There's a lot of big hitters arriving in theaters next summer; "Iron Man 3," "Man Of Steel," "The Lone Ranger," "Star Trek Into Darkness," "The Great Gatsby," "The Wolverine," "Elysium." But if you'd asked us this morning what our most anticipated film of the warm months of 2013 was going to be, we wouldn't have even had to think before we answered "Pacific Rim." For the most part, it's because it's the first film in five years from director Guillermo Del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth"). Although that it features giant robots and giant monsters kicking the holy living shit out of each other, and that it has a very strong script to be working from are other good reasons why we're excited (and why Warner Bros have already commissioned a script for a sequel).
But as an original film, not based on any existing property, and featuring a cast of mostly under-the-radar actors including Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuichi, Idris Elba and Charlie Day, it's mostly an unknown quantity to the general public. But that's all about to change, as a trailer for Warner Bros' movie, which will screen in front of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" this weekend, just came online.
And… we have to confess, we're just a touch underwhelmed. Del Toro's eye is in good evidence, the scope and scale of the thing is clearly huge, and it's hard to dislike something where Stringer Bell announces he's cancelling the apocalypse. But in trailer form at least, it all feels a little bit… (whisper it) SyFy Channel? Particularly when it comes down to the effects, which feel like they're still in early form. That said, they have eight months to sort them out, and we're certainly maintaining the faith on this one for a while.
You can watch the trailer below, and let us know what you think in the comments section. "Pacific Rim" will open on July 11th, 2013.
The trail does scream "generic summer blockbuster flick".
Del Toro's name does not. Thus, people will remain optimistic.
The irony of putting down the medium of film with repeated put downs of the medium of comic books is amusingly annoying.
Why point out Hollywood's ignorance with ignorant comments?
The biting of Inception's theme has to stop. Ditto for the quick fade outs as not to show too much.
All that said, it's just a trailer. No true way of knowing how good the film will be.
The effects look like the SyFy Channel? I would disagree with that. The whole thing looks really badass and awesome. Yeah, there's no plot presented here but as spectacle it looks like it will hit the mark.
Oh pleaseeeeeee, spare me.
robot jox
Reminds me of all the battle scenes with the huge creatures in the B.P.R.D. comics by Mignola, Arcudi and Davis. It really has a Mignola/Lovecraft-on steroids feel to it, which I like.
Too bad the designs are kinda lame. Humanoid monsters with cliche dinosaur-roars versus Transformers. I was hoping it would all look a bit more original. Hopefully they will fix the CGI, because this is very shabby.
I can't believe this was the reason why Del Toro couldn't direct the Hobbit…
It seems very derivative
And people were jizzing themselves over this before the trailer even appeared while trashing Man Of Steel. At least the Superman trailer looked different both in tone and mood. If GDT name didn't appear at the end I could have mistaken it with a Michael Bay film. What's original about that?
Those rockets firing behind the mecha's elbow to propel the punch into the monster's face? Fucking awesome.
So far it doesn't look like del Toro's giving the usual robot – apocalyptic storyline the same weirdly imaginative twists he gave Alice w/ Pain's Labyrinth. But its just a trailer.
Those can't be the locked VFX, right? Why release a trailer this early for an FX laden film if the FX aren't up to snuff? Weird.
no
what a cool soundtrack for that trailer. truly original.
Isn't this just Evangelion?
A Mighty Morphing Power Rangers sequel….? who knew…
Raimi, Del Toro, Brad Bird, Nolan, Fincher (if he does Star Wars), and that's just for starters…..men in their artistic prime reduced to playing with $200 million action figures and ROARING and STOMPING like the club of sell-out simps they have become. Whatever gets the supermodels and keys to China. The only "tentpole" director doing it right is Blomkamp.
Blame the rise of Snyder and Legendary. This prolonged, pathetic era in Hollywood-gone-Globalism too shall pass. (We'll all be dead.) What's really lame is how big a PASS these directors are given by so-called critics and culture writers. Thankfully…we still have Tarantino to remind us, "Slavery, BAD!" "Nazis, BAD!"
Dear THE PLAYLIST,
Can I please make a suggestion to both you and your readers? … Oh, I can!? Nice. Ok, so let's see here… *ahem* Would you all kindly donate your eyeballs to blind people so that they can put them to good use. If this is the type of stuff that SyFy has been producing in the past couple of years, well then "Holy Shit! I need to order me some cable."
Thank you kindly,
A concerned reader
Seriously though the line between the trailer for Battleship and this trailer is so thin it's almost nonexistent. If Del Toro's name wasn't attached nobody would even give this a second glance.
Please no more robots.
Gotta agree with my bud Rob below. Looks like Transformers on drugs (wtf?!) and why oh WHY must every action film since Inception contain the BRAAAAAM sound in its trailer? BE ORIGINAL PEOPLE!
Good lord this looks stupid
I remember seeing a Playlist's reader comment on how refreshing that the new Superman trailer really worked because it had operatic and dramatic music and didn't include the Inception-esque BHWAAANNN!!! And now this…
GDT does Transformers. I'll skip it.
Looks dumb. That is all.
Cant really believe the last trailers i saw. "After Earth; Oblivion and Pacific Rim ".
Whats happening with Shymalan and Del Toro ? Bad CGI, bad stories, bad taste. No heart, no passion.
holy shit was that GLaDOS in the intercom.