Uhh, Pentecost is British, and even though he raised Mako, she's still pretty clearly Japanese and identifies as such.
There's lots of information in the beginning that flows too fast to catch in a theater, and too much left to the manual.
I've never read any of the supplementary material and managed to capture everything conveyed on screen just fine, so excuse me if I doubt the legitimacy of this claim more than a bit.
(no, don't try to justify them to me in comments; they're 3 examples among dozens)
Glad to see you're so open to discussion and critique.
It's an action movie with Humongous Mecha and Kaiju that runs off of the Rule of Cool. What were you expecting?
His sister died defending the US, and he piloted a Jaeger in Japan, which is more traditionally tied to the US than Britain. That's the information I had to go on. I'm not sure how I can be more clear than the word 'adoptive' even if I was wrong about her fathers nationality.
This is my opinion, and my brain, not yours.
This is a review, not a forum. Your ability to comment doesn't translate into an obligation to invite debate on my part.
From Guillermo Del Toro? Better.
I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.
This is my opinion, and my brain, not yours.
Oh, I thought this was supposed to be an attempt to look at a movie objectively in order to gleam which aspects of it would appeal to whom. My mistake.
Your ability to comment doesn't translate into an obligation to invite debate on my part.
Well, you seem to be inviting debate just fine either way, given that you're replying to majoraoftime in the very same comment. If you really didn't want to invite debate, you wouldn't be partaking in it.
Reviews are not supposed to be objective. They are formed from the writer's opinions on the work. Though, I have found an objective review
of something.
Obviously, the review will have the writer's opinion as a basis; when you first read, watch, or play something, your opinion will be the first thing you have to say on it. However, that doesn't mean that you can just throw your opinion up on some website and call it a review.
Here are some dictionary entries on what a review is:
"a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation."
"the process of going over a subject again in study or recitation in order to fix it in the memory or summarize the facts."
Both of those imply at least an attempt to divorce personal opinions from the work itself, whether it to be to give a more critical analysis of the work or simply to refresh one's memory on it. (Funnily enough, Jim Sterling's "objective review" there does fit the latter definition, even if it's oversimplifying the matter a tad; after all, I completely agree with the idea that scores are stupid and arbitrary.)
At this point, though, I feel like I've had this song-and-dance before, and I'd prefer not to turn another comments section into a dissertation on the nature of reviews, so I think I'll stop here. I mean, TV Tropes's review section is kind of terrible as it is; it doesn't need my redundant ramblings shitting it up further.
@MFM are you for real? The dude doesn't have to have a debate with you just because he spoke his mind. He doesn't think highly of the movie, so what? Move on with your life.
And anyway, I agree because besides the action and the Kaiju themselves who I found very interesting, the movie wasn't that great.
Find the Light in the DarkLeave a Comment:
Disappointing, but still fun.
I went into the movie knowing of the extra material, having read the main page here and several reviews, but I settled on forming my own opinion since they were contradictory. I found it disappointing.
The production values of the movie are top notch from start to finish, and I can't find fault with the design or the effects. But there's not much to talk about with perfection, and you want to know why I was disappointed.
The characterization was shoddy- the scientists were cliche idiots, 2 sets of pilots were blatantly treated like cannon fodder, Chau failed to be at all threatening, mission control served his purpose but was forgettable, and everyone else seemed to stand or run around without purpose. I don't like reading into nationality, but I couldn't help but read something into the only 5 characters to receive significant characterization being 3 Americans (one adoptive) and two Australians. I couldn't find a reason to care about any except the main pair. Sure Pentecost is awesome and leaderly, but that's a role not a character, and his relationship with Mako is dragged along like an anchor.
The world building and plotting is lackluster on screen. There's lots of information in the beginning that flows too fast to catch in a theater, and too much left to the manual. Too much is left for us to accept, relayed awkwardly, slightly off, or just plain wrong. Too many Headscratching bits that pulled me out of the movie instead of letting me relax and enjoy. If I were more able to turn my brain off I could have enjoyed it more, but cliche after continuity error after illogical action didn't allow that for me- everything from Makos very first drift talking place in a fully enabled Jaeger to multiple failsafe failures to a dozen helicopters flying at speed over the two people they're supposed to be picking up (no, don't try to justify them to me in comments; they're 3 examples among dozens).
I still recommend this movie, especially if you're more able to ignore stuff than I am. del Toro's love and attention is visually unmistakeable. It's just too bad the writing and storyboarding didn't come close to matching.