Film Review: Pacific Rim

"Okay everyone, time to do our best slow motion bad-ass walk like we practised"

Guillermo del Toro pitches monstrous creatures against gigantic mechs in this science-fiction epic, Pacific Rim. With mind-blowing visuals, impressive sci-fi imagery and a solid understanding of what makes an audience punch the air and whoop with joy, Pacific Rim is one of the stand-out blockbusters from this year.

Take Godzilla, Transformers, Real Steel, add a dash of humour and lashings of mind-blowing visuals and what do you get? The result is Guillermo del Toro's excellent tribute to the kaiju and mecha genres, Pacific Rim.

With a set-up as kick-ass as that, Pacific Rim is the kind of film that is the coolest film ever if you were born in the year 2003; if your ten years old and you see Pacific Rim for the first time at the cinema, it'll be one of those films you'll remember for years to come.

"Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go"

This isn't to say the film is squarely aimed at ten-year-old kids; oh no, Pacific Rim has a surprising amount of heart to support the kick-ass visuals and action. The central premise of two pilots 'mind melding' with one another isn't an original concept, but it is one that allows for the characters to take centre stage.

Pacific Rim strikes a really healthy balance between visceral, gripping action and emotional, heartfelt drama. The scale of the fight scenes have to be seen to be believed; del Toro and co. have done a fantastic job in capturing the "big, beautiful, sophisticated visuals" that they envisioned for Pacific Rim. One sequence that sees Hong Kong get decimated underneath the warring Jaegers and Kaiju is brilliant. Something that I liked was that the visuals are a lot cleaner than anything you'll see in Transformers; it isn't hard to pick out what your seeing on screen when the battles start to kick-off.

Del Toro also does a fantastic job of ensuring the human characters in Pacific Rim aren't brushed aside. The majority of Pacific Rim's middle third is focused on developing the characters of Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam), Mako (Rinko Kikuchi) and Stacker (Idris Elba), each of whom are great, three-dimensional characters with more depth than you'd expect. Mako in particular is afforded a touching back-story that fleshes out her motivations nicely - it was also nice to see a female lead who can go toe to toe with her male counterparts and not be overly sexualised.

My favourite performance was Idris Elba's straight-talking officer Stacker, as he was afforded some pretty awesome lines - "Tonight, we ARE CANCELLING THE APOCALYPSE" might be cheesy, but it's a good cheese. Like parmesan. Elba had the conviction to carry off the sometimes corny and clichéd script - he gets a great 'apocalypse' speech akin to Bill Pullman's from Independence Day.

A poster for Pacific Rim

Charlie Day is another stand-out actor as excitable scientist Newton. He gets most of the laughs and isn't as irritating as his counter-part Gottlieb (Burn Gorman). Gottlieb is over-acted to the point where it isn't even funny any-more, just plain ridiculous. I mean, seriously, tone it down mate. We get it, your an erratic and zany scientist.

Max Martini and Rob Kazinsky also grate as they play an Australian father-son duo with fairly dubious accents - they might as well have walked in wearing cork hats and holding boomerangs.

In terms of pacing, Pacific Rim doesn't spend excess time fleshing out the past; the narrative launches right into the thick of the Kaiju war, several years after it began before jumping forward in time to the last days of the war. It's well paced and trots along at a steady speed before all coming together for a satisfying and climatic finale - it definitely doesn't drag and I left the cinema feeling like I could have watched 30 minutes more.

I really liked the films soundtrack and the way in which it isn't centred on the US of A; characters from Russia, China, Japan and Australia give the film an international flavour that is refreshing after most aliens seem to only attack the US, more specifically New York.

On the whole, Pacific Rim is a lot better than you would have expected. It's good-looking, it's well-acted and it's not a dumb action film with no substance. The script is fairly simplistic and doesn't throw you any curve-balls but the lack of complications is a good thing. It focuses the film on the human characters and allows for del Toro to extract lots of humanity from his impressive lead actors Hunnam, Kikuchi and Elba.

Without a doubt, Pacific Rim is one of the most enjoyable blockbusters this year, up there with Star Trek Into Darkness and Iron Man 3.

I give Pacific Rim: 8/10

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My PS3 Highlights #2: L.A. Noire

With the fourth incarnation of the PlayStation due to hit stores this holiday season, I thought it was a good time to reflect upon some of my own most cherished and memorable gaming experiences with the PlayStation 3. 

Each entry into this brand new column will give you my thoughts on some of my favourite PS3 games and the enjoyable and grabbing gaming experiences they have brought me. 

After Part #1 focused on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Part #2 is all about one of the most original titles to hit PS3, L.A. Noire. 

"Hmm, I have a hunch that this gentleman might be dead"

A combination of cover shooter mixed with adventure, LA Noire is a game completely different to anything else I've ever played. Whilst it was hit and miss at times, it did something new, original and different which is always important.

The way in which L.A. Noire immersed the player into the period setting of 1940's Los Angeles and placed them into the shoes of goody-two shoes war veteran Cole Phelps was, in my mind, done really well. Right from the off, the player is made to interact with the environment and search for clues, piecing them all together and thinking like a detective would.

I'll own up at this point and admit this; in real life, I'd make one helluva crap detective. My philosophy of 'guilty until proven innocent' and constantly playing the 'bad cop' role made the game substantially harder. The number of times I accused an innocent person of first-degree murder doesn't bear thinking about.

The game mechanics revolved around using your detective's notebook to join the dots and discern which suspect was lying, bluffing or telling the truth. It was at this point that the stunning motion capture comes in. Every character in the game has realistic facial expressions that are surpassed by nothing before or since. I'm not talking about in cut-scenes either, I mean in actual game-play. If anything, the realism is kind of disconcerting - you can see every wrinkle and crease on a person's face when they blatantly lie about being at the murder scene.

Whilst it may not be the best Rockstar game to feature in this column , L.A. Noire is a brilliant homage to the gangster/detective/film noir genre. The way in which Rockstar has stayed true to the genre and includes everything from the quintessential femme fatale to classic storyline troupes makes for a truly unforgettable gaming experience.

From Roy Earle, the bent detective who has connections with the underworld to Herschel Biggs, the grumpy and tired senior officer, L.A. Noire is a homage to classic Hollywood cinema and the characters we all recognise. Personally, I really liked Roy Earle; he might have been a complete scumbag who only looks out for himself, but he was a likeable one.

Phelps and Bekowsky arrive at the station

Whilst it wasn't perfect (like any Rockstar game, it does drag in the middle third and the cases can get slightly repetitive), what L.A. Noire does brilliantly is make the player feel like they are figuring the mystery out for themselves.

After playing through L.A. Noire and coming across clues in every nook and cranny of the game world, real-life is disappointingly dull and devoid of conspiracy.

If you haven't gotten the chance to experience L.A. Noire for yourself, I suggest you get on it. The memorable narrative (which periodically rewinds back to World War II and recounts Phelps' past in the Marines) and entertaining characters make this a defining title to have been released on Playstation 3. It might make you want to tear you hair out with frustration at times (some cases require you to make choices on who to convict and the ethical decisions you make are tough) but L.A. Noire is the kind of game that rewards player for thinking things through before they jump.


What are your thoughts on L.A. Noire? What are some of your most memorable PS3 experiences? Leave me a comment below! Next up in PS3 Highlights: Batman: Arkham City.

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Voice of Reason #14: Haters Gonna' Hate

Man of Steel may be raking the big bucks across the globe, but critics haven't been as impressed as the audience- with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 56%, Man of Steel is classed as 'rotten', as well as being outstripped by World War Z, Fast and Furious 6 and Iron Man 3. So, this week, we ask this; "Is Man of Steel getting an unfair bashing?" and "Why is this blockbuster season so filled with hate?"


With an opening weekend that broke box-office records for the month of June all over the world, Man of Steel can only be considered to be a whopping success for Warner Bros. Up there with Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness as one of the highest grossing films this year, Man of Steel has been a gigantic hit with audiences.

It has already surpassed 2006's Superman Returns (which earned a total of $391 million) and is pegged as totalling somewhere around $700-800 million overall. Not bad for a comic-book character that is 80 years old huh?

However, Man of Steel hasn't been universally appreciated by both audiences and critics alike. In fact, the critical reception has been surprisingly frosty.

The glitz and glamour of Gatsby didn't win over many critics

Many of the reviews written on Man of Steel have been less than favourable, commenting on the excess of action and over-reliance of CGI - I myself found that the final hour seemed to abandon any narrative coherence in favour of gigantic explosions and destruction.

Justin Craig from FoxNews remarked that Superman had been stripped of his "greatest assets: wit, charm, and most importantly, hope" whilst Australia's ABC Radio concluded that Man of Steel "suffers most when it degenerates into a seen-it-all before, CGI-laden action fest".

Hardly the acclaim and praise that Warner Bros. would have hoped for when launching their latest superhero behemoth - a score of 56% on Rotten Tomatoes even puts it behind Superman Returns, the film deemed bad enough to justify rebooting the franchise in the first place. This vast divide between critical and audience opinion left me wondering; how come there is so much hate surrounding some of this years' summer blockbusters?

Man of Steel isn't alone when it comes to dividing opinions. Other big-sellers like Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby have raked in the big-bucks whilst being slammed by critics.

The same can be said about last week's big release, The Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp. Whilst the film has under-performed at the box-office, I found that it was nowhere near as goddamn awful as Rotten Tomatoes had me believe.

It was silly, it was over-the-top and it was goofy but that's the films big selling-point. It basked in tongue-in-cheek humour and didn't pretend to be anything other than an entertaining summer thrill-ride, something which critics need to realise doesn't constitute a scathing review.

The Lone Ranger is set to make a loss
at the box-office despite being
a lot of fun

Yes, we've all seen Johnny Depp put on a silly hat and make a funny face a thousand times, but does that mean The Lone Ranger is a complete disaster? Many critics would reply "Yes" but to that I say this; "Haters gonna' hate".

It won't win any awards for film-making, but The Lone Ranger was perfectly acceptable at being what it was; family-friendly, silly and most importantly unashamedly fun.

The same can be said about Man of Steel; it coated the final third in action and explosions because that is what audiences wanted to see. They wanted to awe at Superman laying into Zod through the magical wizardry that is CGI and experience pure cinematic escapism for an evening. Is that not good enough for critics anymore?

This trend that films must now be something more than 'just a bit of fun' can be interpreted many different ways and is probably not going to go away anytime soon (in my mind it has something to do with what I am now calling 'the Dark Knight effect'). There will always be haters' who hate on films for trying to please as wide an audience as possible. Just don't let them put you off enjoying something you enjoyed. At the end of the day, it's only their opinion.

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Film Review: The Lone Ranger

Tonto was becoming increasingly jealous of
the Lone Ranger's cool mask

Starring Armie Hammer and Johnny 'Jack Sparrow' Depp as vigilante duo The Lone Ranger and Tonto, this latest Disney action-adventure flick is a fun, energetic and zany Western that all ages can appreciate from director Gore Verbinski.

After adapting roller-coasters (Pirates of the Caribbean) and video games (Prince of Persia) into films with  varying degrees of success, Disney and Jerry Bruckenheimer have looked to something a little more conventional by working on a big-screen outing for The Lone Ranger.

Good guys never look back at explosions

Based upon a long running radio-serial from the 1930's that spawned thousands of episodes, a television series as well as tons of novels and cartoons, The Lone Ranger is a cultural icon that has come to define the Western genre to many. And whilst this latest family-friendly action adventure flick won't come to be considered a classic in years to come, it most certainly isn't the unmitigated disaster that many critics make it out to seem.

First off, let's talk about the cast. I quite liked Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger; his development from naive city-boy to gritty vigilante might have been ill-paced, but he wasn't an unlikeable lead. He's funny, affable and able to convincingly carry off the action sequences.

Meanwhile, Johnny Depp is in back in Jack Sparrow mode as Native American accomplice, Tonto. The lead duo continually bounce quips and jokes off of one another in a light and genuinely funny script. The majority of the jokes come from Depp and his punctuated delivery, as well as his vast array of funny faces that audiences know and love. You could go as far as to say he steals the show a little.

There's also a lot of sight gags involving The Lone Ranger's horse, Silver. It's clean, kiddy-friendly fun that should entertain teens and adults alike. The action set-pieces, from silver mines to locomotives, are as elaborate and over-the-top as you would expect from the people behind Pirates of the Caribbean.

One particular sequence in which Tonto uses a ladder to step from one train to another whilst speeding through the mountains will have critics snorting in derision at the ridiculousness of it all, but if you suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride, The Lone Ranger is a whole lot of fun and will have you in stitches along the way.

The film's weak-point is the excessive runtime. At two and a half hours, The Lone Ranger is a very long film and it needn't be. It does take a long, long time for Armie Hammer to don the black mask and for the William Tell Overture to kick in. Before all of that, the plot tries to squeeze in as many characters and side-motives as possible, leaving it feeling kind of bloated. The film would have worked better had the script been tighter, with some of the excess shaved off in order to stick to a stricter runtime.

For example, the 'legend of the Lone Ranger' was told through Tonto telling the story to a young child in 1933; everything that happens from then on is a flashback. Whilst it was a nice touch, it added time to the film and could have been cut for the sake of simplicity.

Also, there are something like three or four 'baddies', including William Fitchner's malicious Butch Cavendish and Tom Wilkinson's scheming tycoon Latham Cole. One or two would have done the trick as the plot starts to suffer from the same over-complexity that Pirates 2 and 3 didn't need.

On the whole, The Lone Ranger doesn't deserve the drubbing it is receiving from many critics and is worth a shot if you are looking for some zany escapism this weekend. It suffers from a long-run time and an excess of villainy, but other than that, it is a genuinely funny and silly Western that should appeal to all ages.

I give The Lone Ranger: 7/10

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We're now on Facebook!

Yep, you read that right, your new favourite film, TV and music blog has just gone and set-up a Facebook page. I know, it really is cutting-edge and simply proves how ahead of the game this blog is.

If you haven't already, feel free to head on over and like the page in order to receive receive updates on new posts and other random stuff that tickles my fancy.

If you don't want to then whatever man, that's totally your decision dude. Like, peace and love man.

Ew, that last paragraph made me sick in my mouth a little.

So yeah, Facebook page; like it and stuff.

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Voice of Reason #13: Crafting the Justice League

Zach Snyder's Man of Steel

The release of Man of Steel (and its huge box-office success) has left movie lovers and aficionados all pondering one thing; is this the start of something bigger and greater? Are DC about to 'do a Marvel' and get all of their heroes onto the same page?

I do of course refer to the much discussed Justice League of America movie. Long-rumoured, never confirmed, Justice League would bring together some of the biggest names from the DC Comics roster; Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, as well as many others.

Christian Bale has recently confirmed he
won't be donning the cape and cowl for a potential
Justice League movie

Effectively, a JLA movie would be the DC equivalent of last years bombastic blockbuster The Avengers. Not too much of a gamble then.

Despite already having written a post on this last September, the recent release of Man of Steel has meant the topic is once again being widely talked about in the press.

Many fans saw Zach Snyder's reinvisioned version of Superman to be the launch pad from which a Justice League movie could be crafted, much as Marvel did when they kicked off their interlinked Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008's Iron Man.

Thing is though, it kind of hasn't achieved that. Man of Steel didn't do a very great job of setting the scene in the way that Marvel had. Whilst a lot of internet forums and sites have been frothing at the mouth at the sight of a supposed Wayne Enterprises logo and such, this kind of throwaway reference or 'Easter Egg' isn't exactly the kind of thing that kick-starts a whole interlinked franchise of Justice League characters.

It just seems like a weak attempt to get people talking about a potential JLA movie. Throwing in little logo here or a 'wink wink nudge nudge' there doesn't cut the mustard. What the movie needed was something explicit, something obvious that said "look, we're doing it, Justice League is on its way!". Man of Steel had nothing like that. There was no mention of the Dark Knight trilogy, the Green Lantern movie or any post-credits teaser for something else entirely.

Nothing, naught, nada. Just some 'blink and you'll miss it' Easter Egg that is most likely Zack Snyder trying to mess with our heads.

The way I see it, Man of Steel is either a stand-alone Superman adventure that doesn't exist within a wider universe or DC are going to have to hold off on JLA and release a sequel to Man of Steel that does a better job at setting the scene for other characters like Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

This means we probably won't be seeing a Justice League movie for a long, long time yet. I read a story recently that said Warner Bros planned to rush Man of Steel 2 into production and release it as early as 2014 but that seems too soon to me.

Man of Steel took a whole 3 years to put together so a 12-month turnaround for a sequel seems overly ambitious to say the least.

That isn't the only problem that DC are going to have to overcome if they want to launch a JLA franchise that rivals The Avengers.

2011's Green Lantern

News broke the other day that Christian Bale (who played Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy) has decided he definitely will not be returning to play Batman again in a potential JLA movie.

So, what does this mean?

It means DC either have to recast Batman or reboot him. Yep, again. With The Dark Knight Rises having only wrapped up last year, audiences aren't exactly clamouring for another feature length film featuring the World's Greatest Detective. Likewise, Green Lantern (which tanked in 2011) has such an in-depth and specific back-story, surely he also needs a satisfactory reboot/re-imagining?

In addition to that, The Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman aren't exactly characters that can be shoehorned into a JLA movie for their first appearance. DC are going to have to take the time to craft each origin story separately and link them together.

At the end of the day, DC have got their work cut out if they want to bring Justice League to the big screen. Man of Steel hasn't changed that one jot; in my mind, they're still as far away from producing a successful big-screen outing for JLA as they were this time last year. Don't hold your breath people; I don't reckon we'll be seeing the Justice League all line-up alongside each other this side of 2018-19.

In the meantime, Marvel continue to romp home with each and every film in their ever growing MCU bagging the big bucks. Iron Man 3 has already blasted past the $1.2 billion mark and Thor: The Dark World is set to hit screens this November with Captain America: The Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy hitting screens in 2014.

Whilst it might frustrate many fans out there, it's pretty obvious that if DC want to get on the same level as Marvel right now, they're going to have to play the long game.

What do you guys reckon? How should DC go about making a Justice League movie? Do you think Man of Steel did a good enough job of setting it up?

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Feature: Casting Lara Croft (Tomb Raider Reboot)

2013's Tomb Raider reboot

Ever since Square Enix released their reboot of the Tomb Raider game franchise in March to widespread critical acclaim, speculation has been building as to whether this would lead to a new film franchise; critics and fans alike were big fans of the gritty realism Lara Croft's latest console adventure offered and so talk of film that reboots her silver screen likeness has built in recent months.

With news was preliminary work on a new Tomb Raider reboot was already in progress, the big question now is this; who should take up the tomb raiding duties from Angelina Jolie? Well, here's a quick short-list of actresses who I think could take on the role...

Camilla Luddington

Known for: Playing Kate Middleton in a TV-movie on Wills and Kate

She's been there, done that, got the t-shirt

She may not have many film credits to her name (she's best known for her multiple TV roles in Grey's Anatomy, True Blood and Californication), but she has more experience with playing Lara Croft that anyone else you'll find on this list; Ms. Luddington lent her crisp English accent to Lara in the very same video game that has inspired movie execs at MGM to think about making a film.

One of the games greatest strengths was the impressive voice acting, so let's face it, Ms. Luddington is already halfway there.Not only that but she looks the part; she could pull of Lara Croft fairly easily I reckon. 

The only question mark whether she could pull it off throughout an entire feature film rather than standing behind a microphone for a game.

Gemma Arterton 

Known for: Getting all oiled up as Agent Fields in Quantum of Solace

After her supporting roles in varying degrees of crap like Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Clash of the Titans and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Gemma Arterton seriously needs to fire her agent and get herself a seriously meaty lead role along the lines of Lara Croft.

She's been getting some good reviews for her acting in Byzantium (she plays a sexy vampire), so a role that mixes this emerging acting prowess with her proven arse-kicking skills could be the trigger that launches her into the Hollywood A-list.

She ticks many of the boxes required to play Lara Croft. Firstly (and probably most importantly), she's English and has the posh accent to match. She also looks the part to boot. What's not to love? Well, at 27 she might be a touch to old for a younger, more innocent take on Lara Croft. 

Emma Watson

Known for: Witching it up in Harry Potter

This might be wishful thinking on my part, but think about it; Emma Watson would suit Tomb Raider pretty well.

Not only is she a household name that would sell the new movie on her name alone, she's also often voted high in "Sexiest Woman Alive" polls and she's got the acting chops to pull off the 'vulnerable, innocent' character from the new game. Just check out her role as Sam in The Perks of Being A Wallflower if you need any convincing.

Whether Ms. Watson is interested in taking on another mega-franchise is another question entirely - she's been laying low since Potter wrapped up in 2011.

Since graduating from the Hogwarts School of Withcraft and Wizardry, Watson has starred in lower-key, more indie productions that aren't action or CG heavy so taking on a potentially big franchise might not be the direction she wants to head.

Regardless, I still think she'd be fantastic as Lara Croft; please MGM, make this happen.

Hayley Atwell

Known for: Representing Great Britain in Marvel's Uncle Sam 'fest, Captain America.

Much like the lovely ladies discussed above, Hayley Atwell is the kind of actress who would fit into the role of Lara Croft without much trouble.

After playing the prim and proper (but kind of sassy) Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avengers, Atwell has been on many people's minds as taking the role of Lara Croft to the big screen once again.

She's got the face, the voice, the acting credentials. She's also little known which would please movie executives who are looking for an actress who isn't a bigger name than Lara Croft is herself. At 31 however, she might be a touch too old for an origin story. Lara in the game is 17-18 so it might be a little bit of a stretch of the imagination.

With a schedule that is looking pretty empty once her role in Captain America: The Winter Solider wraps up, bagging an iconic role such as this would pretty much shoot Atwell into the stratosphere of Hollywood. Look what it did for Angelina Jolie...

Anna Kendrick

Known for: Being good at singing in Pitch Perfect and playing Stacey in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

The first non-British gal on this here list, Anna Kendrick is starting to make a name for herself with some big roles in the last year or so.

In 2012, she pretty much took off; from taking centre stage in the surprisingly well-received Pitch Perfect to a supporting role in What to Expect When Your Expecting and lending her voice to the kooky animation that was ParaNorman, Kendrick is practically something of a household name. 

A good pick for Lara Croft then? Sure, why not. She's an emerging up-and-comer that might fit the role reasonably well.

There are few little niggles; I mean, she's American so putting on a convincing British accent could be a challenge (I mean, Jolie's was a little shabby to start off with) and she's also, much like Atwell and Arterton, in her late-twenties to early-thirties.

Ideally, MGM are going to be looking for an actress who can look the part of an late-teens Lara Croft. Kendrick might be making a name for herself, but there might be better options out there.

Yvonne Strahovski 

Known for: having that gravity defying arse in Mass Effect 2 and 3. Alright, it's not her arse, she's a character in a video game but whatever. Oh, and playing that chick in Chuck.

Okay so this one might be a bit of a long-shot but I reckon she'd be a good pick. She's a good actress who isn't adverse to putting on an accent or two (she's Australian in real-life) and has the good-looks to be Lara Croft.

Yes, she's too old to play an origin story but I can overlook that little niggle if it means we get a decent Tomb Raider film fronted by an attractive and talented gal like Yvonne.

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