Because I realise I haven't mentioned this here:

[theweaselking]

I went to see Pacific Rim, and it was brilliant. Easily the best movie of the year so far, endlessly entertaining, it makes *no goddamned sense* and *at no time is that actually a problem*.

(And the giant-robot-fights-giant-monster scenes amply demonstrate why Guillermo del Toro is a good director and Michael Bay is not: Despite happening at night, in storms, and occasionally underwater, with debris and collateral damage everywhere? You can easily see what's going on and follow the course of the fight. In a movie that features giant robots fighting, this is key.)

Comments

[chrisrw109.livejournal.com]

... it makes *no goddamned sense* and *at no time is that actually a problem*

This. Exactly this.

I don't know why Michael Bay can't film a sequence that makes sense. There were a couple of spots in Pacific Rim that were a little hard to follow, but for the most part between this and movies like Hellboy 2, Del Toro can film confusing action without in any way being confusing.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I was referring to the story, the worldbuilding, and the character's actions not making any sense, actually. But the fact that Del Toro can make an action sequence that doesn't suck is also critical.

[chrisrw109.livejournal.com]

There's that too. And also the fact that the chinese Jaeger wasn't painted with slanted eyes, and made to wield chopsticks into battle, etc etc.

It's a long list, really, but the direction of scenes that could otherwise have been confusing jumped out first. :)

[argonel.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the difference in filming is a matter of show the awesome vs hide bad effects. If it looks good or looks right you don't have to try to hide it.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

Yep, and that's all I'm expecting from the movie, not Transformers' fighting blenders.

[aeduna.livejournal.com]

God I hated transformers 1 so much I refused to see any of the sequels. 6 identical robots + a couple of unique ones fighting in a city, I had no idea what was going on and who was who. I have been tempted by Pacific Rim, tho I was worried it would suck as hard.

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

The cool fight scenes were enough for the horrible dialogue and over acting (not counting the mad scientists and Ron Perlman) to not ruin the movie for you? They only BARELY did for me.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The overacting was a FEATURE of the Giant Robots Versus Giant Monsters movie. The main character and his obligatory sidekick were boring and inane, sure, but the rest of the movie made up for it.

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

I cringed anytime someone who wasn't Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, or Ron Perlman opened their mouth. That detracted a lot from the movie. I'm usually sufficiently entertained by loud noises and explosions that I ignore ridiculous dialogue and over acting... but not in this movie.

... or I'm getting old, and the audio-visual distractions aren't enough anymore.

[ardys-the-ghoul.livejournal.com]

Yep, as long as a movie is entertaining, I can forgive a lot of crap.