Disclaimer: This post is not about a dreary all inclusive chick flick dripping with feelings. Rather, it is aimed more at an all male circle jerk fantasy of robots versus monsters. If you wish to expand your horizons, proceed with caution. :)
The latest trailer for Pacific Rim slammed into the internet on April 30th, and it's taken me about a day to think about what I saw. That, and I'm like "ZOMGAH trailer for Pacific Rim is so frickin' cool!" to everyone in my office. Only everyone in my office is like..."Uh what's that?" To be fair there are 2 people that work in my entire building that actually knew what this movie was. The rest just pretty much did what they usually do: stare awkwardly projecting thoughts like "why do you get excited about movies because that's so weird?" I imagine they'd share my enthusiasm if I asked them if they'd taken their kids to see the Lego animals at the local zoo or if Music and the Spoken Word had a nice episode this weekend. The last movie that the three guys who are my age in my office paid for was Les Mis back in December because they're cheap their wives wanted to see it.
Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Pacific Rim is a kaiju (the word kaiju means "strange beast" in Japanese) movie that I'M "FAP FAP FAP" EXCITED TO SEE (ahem) I will most likely see in the theater. I've blogged about it HERE and HERE. It's also CRUSHING THE BOX OFFICE being released the weekend after Independence Day (the Independence Day movie unfortunately is The Lone Ranger--a $150 million dollar western "paranormal" by Disney because the Legend of the Lone Ranger was OH SO PARANORMAL!). I'm sorry if my sarcasm over the Lone Ranger is palpable, but the Lone Ranger had silver bullets because silver was expensive, and it was a reminder that each bullet he fired had a "cost" to it. So it's best not to get me started on how I think Disney is screwing up the Lone Ranger. Yeah, we're not going there today.
Anyway, in the newest Pacific Rim trailer there is a gargantuan robot (aka Jaeger) that uses a cargo ship like a baseball bat to bash in a kaiju's head! That should make anyone want to press "PLAY" like RIGHT NOW. But in case you can somehow wait, the many thoughts going through my head are: 1) I can't wait to see this show. 2) That looks more awesome than Hulk grabbing Loki and smashing him into the concrete while saying "PUNY GOD!" and 3) Is this a nod from Guillermo del Toro on just how much ass America kicks at just about everything? Let's face it, baseball games are as American as apple pie my friends and the movie comes out the week after Independence Day! Coincidence? I think not, and that's the story I'm stickin' too.
Oh Guillermo...I see whut u did thar...
Okay, but there are seriously other things about this movie that I picked up from this trailer that transcend the pure "monster versus robot" basic plotline. First, previous clips touted the invasion of the alien kaiju from another realm, but these clips never gave me the impression that the kaiju were intelligent. Pacific Rim is NOT a story about huge mindless pests invading our home on a grand scale. It's the story of a war. A frickin' war between two worlds. My evidence:
Charlie Day's Dr. Newton Geiszler (the presumed smart guy who "gets" the kaiju in the trailer) says, "Their sole purpose was to aim for the populated areas and take out the vermin--us." And consequently, Dr. Newton calls the Jaegers "2,500 tons of awesome," which goes right up there with the line: "Old and busted...meet the new hotness"<== one of my favorite lines in film. You get serious nerd cred if you know what film that line appears in. So yes, the kaiju are smart, and they're an invasion force, meticulously plotting out a strategy to wage war on Earthlings. I'm sure Guillermo del Toro borrowed a page from Cthulhu here (after all he was going to make an H.P. Lovecraft film called The Mountains of Madness).
And consequently, I also like how the Jaegers are piloted by two people who mind-meld with each other apparently through some kind of strange goo that's put into their helmets. I think that'd freak me out and make the whole "drowning" impulse really strong. You know how people say science fiction can sometimes be ahead of actual science? Maybe in a few years there'll be this goo that really does allow people to mind-meld. Wouldn't that be awesome? Think of all the crimes we could solve by just going inside a criminal's head and examining their thoughts. There'd be no more need for "enhanced interrogation."
I can't tell what role Ron Perlman is set to play in the brief flash he gets in the newest trailer for Pacific Rim. I doubt he's playing a grunt of any kind which is pretty much his modus operandi in other films. I've really gotten to be a fan of Ron though, and I'm happy to see he's basically the guy that's in ALL of Guillermo del Toro's films (Hellboy anyone?). The dark glasses make me think he'll have some kind of insight that will be crucial to the storyline. *Does a happy dance. Go BIG or GO EXTINCT!
My very prolific author friend P.T. Dilloway has a series of books out that tell the tale of an intelligent and beautiful young woman who is called to become a superhero. I've read three in the series thus far and loved them all. I plan on reading the remaining five or six at some point (right now I'm reading Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy). Anyway, the first book in the series is called A Hero's Journey. It has been discounted to .99 cents for the entire month of May. If you have a buck and some time, I recommend you download a copy. It's a quick read. You can read my review HERE if you would like to know more.
BIO: P.T. Dilloway has been a writer for most of his life. He completed his first story in third grade and received an ‘A’ for the assignment. Around that time he also placed in a local writing contest for a television station, receiving an action figure in lieu of a trophy, thus securing his love with the written word. Since then he’s continued to spend most of his free time writing and editing. In the last twenty years he’s completed nearly forty novels of various genres.
A Hero’s Journey is P.T.’s first superhero novel, born from his love of old TV shows like “Superfriends” and the 1960s “Batman” TV series, both of which he spent much time watching in reruns growing up in rural Michigan, as well as more recent theatrical offerings like “The Dark Knight” and “Watchmen.” A Hero’s Journey tells the story of a young woman who finds a suit of magic armor that allows her to save the world—and herself.
When not writing, P.T. enjoys reading and photographing Michigan’s many lighthouses. In order to pay the bills, he earned an accounting degree from Saginaw Valley State University in 2000 and for the past ten years has worked as a payroll accountant in Detroit. He lives in suburban Detroit, where he continues to work on new writing projects. If you want to find him, just search the Panera Breads and Starbuckses near Detroit on weekends.
Purchase Links:
SMASHWORDS | NOOK | KINDLE U.S. | SERIES
If you don't buy a copy of P.T.'s book, could you please send a single tweet (if you are on twitter). Just copy and paste the one from below:
Like stories with Egyptian flavor and girls kickin' ass? Read one of the finest comic novels ever written #comicbooks http://www.amazon.com/A-Heros-Journey-ebook/dp/B009O5H3RA/
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| These are the sexy Jaeger suits that the pilots wear. Of course the pilots are young and incredibly good-looking. I love how they're basically molded to the skin and highlight the muscles. Just looks awesome. Click to Embiggen. |
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| I like this banner. Click to EMBIGGEN. |
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| Concept art that gives you the sheer scale of the robots in Pacific Rim. That Jaeger in the background is frickin' HUGE. Click to Embiggen. |
Oh Guillermo...I see whut u did thar...
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| This is a screenshot of a huge pile of Kaiju poop. Nice eh? Click to Embiggen. |
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| This is actor Charlie Day in the role of Dr. Newton. Click to Embiggen. |
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| Strange goo in the helmet. It's anyone's guess what this stuff is, but I think it helps the pilots mind-meld. It's an "educated guess." Do you agree with me? |
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| ZOMGAH THE TRAILER HAS RON PERLMAN IN IT! |
*****
My very prolific author friend P.T. Dilloway has a series of books out that tell the tale of an intelligent and beautiful young woman who is called to become a superhero. I've read three in the series thus far and loved them all. I plan on reading the remaining five or six at some point (right now I'm reading Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy). Anyway, the first book in the series is called A Hero's Journey. It has been discounted to .99 cents for the entire month of May. If you have a buck and some time, I recommend you download a copy. It's a quick read. You can read my review HERE if you would like to know more.
BIO: P.T. Dilloway has been a writer for most of his life. He completed his first story in third grade and received an ‘A’ for the assignment. Around that time he also placed in a local writing contest for a television station, receiving an action figure in lieu of a trophy, thus securing his love with the written word. Since then he’s continued to spend most of his free time writing and editing. In the last twenty years he’s completed nearly forty novels of various genres.
A Hero’s Journey is P.T.’s first superhero novel, born from his love of old TV shows like “Superfriends” and the 1960s “Batman” TV series, both of which he spent much time watching in reruns growing up in rural Michigan, as well as more recent theatrical offerings like “The Dark Knight” and “Watchmen.” A Hero’s Journey tells the story of a young woman who finds a suit of magic armor that allows her to save the world—and herself.
When not writing, P.T. enjoys reading and photographing Michigan’s many lighthouses. In order to pay the bills, he earned an accounting degree from Saginaw Valley State University in 2000 and for the past ten years has worked as a payroll accountant in Detroit. He lives in suburban Detroit, where he continues to work on new writing projects. If you want to find him, just search the Panera Breads and Starbuckses near Detroit on weekends.
Purchase Links:
SMASHWORDS | NOOK | KINDLE U.S. | SERIES
Like stories with Egyptian flavor and girls kickin' ass? Read one of the finest comic novels ever written #comicbooks http://www.amazon.com/A-Heros-Journey-ebook/dp/B009O5H3RA/
