So, as everybody already knows, Pacific Rim is awesome. If you haven't seen it, you should go and do so.

Seriously, guys, this movie is like the good twin to Avatar's evil twin. Whereas Dances With Pocahontas Smurfs in Space Avatar was composed entirely of clichés and sucked so badly that my family came thiiis close to walking out of the theater*, Pacific Rim is composed at least 50% of clichés as a loving homage to action/monster movies, and is fun and entertaining.


Okay, I admit, I did give in to the impulse to nitpick details in a couple places ("Why is there ambient light in this scene - this is supposed to be a mid-oceanic ridge, which means that it's over two miles underwater!" and "What do you mean, that [spoiler] is falling from 50,000 feet up? You can see the curve of the earth and the sky overhead is black - that doesn't happen until at least 80,000 to 90,000 feet! 50,000 isn't even above the Armstrong line!" and "Why is [spoiler] cradling [spoiler]'s body to their chest instead of performing CPR? CPR would be a lot more useful in this situation.") but high altitude flight and the deep-ocean abyss are two specific topics I have a ridiculous amount of fangirl knowledge of. Really, though, when giant robots are fighting Godzilla-monsters, do tiny geeky details like that even matter?

Giant robots were fighting Godzilla-monsters. I submit that no, they do not.

I only have one actual real complaint: Where was my goddamn same-gender-but-not-blood-relatives Jaeger team? The other fan we saw the movie with had been spoiled by fandom-at-large and swore (in response to [personal profile] seanchai's "I heard that the soulbonds aren't worth getting excited about because all the robot teams are relatives or het couples") that we'd get a non-heteronormative drift couple eventually, and I mistakenly assumed that meant a Jaeger team I would be able to pretend to myself was a slash or femslash pairing (not even one that was actually a queer couple - just one that was two non-related people of the same gender that audience members would presumably be intended to see as platonic friends and that I could pretend to myself were a same-sex couple), and there was none - and I'm actually kind of surprised to find myself still resenting that, when I otherwise enjoyed the movie so much. I kind of wish I'd been told, "No, sorry. [personal profile] seanchai sadly heard right. Heteronormative Jaeger teams only," because I went in expecting to get fighter-pilot-equivalents to identify with and then was angrily disappointed at the lack-thereof. The scientists were cute, and I totally shipped them and squeed when they drifted, but they don't at any point pilot a giant robot together, so they couldn't really satisfy me. I liked all the background-character teams that showed up, especially the Russian het couple with the hilarious bleach jobs, whose Jaeger I have mentally dubbed "Titanium Dynamo" because I can't remember its actual name. But I would have liked even more to have at least one Jaeger pilot team that I could pretend was gay/lesbian and imagine myself in. (I know it makes me the bad kind of fangirl, but as awesome as it was to have a female action hero lead, a female pilot in an opposite-sex drift team doesn't provide that for me the way a same-sex-and-not-relatives Jaeger team of either gender showing up would have).

Time to go read Hamletmachine's Starfighter again even though I kind of hate the way the lead characters' relationship starts.



*Only Ace Ventura: Pet Detective II has ever actually achieved "and then we all literally got up and left", but if we hadn't paid expensive non-matinee prices to see "the military is evil, evil I tell you, eeeeeeeevil, and what these blue people need is a white dude," Avatar would have become the second movie to be awarded that dubious honor.
muccamukk: Misty and Colleen lying on a beach at sunset. Text: "...happily ever after. The end." (Marvel: Happily Ever After)

From: [personal profile] muccamukk


Nenya says that in the comics that Stacker's big sister piloted with her same sex partner, who may have been gay, haven't laid hands on that comic yet. Keeps being sold out.

I really wanted more scenes from earlier in the war with lots of robots fighting together.
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

From: [personal profile] liviapenn


Not exactly ... Pentecost's sister was a fighter pilot, killed trying to bring down a kaiju. Then her friend Tamsin (also a fighter pilot, who survived the battle) becomes Pentecost's partner piloting a Jaeger. He describes their relationship by saying "Tamsin was family to me." We don't get any canon on her sexuality.
Edited Date: 2013-07-28 10:50 am (UTC)
muccamukk: Sinbad looks up with an innocent and concerned expression (Sinbad: Puppy Eyes)

From: [personal profile] muccamukk


Okay. I got "Inspired by sister who was pilot" and assumed there was a Jaeger in there somewhere. It would be odd drifting with your sister's lover (would also be odd drifting with your parents, as my parents having sex is something I'm aware happens and I'm happy for them, but I don't want first hand knowledge, thank you).
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

From: [personal profile] liviapenn



Yeah, also... the comic is so relentlessly heterocentric that just the fact that Tamsin is a fighter pilot with short hair and is not *canonically* in some kind of romantic drama with a dude, is enough for me to say "probably a lesbian."

Although, really, now that I think about it, we never get any canon (in the comic or the movie) on *Stacker's* sexuality either.
muccamukk: Joe in front of Notre Dame Cathedral (HL: Joe in Paris)

From: [personal profile] muccamukk


I don't think that ANYONE other than the Russian couple had an actual romantic relationship with anyone else in the movie, so they're all open, as far as I can tell.

Annoying that the comic is heteronormative, but still want to get it.
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

From: [personal profile] liviapenn


Actually, even the Russians aren't ever specifically said to be a het couple. The actor dude said they were married in an interview, but no one ever says specifically in the movie. So they *could* be brother & sister. I mean, they're kinda physically affectionate, but then, they have spent a lot of time in each others' heads.

(ETA: Also, Tendo mentioned dating a woman, so he's either straight or bi, and presumably also Herc had a relationship with Chuck's mom at some point, but you're right, everyone else is open.)
Edited Date: 2013-07-29 03:20 am (UTC)
muccamukk: Wanda walking away, surrounded by towering black trees, her red cloak bright. (Last Night: Smile)

From: [personal profile] muccamukk


I saw in some extra material like character sheets or something that the Russians were married, but again not mentioned in the movie. I liked that she was the lead pilot.

Oh, right. Forgot about Tendo. I don't think, in this day and age, that having a kid indicates much one way or another for Herc, plus I ship him with Stacker.
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

From: [personal profile] liviapenn



Who doesn't ship the hot dads :D

...although I just realized how INCREDIBLY SAD that makes it when Herc sends BOTH of them off on a suicide mission at the end of the movie... *bawww*
muccamukk: Zoe looking very sad. (Firefly: Sad)

From: [personal profile] muccamukk


Yeah. It really, really sucks to be Herc (regardless of who he's sleeping with) at the end of that movie. Oh, yeah, saved the world, but everyone I love is dead.
velithya: (sensei - aishite imasu [Mako])

From: [personal profile] velithya

THIS COMMENT WAS ALWAYS ON DW


I ALSO HAD THE "WHY AREN'T YOU DOING CPR?!!!" RESPONSE AT THAT POINT, YES

The Russian Jaeger's name was CHERNO ALPHA which is an awesome name even if the Jaeger looked kind of silly (imo anyway).

I am hoping that in the sequel (CROSS FINGERS) we might get some more variety in Jaeger teams? I mean, I can meta away the relatives thing as having better physical and mental compatibility for the Drift but I can totally see what you mean about what you wanted.

Mostly I am just stupidly happy about PLATONIC LIFE BROS
.

Profile

elspethdixon: (Default)
elspethdixon

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags