Kaiju War

’Pacific Rim’ is a futuristic action movie with lots of fighting.

“When alien life entered our world it was from deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. A fissure between two tectonic plates. A portal between dimensions. The breach.” Raleigh Becket, jaeger pilot.

In the year 2013, the first Kaiju came up from the breach and went to San Francisco. (kaijū, Japanese, meaning ‘giant beast’)  When it was killed 6 days later by the military. By then, 3 major cities had been destroyed and millions of people were dead. They mourned their dead, memorialized the attack, and moved on. And then, only six months later, a second Kaiju appeared and attacked Manila. It wasn’t until the sixth Kaiju attack that the human race realized that the attacks weren’t going to stop and that they needed a new weapon. The world came together, pooling its resources and putting aside old rivalries for the sake of the greater good. They decided that they needed monsters of their own. And the Jaeger Program was begun. (yā’gar, German, meaning ‘hunter’) Finally the humans started winning.

The jaegers are huge machines that are controlled by the mind of humans. The original machines were controlled by one person, but the neural load to interface with the Jaeger proved to be too much for a single pilot. Then the machines were redesigned to be controlled by two pilots. One person was to work the right side of the machine, and the second was to work the left side of the machine. Together the pilots used ‘drift’ to work the jaegers. Drift was based on DARPA jet fighter neural systems that allowed the two pilots to mind-meld through memories with the body of the giant machine. The deeper the bond, the better you fight.

It’s the year 2020, the seventh year of the Kaiju War. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his older brother Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) were pilots in a jaeger named Gipsy Danger, who were stationed in Alaska. Together the brothers had killed 4 Kaiju. When a fifth attack on Alaska was signaled, they set again to defend their country. And then the unthinkable happened. The Kaiju punched through the hull of the helmet of their jaeger and ripped Yancy right out. Because the brothers were still connected, Raleigh could feel as his brother died that day. After that, he couldn’t stand the thought of trying to join his mind with anyone else, so he quit.

It’s now the year 2025, and here is where the main story begins. Kaiju attacks have grown. The first two attacks were six months apart, but now they are coming through the breach about a week apart. And each Kaiju seems to get smarter. Jaegers are being killed off faster than they can be made. The government now feels that the Jaegers are no longer an effective weapon against the Kaiju. They have put their resources into building a Wall of Life (considered to be unbreachable by their architects) on every continent that will keep out the Kaiju. All surviving Jaegers and their pilots are to report to the Shatterdome in Hong Kong. There, under the command of Marshall Pentecost (Idris Elba), they will kill any Kaiju coming through the breach until all walls can be completed.

Marshall Pentecost doesn’t feel that the jaegers are no longer effective, being a former pilot himself. He is proved right when in Sydney, Australia a Kaiju brakes through their Wall Of Life in less than an hour and it’s only by a jaeger that the Kaiju was killed. Pentecost comes up with a daring plan to seal the breach but he needs all the jaegers he can get. He is down to four jaegers, but only has three teams of pilots. He has to recruit Raleigh Becket, since he is the only surviving Jaeger Mach 3 pilot still alive, and that’s the type of jaeger that’s missing a pilot team. It’s up to Raleigh to find a drift compatible partner in time to help with Pentecost’s plan. If the plan fails, then the rest of the people of Earth will most surely be dead within a few months.

This movie is action packed and full of alien vs. giant robot fighting. It’s PG-13 for sequences of intense Sci-Fi action and violence throughout, and brief language. There are some on-the-edge-of-your-seat intense scenes, but it’s great if you love that sort of thing. Get it on DVD.