Get Ready for PACIFIC RIM!

Warner Bros. are bracing themselves for the upcoming July 11 release of the Guillermo Del Toro directed robots-versus-monsters movie: PACIFIC RIM. Anticipated and forseen to be one of the gigantic movies this year, PACIFIC RIM hopes to attract the fans of big destructive monster flicks like Godzilla, and fans of flashy robot movies like the Transformers movies, as well as fans of mecha-sci-fi, and mecha anime, from the classic mecha anime of the 1970's Voltes V and Daimos, to the recent Gundam generations. [read the full article after the jump]

And what sets Pacific Rim apart from eye-candy heavy movies like the Transformers movies, is the hand of visionary film director Guillermo Del Toro who is well-known for immortal fantasy and horror films such as The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, as well as Blade 2 and the Hellboy movies. The movie promises to deliver what may be described as big fighting robot movies done properly.

THE STORY
The film is set in the near future, when giant monsters identified as "Kaiju" have risen from a portal in a crevasse beneath the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a war which takes millions of lives and quickly consumes humanity's resources. To combat the monsters, a special type of weapon is designed: massive robots, known as Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But as the war continues, even the Jaegers struggle to win the war against a relentless enemy. Against all odds, the remaining forces of mankind make a final stand.

The story was written by Travis Beacham, while Del Toro was a co-writer. The cast includes Son of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, Luther star Idris Elba (who is also best known for playing Heimdall in Thor and the upcoming Thor: Dark World), Academy Award nominee (for her role in Babel) Rinko Kikuchi, and the Hellboy actor himself Ron Perlman.

THE PRODUCTION
Del Toro wanted to "honor" the kaiju and mecha genres while creating an original stand-alone film, something "conscious of the heritage, but not a pastiche or an homage or a greatest hits of everything". The director made a point of starting from scratch, without emulating or referencing any previous examples of those genres. He cautioned his designers not to turn to films like Gamera, Godzilla, or The War of the Gargantuas for inspiration, stating: "I didn't want to be postmodern, or referential, or just belong to a genre. I really wanted to create something new, something madly in love with those things. I tried to bring epic beauty to it, and drama and operatic grandeur." Rather than popular culture, he drew inspiration from works of art such as Francisco Goya's The Colossus and George Bellows's boxing paintings. The film's designers include Wayne Barlowe, Oscar Chichoni, monster sculptors David Meng and Simon Lee, and Hellboy II and The Hobbit designer Francisco Ruiz Velasco.

One of the viral (promotional) images for the movie features a news headline wherein a Kaiju excrement has "contaminated the city of Manila in the Philippines.." Wrong Spelling, Del Toro!

Industrial Light and Magic was chosen to create the visual effects for Pacific Rim. Del Toro hired Oscar winners John Knoll and Hal T. Hickel, both known for their work on the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Legacy Effects was hired to do the special and practical effects on the film. Shane Mahan, known for creating the armoured suits for Iron Man, was hired on as effects supervisor. John Rosengrant was also brought in for his work on Real Steel. Oscar winner Clay Pinney, known for his work on Independence Day and Star Trek, was also brought on board.

Del Toro conceived the film as an operatic work: "That was one of the first words I said to the entire team at ILM. I said, 'This movie needs to be theatrical, operatic, romantic.' words not usually associated with high-tech enormous blockbusters.

RELEASE
The film received positive early reviews. Looper director Rian Johnson praised the film saying "Go into Pacific Rim prepared to be transmogrified into a 12 year old. And then to pee your pants with joy. I love it so much."

PACIFIC RIM is set for a July 12, 2013 release in the US. Here in the Philippines, it arrives July 11, 2013 Thursday. See you at the theaters!