Besides how can you accuse me of lacking imagination when your argument seems to be “Do it like these guys did it!” That’s not imaginative, that’s copy cat shit.
I never said the movie was perfect, I dunno why they are fighting them one at a time aside from it making for a more interesting fight. Maybe they only have so many Jaegers up and running at one time, I’m sure repairs take more then a month. No one wants to watch a curb stomp, least I don’t, and I dunno about you, but I don’t really want it to devolve into a Michael Bay overblown effects orgasm where shit just explodes non stop with little rhyme or reason, dudes doing karate kicks in shit that logically shouldn’t be able to. After the shitty transformers movies it was nice to have something a bit more down to earth.
I dunno man, I liked it. I liked that it was on the more realistic side, I liked that the robots aren’t doing shit that defies the laws of physics (From a reasonable perspective), I like the two pilots thing, and the drifting, I think a lot of this, where the action is concerned comes down to a difference in expectations. You seemed to be expecting GoGaiGar. I was expecting something more like Eva and Gunbuster.
Um, no, that’s silly. A-Team was also “this sort of movie.” Sahara was also “this sort of movie.” Hell even GI Joe to a lesser extent was “this sort of movie.” All three did “this sort of movie” way better.
When I watched Pacific Rim, I expected “this sort of movie”; inherently super cornball and silly but fully self-aware and fun. I got a fraction of what I expected. Stop using the “people who don’t like it just don’t get it” defense; that’s what Sonic '06 fanboys did, for comparison. And people who argue in favor of Stein’s Gate. And hell I’m pretty sure there are hardcore Superman 64 fans who argue the game was a masterpiece, but “misunderstood.”
You like a shitty movie. Hey, that’s fine: I like Dynasty Warriors Gundam, and it’s shitty too. Hell I was entertained by Pacific Rim, a shitty movie. Stop being defensive over someone saying the movie’s shitty.
For me the vibe I got from the mechs were ala The Big O. You can tell they were bulky heavy weapons designed to be slow but strong. Like wearing a suit of armor from medieval times and there’s nothing wrong with that. By the same token could they have (in the course of the story) have developed them to be lighter more agile like say a gundam. After all the monsters coming through showed that their adaptability is what allowed them to beat the Jeagers.
The easy way to answer many of SoVi3t’s questions are “If they did X then you wouldn’t have a movie. Much more one to criticizes.”
Flawed as it was I loved it but I believe they can push things further. Sym Bionic Titan is I feel a great show that balanced mech vs monster fights that are similar to PR. Show like this movie had giant monsters causing chaos, the heroes must merge into a giant mech and have their minds link and use teamwork to fight. The Mech once combined is where I would like them to go with things:
it’s big it can fight in a variety of ways (punches/kicks/weapons). I think this is where they could go with PR2 to make the fights feels exciting without going one extreme or the other. Maybe I wouldn’t want them too agile but I think this is a good base to start on personally.
…You realize Gundam pretty much created the “Real Robot” genre, right? Where mecha are treated as vehicular weapons of war rather than giant metal superheroes? Sure, it goes back into its Super roots at times when more powerful Newtype stuff shows up, and other shows like VOTOMS took the Real concept further, but Gundam is not even close to being a Super Robot show. Except for G. Of four shows you listed, the first two are Real, while the latter two are Super. Pacific Rim and Eva are around the middle, in that they’re essentially Super Robot shows thematically, but the mecha are still treated as military hardware.
Outside of that, I think Sovi3t has some fair criticisms about the movie. It personally didn’t hamper my enjoyment of it, but I did find myself wondering why the Jaegers didn’t have more built-in weapons and use the ones it did have more frequently. It would be great if those where addressed for the sequel. That, and give the Jaegers some more mobility, dammit.
EDIT: How is Gunbuster even remotely close to being realistic?
Objectively, PR wasn’t a shitty movie. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t shitty.
Why? Because yes there were plotholes and yes some of the acting and what have you was subpar, but it more than makes up for it in other departments that are frankly more important for this kind of movie. From special effects, to impact, to direction, the colors, the excitement, the universe created - it all just came together. So looking at @Specs examples, I think the difference is - the strengths of this movie are what people interested in this kind of movie liked, while some of the things the more…general portion of the population would like were average/mediocre. No matter what angle you look at it Superman 64 was bad all around with no redeeming qualities. But I could play ‘Ballz’ or Clayfighter on SNES and the special effects and looks for its time were good, and it was fun…despite not being ‘Street fighter’. Average gamer would call them crap, but as someone into fighting games, the elements I’d care about were pretty good. It’s a little different being shit through and through.
Yea but Gundam dropped the charade of being real robot in it’s first outing. They still trat them like Military hardware, but they still went forward with them doing shit that is far out of bounds for reality. I mentioned Gunbuster cuz training to use the mech was a really big focus of the show, while in Super Robot that tends to be something that doesn’t matter, passion and desire are all you need, that’s not exactly true for Gunbuster. Yea passion and desire where a key element but training was still a big part of the show. Eva is a deconstruction of Super Robot. They take the themes and designs of Super Robot and treat them in a hyper realistic manner.
VOTOMS did take real robot farther agreed. VOTOMS was pretty good to, should watch that again.
The first show still has more conspicuous Super Robot elements because the Real Robot genre as we know it hadn’t been created yet. You don’t offshoot off of a genre by going full throttle different right out of the gate. Although, that’s what Tomino wanted to do anyway, but got vetoed by toy companies, nothing you can do about that. Even so, in 0079 and going forward, the Mobile Suits aren’t really doing anything that’s out of the bounds of general space science fiction. They aren’t doing stuff like spontaneously growing new weapons out of nowhere. Fuel supply and ammo conservation are real concerns, and especially in UC, they do bother explaining most of the tech. You don’t get utterly implausible events unless a significantly powerful Newtype (or equivalent) is involved, and those events are incredibly rare and treated like the awe- and fear-inspiring actions they would be in real life. In a Super Robot series, everyone would be doing it. Even if you do want to be more grounded, there’s the OVAs like War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team.
If you’re looking for training sequences for Gundam to be “realistic,” see how many protagonists utterly suck when first piloting a Gundam. The ones that don’t were already career soldiers prior to the series start.
I’m just saying, just because people had to train to use the Gunbuster doesn’t make it any less of a Super Robot show, or even that much more realistic. Even Koji Kabuto–THE Super Robot pilot–had to spend a few episodes learning how to competently operate Mazinger.
I loved the first half of 08th MS Team, and then when the Romeo and Juliet plot kicked in it kind of deflated the sails a bit. Still liked it overall though. All hail the Gouf Custom.
I liked all of 08th, it’s my favorite one. I even really like the Romeo/Juliet plot. Really like the escalation in that show. Gouf Custom is pretty bad ass.