It was in ITV2 last night. And we got half way through.
I had this notion that it was a Good Thing; not quite sure why, but that was the fannish vibe I had gotten. (I also got Good Thing vibe re. Guardians of the Galaxy, and found *that* unwatchable, although for different reasons.) Anyway, I should backtrack a little...
When we went to see Black Panther one of the trailers was puzzling. It looked vaguely Transformer-y, had a young & nicely diverse cast - and seemed to be about giant robots punching monsters in the face. It wasn't until the final titles flashed up that I discovered it was for Pacific Rim 2.
Somehow no one had ever mentioned that Pacific Rim was about giant robots punching monsters in the face... Generally if a movie is dumb, but awesome, I pick up on it and set my expectations accordingly. Ah well. I don't know that it would have made a difference.
( Skip this if you loved the movie! )Don't get me wrong, there is nothing WRONG with giant robots, especially since Darcy then discovered a movie called Robot Jox from 1989, from which Pacific Rim clearly has taken most of it's cues/ideas (just adding Godzilla). The film's plot follows Achilles, one of the "robot jox" who pilot giant machines that fight international battles to settle territorial disputes in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world.
JUST LOOK AT THIS SEQUENCE (and see how the Pacific Rim robots are
literally lifted wholesale). Bonus, this movie's hero has a memorable name, and I already care about his world:
(WHY DOES EVERYONE STILL LIVE IN THOSE CITIES IN PACIFIC RIM??!??? WHY DO THEY ALL RUN AROUND PANICKING, WHY ARE THERE NOT PROCEDURES IN PLACE??? WHY- ok, I'll stop. There are no answers beyond 'robots punching monsters in the face'.)