no slouch, either, coming along for the ride with his usual flair.

However, great acting can only take a movie like this so far. To me, the true Godzilla will always be a man in a rubber suit fighting other men in rubber suits. They lose a lot when converted to CG. Although this Godzilla has the mannerisms and signature roar of the original, and although he's bigger and badder than ever, he doesn't have the charm. And as a Godzilla fan from way back, I miss that. Also, it doesn't help that the monsters he fights in this film are virtually indistinguishable from those seen in Pacific Rim and Cloverfield. In other words, they're just generic CG beasts.

Bottom line: It's a great popcorn movie that surpasses the previous one. Just don't expect great things from it.

Kindle Spotlight -- MM9

After I saw Pacific Rim, someone suggested I read Hiroshi Yamamoto's kaiju novel MM9. I did, and let me tell you, in some ways it is better than Pacific Rim.

The story takes place in the present. Ryo, Sakura, Yuri, Chief Kurihama and the others at Japan's Monsterological Measures Departmanet work night and day to protect the country from kaiju attacks. Unlike Pacific Rim, kaiju are fairly commonplace in this world; the MMD records an average of 200 new ones a year, and they've been showing up for decades if not centuries. In fact, they're actually somewhat benign; they usually don't mean any harm, but they're so big they can't help but cause trouble. Their size ties into each kaiju's Monster Magnitude rating, which is pretty much a measure of their destructive potential. The bigger they are, the higher the rating. An MM9 could potentially wield almost godlike power. No MM9 has ever been reported, but as you can probably tell by the title, that's about the change.

Now, you may be wondering: How do they deal with the kaiju that threaten everyone's livelihood? Do they use giant robots like in Pacific Rim and anime? Nope, they're stuck with conventional weaponry. It sounds weird, but MM9 is a more believable kaiju story. The Japanese SDF must consistently find a way to defeat the monsters using present technology. I like this, because it means the beasties aren't dispatched by simple brute force. Yamamoto really used his head, and so each kaiju threat plays out quite differently than the previous one.

I also like the characters. They're not battle-hardened warriors; they're just regular people trying to protect Japan from otherworldly dangers. From serious-but-likable Ryo, to wreckless youth Sakura, to motherly Yuri, to cranky Kurihama, the characters are adequately fleshed out.

However, the real stars of the novel are the multitude of supernatural creatures that Yamamoto thought up. You've got your garden-variety animals that grew large through unknown means, plant-based kaiju, radioactive flying kaiju, sentient yokai, and...well, I won't spoil the best ones. Suffice to say, this book is brimming with imagination.

Oh, and I can't forget the serious research that went into writing this novel. Yamamoto references a lot of scientific theories in the story. Are you familiar with the parallel anthropic principal? What about the law of causality? Do you know what a paradigm shift really is? You will, thanks to MM9. It's educational as well as entertaining.

So, in conclusion: This is a more realistic kaiju story, grounded in real science, and that's why I like it. If you're a kaiju fan, you absolutely must give this a read.

http://www.amazon.com/MM9-Hiroshi-Yamamoto-ebook/dp/B006X9BDTY/ref=pd_ybh_4

Movie Review -- Pacific Rim

If you've ever wanted a more realistic version of Power Rangers, Pacific Rim is for you! Guillermo del Toro's love letter to kaiju stars like Godzilla and Ultra-Man has all the insane robots-versus-monsters action you could ever want.

In the near future, an inter-dimensional rift opens at the bottom of the Pacific. A giant rampaging beast emerges and levels a good portion of California before the military manages to stop it. Unfortunately, that's only the beginning. One Kaiju after another pops out of the rift and humanity now has a full-scale epidemic of massive invaders on its hands. In response, the governments of the world come together and pool their resources to create the Jaeger[sic?] units, giant bipedal humanoid wrecking machines. These mechs are piloted by teams of two or three people who sync minds via the Drift System. Brothers duo Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) enjoy great success piloting their unit Gipsy, and it looks like the army of robo-brawlers has the crisis well in hand. However, they soon grow complacent and are defeated by a stronger breed of Kaiju. Raleigh loses his brother and the project dwindles down to just four machines. The project's commander, Stacker Pentecost (the always intense Idris Elba) has all remaining units retreat to Hong Kong for mankind's last stand. Raleigh finds a replacement partner in Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), but she may have too much emotional baggage to effectively sync with him. Can this internationally diverse band of pilots work to together to cancel the apocalypse?

This movie is pure awesome. It has a strong cast, powerful visuals, a wicked sense of humor and a rocking soundtrack to go with all the action. del Toro and co. borrow strongly from Japanese TV, movies and anime to create a film that puts the Transformers movies to shame. Honestly, I haven't seen anything even remotely like this in live-action movie form since Robot Jox back in 1989. For crying out loud, how many movies show a giant robot using a fishing vessel as a baseball bat? Pacific Rim does. Oh, and Ron Perlman being Ron Perlman certainly doesn't hurt.

If there  is any criticism I can level against this movie, it's the fact that the Jaeger units don't have a whole lot of variety aside from the three-armed one. In anime there's always at least a super plane or super tank to back up the mechs. Hell, even Power Rangers mixed it up with different animal types.

Still, that's a very minor complaint and one that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of this film. Shut down your computer and go see Pacific Rim!

"We can stay here and die, or we can grab these flares and do something stupid."