Stompy Robot Time: Pacific Rim

[LadyTevar]

Thanks Tim!
I'll be seeing it Friday. I'll have something to say by the weekend

[SylasGaunt]

Saw it last night in the imax, definitely a great thing to see in cinemas, and GDT has shown himself to be one of the best there is at showing off giant robot fighty action.. for one thing the fight scenes aren't spoiled by damn shaky cam, and despite most of the fights taking place at night and in the rain it's still easy to keep track of what's happening.


Basically take most of the things Michael Bay did wrong with transformers franchise (too much shaky cam, bad romance subplots) and toss them.

[LadyTevar]

You're very right, Sylas. The lack of Shaky Cam was glorious! So was the 3-D, when I exited the theater I felt like I'd been in the Drift with them.

But OMG OMG OMG SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! That was a GREAT MOVIE!!! Just enough humor to make a fairly predictable plot fun, but with So Much Action!!!

But... it leaves questions. Like where is Hannibal's Shoe?

[Slacker]

Agreed. You get exactly what it says on the tin, and goddamnit, they do it well. You go in expecting a well made two hour long live action anime, and you will not be disappointed.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Be sure to stay for the scene partway through the credits!

Edt: The one thing that really irked me was that everything promoting this movie talked about the FIVE jaegers, but in the movie the Japanese jaeger (Coyote Tango) only appears very briefly in a flashback, and we don't get to see it do anything cool.

[TOSDOC]

Edt: The one thing that really irked me was that everything promoting this movie talked about the FIVE jaegers, but in the movie the Japanese jaeger (Coyote Tango) only appears very briefly in a flashback, and we don't get to see it do anything cool.

I would have liked to see more of ALL of the jaegers, and more of their pilots. This was a huge story to tell, and I can see how they probably left a lot of ideas on the cutting room floor. As it was, great flick, we really enjoyed it and would love to see it again. It was nice to be so immersed in the story that you weren't impatiently waiting for a fight-scene until it arrived. And VERY nice not to have to endure shaky-cam! I picked up the Year One graphic novel, and it is a nice supplement to the film.
Spoiler

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the pilots to NOT have anything to say to each other during combat, if they're already in each other's heads? I can understand telling the AI to turn on the rocket punch, but not vocally telling Mako "C'mon, let's do this together!" And why did Mako have to remind Ral about the sword weapon if he should be able to read her thoughts, for instance?

[CaptainChewbacca]

Because while all the thoughts ARE open and available, I think spending too much time in your copilot's head leads to the 'chasing the rabbit'. It could also be that he didn't know about it because he didn't think to look for the information in Mako's mind.

[Vendetta]

Spoiler

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the pilots to NOT have anything to say to each other during combat, if they're already in each other's heads? I can understand telling the AI to turn on the rocket punch, but not vocally telling Mako "C'mon, let's do this together!" And why did Mako have to remind Ral about the sword weapon if he should be able to read her thoughts, for instance?

Not the best way to engage the audience though. They're not speaking for each other's benefit, they're speaking for yours.

[TOSDOC]

Yeah, I got that too. All right, I'll leave it alone now.

[AndroAsc]

Nice show, great graphics, so-so plot, fucked up tactics.

List of questions
a) WTF happened to air support? Ever heard of an airstrike to soften up the target before moving the Yeager in for the kill? Obviously seeing big robots going hand-to-hand makes for better eye candy.
b) WTF happened to sensors? There's so many times where the pilots could not "see" the enemy. Radar? IR sensors? Motion detectors? Seriously is everything in the near future eyeball now? Hell, they can even detect the fucking monster in HQ by tracking some energy signature, so why can't they port that tech into the Yeager?
c) WTF happened to long-range weapons? Ok, I know big robots going hand-to-hand is more fulfilling, but going melee first and plasma as the finishing move is a fuck up. Especially since we've seen how flimsy the robots can be in melee combat. It should be shoot the fuck, and then move in for the decapitation.
d) Why claim that the Mark 3 is analog because it was nuclear powered? WTF are those lights and gizmos, are they not electrical? Stupid comment from stupid science. Is an analog nuclear reactor even possible? Which brings to the next question, if the other Yeagers are not powered by "analog" nuclear reactors, what powers them?
e) WTF happened to the nukes? Ever heard of nuking the monster when it is still far away from the coast in the sea?

[Grumman]

d) Why claim that the Mark 3 is analog because it was nuclear powered? WTF are those lights and gizmos, are they not electrical? Stupid comment from stupid science.

Analog does not mean not electrical, it means not digital. The signal in your headphone cord is an example of an analog electrical signal.

[SylasGaunt]

List of questions
a) WTF happened to air support? Ever heard of an airstrike to soften up the target before moving the Yeager in for the kill? Obviously seeing big robots going hand-to-hand makes for better eye candy.

Airstrikes don't do enough damage to be effective. Tresspasser, the very first kaiju took six days of conventional bombardment to kill.

b) WTF happened to sensors? There's so many times where the pilots could not "see" the enemy. Radar? IR sensors? Motion detectors? Seriously is everything in the near future eyeball now? Hell, they can even detect the fucking monster in HQ by tracking some energy signature, so why can't they port that tech into the Yeager?

Most of the time they couldn't see them the kaiju was either underwater or in a city with buildings between them. IR and Radar don't work so well in that last one. the kaiju underwater were deliberately keeping out of sensor range.

c) WTF happened to long-range weapons? Ok, I know big robots going hand-to-hand is more fulfilling, but going melee first and plasma as the finishing move is a fuck up. Especially since we've seen how flimsy the robots can be in melee combat. It should be shoot the fuck, and then move in for the decapitation.

Energy weapons have attenuation problems in atmosphere IRL, I'm assuming it's the same here. It's also pretty clear that the kaiju are getting better faster than the weapons.

e) WTF happened to the nukes? Ever heard of nuking the monster when it is still far away from the coast in the sea?

Kaiju are FAST in the water. And nuking is how they killed the first 4 of them. The problem is that it well, kinda fucks up the area, and if it doesn't burn the kaiju enough you risk spreading the blue all over the place.

[Cykeisme]

On the airstrike point, any rationalization I can come up with fails.. because Striker Eureka uses missiles on Kaiju.
The fact that they're used on Kaiju at all (Jaeger-launched) means that any rationalizations we can come up with fail.

Logically, they should just use those same type of warheads on missiles launched from surface installations, or air or land vehicles.
Enough of them ought to be able to kill or cripple a Kaiju. At the very least, there should be close air support working with the Jaegers, making runs before close combat ensues.. and even assisting during the fight, if the supporting aircraft can take a shot without risking friendly fire.


I've reached the conclusion that Pacific Rim really doesn't stand up to analysis, and tbh it doesn't matter.
Raw displays of robot awesome trump any need to adhere to realism.. and it's a LOT of awesome they display.

[Sea Skimmer]

Most of the time they couldn't see them the kaiju was either underwater or in a city with buildings between them. IR and Radar don't work so well in that last one. the kaiju underwater were deliberately keeping out of sensor range.

Buildings might be a problem if the monster was not the size of a building and thus, not indoors. Planes can look straight down you know. Tracking such monsters would be completely trivial. You don't even need military equipment, news and police helicopters would be doing it for you.

Sonar ranges against a target that big (massive flow noise) moving quickly would be in the hundreds of miles. The US did already build passive sonar systems capable of covering most of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans using 1950s technology. They still exist too in large part and are now used to track whales since submarines became near silent. Active sonar ranges are into the hundreds of miles now too.

Kaiju are FAST in the water. And nuking is how they killed the first 4 of them. The problem is that it well, kinda fucks up the area, and if it doesn't burn the kaiju enough you risk spreading the blue all over the place.

Fast would actually be useful in this case, as you could hit them with unarmed torpedoes over and over again at a massive closing speed. Looks like we finally found a good use for Shkval!

I've reached the conclusion that Pacific Rim really doesn't stand up to analysis, and tbh it doesn't matter.

If it stood up for over five seconds that would have been amazing, though I think it gets slightly further then some stuff does. If you want giant robots to stand up, about the only thing I've ever seen that works is that silly animie series I forget the name of in which the robots are powered by magic and the magic simply works better with objects in human form.

[Srelex]

On the airstrike point, any rationalization I can come up with fails.. because Striker Eureka uses missiles on Kaiju.
The fact that they're used on Kaiju at all (Jaeger-launched) means that any rationalizations we can come up with fail.

Logically, they should just use those same type of warheads on missiles launched from surface installations, or air or land vehicles.
Enough of them ought to be able to kill or cripple a Kaiju. At the very least, there should be close air support working with the Jaegers, making runs before close combat ensues.. and even assisting during the fight, if the supporting aircraft can take a shot without risking friendly fire.


I've reached the conclusion that Pacific Rim really doesn't stand up to analysis, and tbh it doesn't matter.
Raw displays of robot awesome trump any need to adhere to realism.. and it's a LOT of awesome they display.

As I remember when we see those warheads they're actually very large shells, probably too big for aircraft or vehicles. And it seems you need the Jaeger to weaken the Kaiju first before they're fired.

[Sea Skimmer]

Being a missile or a shell is pretty irrelevant, any shell can be rocket propelled as a missile and you'd have to get into the hundreds of tons before mobility was a crippling problem just with existing vehicles, never mind the effort going into Jaegers that could far more easily go into building vast hoards of other stuff. Like I dunno, a dump truck with a bank of 305mm recoilless rifles borrowed from the Russian archives, or SPRINT which is the end all of comical close range assault weapons.

[SylasGaunt]

Striker's missiles also appear to be a fairly recent innovation. In the novelization other Jaeger's have been equipped with missile weapons that ended up not working very well once the Cat3s came in (IIRC Gipsy Danger's first kill was on a kaiju that had proven immune to the rocket fire from one of the other jaegers on the drop). Going by that and what we see in the Prequel comic it seems that for a little while jaeger sized version of more conventional weapons worked out okay, but then the kaiju coming in eventually got tough enough they didn't work so well anymore (leading to stuff like Gipsy's plasma cannon).

I've seen some speculation that the creation of working anti-kaiju missiles was one driving factor behind the switch to the wall and that there'd be loads of the things mounted on it when it was done (though that's again speculation).

[wautd]

One of those movies where you can shut down your brain, sit back and enjoy the ride. Highly entertaining. Del Toro again shows he can make a good movie out of a silly concept.

[atg]

Loved the movie, have now read the novel also. The novel i feel doesnt really change much but the dossiers of the crews (especially the scientists) is quite a nice addition, as is the description of the anteverse. Ive ordered the year 0 comic as well.

It'd be interesting to check the military budgets of current world powers and see how many Jaeger's they could actually build each year considering the mark 5 Striker Eureka is said to have cost Australia $100 billion to make. What is the USA'S defence budget each year? Something like $600 billion?

[Zaune]

So... is it worth spending £20 (ticket + bus fare) to go and see this in the cinema, or will I not miss much if I wait until someone gets the DVD and puts clips of all the cool battle scenes up on YouTube?

[Borgholio]

For that much money you could buy the goddamn DVD here in the states.

That said, if you're accustomed to paying that much to go see a movie, then yes I'd say go see it. My whole family had a blast. If you really want to see it, go to the big screen. Big fucking robots are that much better on a big screen than a small one.

[Zaune]

I'm more accustomed to not bothering to pay that much to see a movie, but I'll keep that in mind.

[Raw Shark]

I'm more accustomed to not bothering to pay that much to see a movie, but I'll keep that in mind.

I generally wait for the Elvis Theater for this sort of thing. They show movies in the gap between the initial release and the DVD on the big screen, at a fat discount (generally about $3 here). I know that I'll like it, and like it more in a real theater, but I don't need to see it right fucking now, so it's kind of the best of both worlds. YMMV depending on whether your area has this sort of thing.

[Zaune]

Hmmm. I know the local theatre has apparently taken to doing something like that, to the exclusion of any actual plays as far as I can tell from their website, so that might be worth a look. Don't know about prices though, or show times; after about seven in the evening I'd have to get a cab home instead of the bus, and then I'd be back to square one.

[SylasGaunt]

Reading the novelization also provides some other tidbits, like the fact that Herc's original partner was his brother.

The PPDC tended to get a good look at the Kaiju when they first emerged from the Breach but they're hard to track out in the open ocean.

In the end fight with Raiju and Scunner they speicifically remark on how Gipsy and Striker can't seem to pick them up until they're right up close with speculation ranging from interference from the breach to some form of sensor jamming.