Who's pumped for Pacific Rim?

[RangerWickett]

So, despite my enjoyment of the movie, there were some odd flaws, as pointed out by someone on reddit.

Basically, there are two parts to the film. The monster vs robot fights; and the bits that make NO SENSE. Here's a few off the top of my head:

Stringer Bell tells gypsy danger not to save the fishing boat, yet once they disobey his direct order, he repeatedly tells them to save the boat.

Apparently, being good with a bo staff makes you eminently qualified to pilot a 300 foot robot.

Gypsy Danger uses a tanker as a sword, 30 seconds later activates the sword it already had.

states nuclear power is "analog" and can survive EMPs. Yep, OK #pacificrimscience. But what about the fancy touchscreen, holographic projectors and, you know, the rest of the robot? (also, later on, states they are leaking fuel - nuclear fuel?).

the EMP takes out the jaegers and most of Hong Kong, yet the black market shop is unaffected.

How did the kaiju know exactly where Charlie was (to the inch) when pursuing him? And why chase after him? They already know the humans' plan, thanks to the 2 way drift. That chase scene served literally no purpose.

Once Charlie found out that the kaiju DNA was needed to open the rift, why didn't he just radio the base? Surely that is important information that couldn't wait for a helicopter ride?

The underwater nuclear explosion literally did no damage to kaijus or gypsy danger. And surely there would have been an absolute buttload of steam caused by exploding a nuclear bomb in the ocean?

If the kaijus are cloned, why is one of them pregnant?

If the wormhole thing only opens with kaiju DNA, how did the escape pods get out? And why were they never used by any of the other jaeger crews up until this point?

jaegers are about 300 ft tall, yet 7 miles off the coast of Alaska, they aren't fully submerged.

kaiju is the size of a large office building, yet they manage to lose it, despite being surrounded by helicopters and having radar in the control room.

Speaking of which, wouldn't it be more useful to have radar on the jaeger itself rather than a remote facility that could lose contact with the jaeger? Well, seeing as they were able to communicate when gypsy danger crossed dimensions I guess that isn't an issue. Yet the radar conveniently fails when they're fighting at the breach.

World government scraps the jaegers and builds a wall. Wall is breached in an hour. Why don't they go back and throw a boatload of money at the jaeger program? In fact, why did they scrap it in the first place? After all, it has been 100% successful up to this point. It's not like the military to ever stop doing something simply because of casualties...

And why weren't tanks/planes/missiles usable against the kaiju? Are you telling me they couldn't put plasma guns on a load of tanks and smash the bejeezus out of them? Or the little rockets that fire out of the jaeger's chest? They seemed to work...

Were the Hansens (the father and son jaeger team) Scottish or Australian? They couldn't hold an accent for more than a sentence.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

As I understood it...

Stringer Bell tells gypsy danger not to save the fishing boat, yet once they disobey his direct order, he repeatedly tells them to save the boat.

Once they engaged with the kaiju, they lost any tactical advantage and might as well have tried to save the boat.

Apparently, being good with a bo staff makes you eminently qualified to pilot a 300 foot robot.

The idea behind that was pretty vague, but there was some dialog about using the sparring to see how similar the thought processes were of the candidates -- presumably, that indicated compatibility.

Gypsy Danger uses a tanker as a sword, 30 seconds later activates the sword it already had.

They did that repeatedly with a number of different weapons. What was implied was that the individual kaiju adapt, so the jaegers hold their weapons in reserve until they get a good opportunity to use it.

states nuclear power is "analog" and can survive EMPs. Yep, OK #pacificrimscience. But what about the fancy touchscreen, holographic projectors and, you know, the rest of the robot? (also, later on, states they are leaking fuel - nuclear fuel?).

Yes, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Of course, jaegers are pretty much impossible tech for early 21st century anyway...

the EMP takes out the jaegers and most of Hong Kong, yet the black market shop is unaffected.

Handwave it. If anybody has shielded backup generators, it would be the guys selling kaiju parts on the black market. They were probably further away from the blast than the jaegar dome, so the shielding was more effective.

How did the kaiju know exactly where Charlie was (to the inch) when pursuing him? And why chase after him? They already know the humans' plan, thanks to the 2 way drift. That chase scene served literally no purpose.

They're a hive mind, right? Maybe they could still sense him, and thought he might be able to do the same? Maybe they were worried that he could drift again and gain more info...which is actually what happened.

Once Charlie found out that the kaiju DNA was needed to open the rift, why didn't he just radio the base? Surely that is important information that couldn't wait for a helicopter ride?

You don't just radio a military base and get handed the CO on the line. They might not have even had any way to authenticate who they were over the radio, since those guys were never expected to do fieldwork. The base staff would recognize them and see their ID's in person, but they wouldn't necessarily know the sound of their voice over the radio and know they were legit.

The underwater nuclear explosion literally did no damage to kaijus or gypsy danger. And surely there would have been an absolute buttload of steam caused by exploding a nuclear bomb in the ocean?

Actually...it killed one kaiju and heavily injured the second...who was the first class 5 ever seen. Scary to think that it could even survive a close-range nuclear attack. Gypsy Danger was further away than the kaiju, and is presumably fully shielded and built tough enough to get repeatedly pounded on by a giant monster.

If the kaijus are cloned, why is one of them pregnant?

If there are limits to the number you can send through from one dimension to another, then starting to make them pregnant is a way to cheat the limit.

If the wormhole thing only opens with kaiju DNA, how did the escape pods get out? And why were they never used by any of the other jaeger crews up until this point?

Not every jaeger uses the same design. Also, they may have had them -- but the Chinese and Russian jaegers never had the opportunity to use them. The Chinese died almost instantly, and the Russians did as well when their reactor exploded.

jaegers are about 300 ft tall, yet 7 miles off the coast of Alaska, they aren't fully submerged.

The continental shelf might go out that far, especially along the Aleutian islands? Otherwise, just rule of cool.

kaiju is the size of a large office building, yet they manage to lose it, despite being surrounded by helicopters and having radar in the control room.

"Lost" kaiju were either underwater or surrounded by skyscrapers, both of which would play havoc with sensors.

Speaking of which, wouldn't it be more useful to have radar on the jaeger itself rather than a remote facility that could lose contact with the jaeger? Well, seeing as they were able to communicate when gypsy danger crossed dimensions I guess that isn't an issue. Yet the radar conveniently fails when they're fighting at the breach.

Radar wouldn't be very useful underwater. That's why they use sonar on submarines.

World government scraps the jaegers and builds a wall. Wall is breached in an hour. Why don't they go back and throw a boatload of money at the jaeger program? In fact, why did they scrap it in the first place? After all, it has been 100% successful up to this point. It's not like the military to ever stop doing something simply because of casualties...

I got the impression that the walls did work at first, but the kaiju adapted. Jaegers are expensive, and world trade was destroyed by the war -- the governments probably couldn't afford to keep building them, so they just evacuated the wealthy inland in desperation.

And why weren't tanks/planes/missiles usable against the kaiju? Are you telling me they couldn't put plasma guns on a load of tanks and smash the bejeezus out of them? Or the little rockets that fire out of the jaeger's chest? They seemed to work...

They did use them against the first kaiju, and it took them days and cost them three cities. The kaiju only got tougher from there. If you assume that GIANT ROBOTS make any sense, then go ahead and assume they're much more effective...for some reason.

Were the Hansens (the father and son jaeger team) Scottish or Australian? They couldn't hold an accent for more than a sentence.

Australian characters played by an American and British actor.

 

[Crothian]

That's a lot of logic leaps of things not presented in the movie. The movie had a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies. But that's pretty much par these days for big budget movies.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Crothian, agreed...although a few of them were mentioned in "blink and you miss it" dialog. I still think the holes are a little easier to rationalize than those of your typical Michael Bay film.

 

[Umbran]

Just saw it this evening. I have to agree with DreadPirateMurphy - several of those are explained in the film. The egregious one was the "analog" comment. Better to have simply said that she wasn't affected because she was inside a shielded facility, and not connected to any outside inputs at the time (where all the control consoles *are* connected to antennas and other exterior inputs).

 

[Mallus]

So, despite my enjoyment of the movie, there were some odd flaws, as pointed out by someone on reddit.

That's a great list -- if you're looking for an example of the kind of terrible nerd criticism that's so prevalent on the Internet! It also demonstrates that observations made without any attempt at understanding are a devastating criticism of the *critic*, and not the work in question.

If you have to ask why Gipsy Danger used a tanker as a bat, or why they waited until Gipsy was badly damaged and almost in orbit before using the sword, or why they built giant robots instead of more planes & tanks, you should first ask: why the hell did I see this film in the first place?

Asking why everyone keeps singing in a movie musical is not a smart question. It's not incisive criticism. It's proof you just don't get it (which is fine --musicals, like kaiju movies, aren't for everyone).

For the record, I thought it was great. A rare thing: a big-budget summer blockbuster that was also clearly a very personal film; made with heart, passion, and an incredible attention to detail. And I thought the story & acting were fine.

If I had to nitpick, I'd say my only complaint is it wasn't as nutty as some of the classic Japanese kaiju films (though I think Del Toro had to play it pretty straight). No Mothra Girls singing their lovely hit song on national television (Godzilla vs. Mothra), no Mothra practicing giant monster diplomacy (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster)... hmmm, maybe my only complaint is: no Mothra!

 

[Hand of Evil]

I was kind of disappointed that they did not have the Godzilla march music in the movie at some point.

 

[jonesy]

If you have to ask why Gipsy Danger used a tanker as a bat, or why they waited until Gipsy was badly damaged and almost in orbit before using the sword, or why they built giant robots instead of more planes & tanks, you should first ask: why the hell did I see this film in the first place?

Asking why everyone keeps singing in a movie musical is not a smart question. It's not incisive criticism. It's proof you just don't get it (which is fine --musicals, like kaiju movies, aren't for everyone).

So, are there any musical kaiju movies? I want to see that now.

 

[Umbran]

So, are there any musical kaiju movies? I want to see that now.

None that I know of have made it to film, but....

From Wikipedia:
Giant Green Lizard! The Musical is an original two-act musical written for and produced at the Maverick Theater in Fullerton, California in July 2006. It is a musical parody of the Japanese monster movies from the 1950s. The book, music and lyrics were written by Jeremy Gable, from an idea conceived by Maverick Theater owner Brian Newell.

The original title of the musical was Godzilla, The Musical, but the creators were notified by Toho Film Company Ltd that they could not use the name or likeness of Godzilla without permission. Therefore, the monster was renamed Gizard and the show was given a new title.

Giant Green Lizard! The Musical utilized both of the Maverick's theatrical spaces. Act One took place on the cabaret stage (which was set up to look like a karaoke bar), while Act Two took audiences to the proscenium stage, which was used as a lookout point for the Tokyo skyline. The show featured video segments, a miniature-scale destructible set of Tokyo, and a dozen original songs - including "Out of Synch", "Love Song For Gizard" and "The Monster In Me".

The show received a positive notice in the entertainment trade BackStage West, particularly noting its "inventive score" and "off-kilter sensibility".

 

[Mallus]

So, are there any musical kaiju movies?

Not that I know of. But several of the Mothra movies have musical numbers where either the Mothra Girls or the island natives do the fabulous Mothra song.

Mosula!