Pacific Rim

Guillermo del Toro's latest jaw-dropper comes in the form of Pacific Rim. Having previously directed films including Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, Pacific Rim admittedly does not reach the heights of its predecessors in form but this height can certainly be found in the film's enormous robots that are the size of skyscrapers: The Jaegers. The Jaegers, requiring two individual minds to be connected as one, each controlling one half of the robot's body, are built to fight against the Kaiju: monstrous creatures that emerge from the depths of the sea. However, even these giant robots seem defenceless against the Kaiju as they rapidly evolve from strength to strength.

Set in Hong Kong, several years into our war with the Kaiju over their apocalyptic invasion, the story focuses on the retired pilot Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) who is reluctantly called back to duty and his untested trainee, Mako (Rinko Kikuchi). On the verge of defeat, Raleigh and Mako come as mankind's last hope against the Kaiju.

Co-written by del Toro and Travis Beacham, the characters unfortunately lack depth, each being defined by a single characteristics. However, this is made up for with the tremendous action scenes and the imaginative long shots that allow you to clearly absorb the action. Amidst it all, comic relief can be found in mad scientist, Charlie day, and in Ron Perlman's cameo (Hellboy) as a black market salesman. With fights at times demolishing entire cities, it is hard to resist this action packed block-buster.

Alina Haddad