Movie Revisit: Pacific Rim (2013)

So as promised back in January (consistent scheduling be damned), I’ll be going back to some of the earliest movies I ever covered on this here blog to celebrate a decade of cacophonous writing. So… big robits, eh?

Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Pacific Rim”.

The world has gone to shit. A fissure between two tectonic plates causes giant monsters known as Kaiju to come into our world and wreak havoc. So in order to combat this, the world’s governments came together to create Jaegers, giant mechs, in order to fight the monsters. And in this movie we mainly follow Raleigh Beckett (Charlie Hunnam), a Jaeger pilot who gets pulled back into the action after a few years of retirement. In this rewatch, I didn’t find the story as engaging as I used to. Now, I don’t necessarily have high demands from a big monster smashy-smashy story, and there are certain sections here I find super enjoyable to outright terrific, but something about the flow and pacing just doesn’t quite work for me the same way it used to. I can’t quite put my finger on how, but while individual scenes can engage, the overall flow isn’t quite as riveting as I used to think. But then I also remember the good stuff. The original deployment of Gipsy Danger, Mako’s backstory, the scientist’s little adventure, there’s a lot of great stuff here. It’s sort of just the thread between them that doesn’t quite hold up. I’d generally say the story’s more really good than bad, and at times even fantastic, but that it’s also flawed in execution.

The characters in this are… a little bit of a mixed bag. Let’s start with our main character, Raleigh. He’s…eh? Like, there’s some stuff there that you could build a compelling arc from, and I don’t think he’s necessarily a bad character… but he feels a bit flat, like they’re not doing much with him. And that doesn’t necessarily let Hunnam get to flex, because while I know he can kill it as an actor, here he’s just alright. Supporting characters on the other hand tend to be a bit more interesting, with the character of Mako Mori (played marvelously by Rinko Kikuchi) being a standout, a layered, fun, and well defined character. Their lieutenant, played by Idris Elba, is good. The two “Australians” (played by an American and a Brit) are kinda fun and are given a decent arc. The two scientist characters played by Charlie Day and Burn Gorman are a blast. Ron Perlman  plays a very Ron Perlman-y character who I love. Generally it’s quite a great cast, which sadly becomes a little lacking in the lead department.

The score for the movie was composed by Ramin Djawadi and it is fantastic. Big, bold brass, distorted guitars, strings, some electronics, it’s a varied mix of instrumentation and inspiration that makes for a frankly awesome soundscape. Big and epic, but also inspiring, oddly warm, and at all times… fun. From the fantastic main theme, to the Asian-Cowboy mix of Hannibal Chau’s theme, there’s a great assortment of tracks here that I just love listening to. Also, Tom Morello came in and helped out on some of the tracks here, and I love that guy, so that’s bonus points in my book.

Co-written by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro, with del Toro directing. And this is where I can keep outright gushing. This is a marvelous mix of practical and CG creations, marrying elaborate sets and costumes with giant digital mechs ‘n’ monsters. Señor del Toro, along with cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, and of course the amazing VFX crew, have a great sense of scale, really making these hulking combatants and their destruction feel big and lumbering in ways sometimes missing from media about giants robots/monsters. And it leads to grounded effects that give battles a satisfying weight that I love. The movie also has a lot of bright, saturated colors and I love looking at each and every one of them. Makes the movie pop in a way that modern blockbusters of the era didn’t get to do much. But yeah, cool action, great effects, and purdy colors are a few more notches on this film’s ginormous belt.

This movie’s been decently well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 72% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 65/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 6.9/10.

While I don’t love it like I used to, I still do really enjoy “Pacific Rim” is has a pretty fun story, good characters, really good performances, great music, and fantastic directing/effects. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Pacific Rim” is an 8.22/10. So I’d say it’s worth buying.

My revisit of “Pacific Rim” is now completed.

“When will we get more revisits?” I hear none of y’all asking. Well, here’s my answer: I don’t know, whenever I remember, I guess.

Movie Revisit: Unforgiven (1992)

Hiya, pardner. So as like… two and a half of ya might remember, to celebrate this blog’s tenth anniversary, I’d revisit some of the first few things I ever reviewed on it. And we’re kicking it off with the first film I ever wrote about on here. So let’s go.

Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Unforgiven”.

Once upon a time, William Munny (Clint Eastwood) was known as the deadliest outlaw, but he has since retired and become a farmer. However, this quiet life gets put on hold as Munny decides to take on one last bounty hunt with an old friend (Morgan Freeman) and a cocky whippersnapper (Jaimz Woolvett). The story of “Unforgiven” is not one of simple rootin’ tootin’ hijinkss. It’s a moody tale of self-reflection, giving us a repentant exploration of morality, pain, and guilt, how time can make violence and past mistakes turn us bitter and damaged. How insecurities and our actions can create so much hurt. It’s a tale that can be gritty and intense, but also surprisingly tender and heartfelt, and I found it riveting from start to end.

The characters in this are fantastic. They’re all these complexly woven, very well realized figures, showing us all their sides over the course of the movie. They’re some of the richest characters I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in a western. From our leading man being full of regret over what he’s done, to a young man with a secret, to a sheriff that can be as jovial as he can be violent. And I find all of them really engaging. What also helps is the cast, all of whom are fantastic. Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Jaimz Woolvett, Frances Fisher, Richard Harris, Saul Rubinek, and more, there’s not a weak link here.

The score for the movie was composed by Lennie Niehaus, and it’s stellar. Dark and brooding, but with an underlying sorrow to it that gives it this chilling sense of foreboding. It helps build some really good suspense and even gives certain scenes a bit of a horror-y vibe. There’s also a recurring motif in the score called “Claudia’s Theme”, composed by Clint Eastwood himself, and it’s an emotional powerhouse of a piece. Its main melody being a fairly simple series of notes played primarily on the B-string on an acoustic guitar. It shows up a few times throughout the movie, melding marvelously with Niehaus’ moody-broody musings, making for just an emotionally rich soundscape.

Written by David Peoples, “Unforgiven” was directed by Clint Eastwood, and I think this might be some of his strongest direction. Sweeping, yet intimate. Big, but also not so big that you lose scope of the small, important moments between characters. It manages to feel grandiose without really going for a super huge scale. But what makes it shine even brighter is the cinematography by Jack N. Green, which is not only pure eye candy at times with some marvelous use of light and shadow, but it also works in tandem with Eastwood’s direction to create a stunningly crafted visual experience that always keeps the characters in focus.

This movie’s been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 96% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 85/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 8.2/10, and is ranked #147 on their “Top 250” list. The movie won 4 Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Hackman), Best Director, and Best Editing. It was also nominated for an additional 5 Oscars in the categories of Best Actor (Eastwood), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Set Decoration, and Best Sound.

So yeah, “Unforgiven” still absolutely holds up. It has a great story, fantastic characters, fantastic performances, great music, and fantastic directing/cinematography. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Unforgiven” is a 9.91/10. Which means that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My revisit of “Unforgiven” is now completed.

So what’s next on the revisit agenda? I ain’t tellin’, you just have to stay tuned.

Movie Revisit: Fight Club (1999)

The other day I created a poll for you guys in celebration of reaching over 1000 views. Well now the deadline is due and it is time to show you the result which if you didn’t read the title is a review of the 1999 movie “Fight Club”. I have made references to my opinion on “Fight Club” in many of my other reviews but I will still review it for you guys since it was the one with the most amount of votes at the deadline.

So sit back and relax as I take you on a review of David Fincher’s 1999 movie, “Fight Club”!

The movie follows a guy who is simply credited as “The Narrator” (Edward Norton). He is just miserable. He works at an office (which is boring) he got nothing exciting in his life… and on top of that he has insomnia. So when he goes to the doctor for help he is told to go visit a support group for men with testicular cancer (the movie explains why). And at these meetings he notices that when he can cry along with them he can actually get some sleep. But it gets ruined when another faker named Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) enters since he knows she is also faking. But one day he meets this guy named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who is basically the exact opposite of what The Narrator is. And in turn they start… a “Fight Club”. This story is very difficult talking about without getting into spoilers since there is so much to talk about. Now anyway, the concept of the story is different and pretty cool. But the execution is even cooler. I honestly did not know what to expect when I watched “Fight Club” for the very first time, it caught me completely of guard. From the moment the opening credits start to the very end I was invested in the very detailed and weird story. What I also like about the story is that it manages to get so many events and things in there without making it all feel forced and make it all relevant in one way or another. The story in both concept and execution gets a big thumbs up from me.

The characters I would say is what really makes this movie. Sure the story is different and really cool but the characters is really what brings it up a lot. The story is the bone and the characters are the meat. But back to the explanation of the characters themselves…ish. They are all fantastically written and are also incredbily well-acted. Let’s start with the Narrator. He is miserable, he is not happy with his life and Edward Norton brings it out perfectly with his performance. The next (and final one) I’m gonna talk about is Tyler Durden, who I swear is the coolest motherfucker ever! He is what I would call the embodiment of total freedom, which can be both good and bad. He is just free in every way possible. He doesn’t give a shit about anything and that is what makes him so interesting… and unpredictable. But he is also surprisingly deep for a chaotic genius played by pretty boy Brad Pitt. Overall the characters are very good in  both writing and acting.

The music by The Dust Brothers (Not to be confused with the Chemical Brothers) is fantastic. The tracks really help create the feeling of how ddark and dirty this town the movie is set in is. The music feels very dark and cold but even a little groovy. It really help build the atmosphere of the scenes the respective songs are used in perfectly and it just makes me want to buy it… like, right now. I also have to give a little praise to the creators of this movie for the fantastic use of the song “Where is my mind?” by The Pixies in the movie. Yes they only use it once, but they do it in the best way they possibly could.

The camera work and overall cinematography in this movie is in lack of better words… FUCKING AMAZING! The look of the movie is (like the music) dark and dirty which just helps build everything from atmosphere to important story points to perfection. This movie is also really funny… if you have a dark sense of humor, that is. And it isn’t the type of slapstick/under the belt humor but rather very dark and almost a little sophisticated. This movie will really test what you can laugh at. This movie is also one of the most well-written movies ever made and I am not afraid to say it. The dialogue and philosophy of this movie is fantastic and just helps make the movie even better than it originally was. I was also surprised to hear the fact that this movie is based on a book… yeah. The author’s name is Chuck Palahniuk (pronounced Pa-lah-nick apparently) and he have made more books than “Fight Club”. And no, I have not read the original book even though I wish to do it since I want to see how this movie started in book format.

This movie when it first came out wasn’t that well-received. Most critics didn’t like this movie at first. It also didn’t make too much in the U.S. domestic box office. But later on critics changed their minds and they started saying they liked it. But anyway, time for what the movie got on different sites. On Rotten Tomatoes “Fight Club” has an 80% positive rating with a “Fresh” certification. Like most times, Metacritic got the lowest (based on the major movie sites I reference) score for this movie with a score of 66/100. Then we have what Mr. Roger Ebert said about this movie… he didn’t really like it. He gave it 2 out of 4 stars. And while there isn’t really a good quote I can find to show what he thought I can at least say his review was kinda mixed in opinions. But that isn’t important. And finally we have how this movie is rated on our good ol’ friend imdb.com. On imdb it has the score of 8,9/10 and it is ranked #10 on the “Top 250” list. “Fight Club” was also nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best sound effects editing.

“Fight Club” got an interesting and different story, tremendous acting, great music, fantastic camera work, amazing atmosphere, great comedy and one of the best twists in any movie ever (Not going to spoil it). So now it is time to once again hand out my final score for “Fight Club”. My final score for “Fight Club” is a 10/10. This movie is in my opinion perfect in every way possible and couldn’t be better even if it tried. In other words it of course gets the one and only… “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”

“Fight Club” is once again reviewed here on the blog.

The existence of this review is kind of ironic considering the first and second rules of “Fight Club”.