Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro‘s brilliant monster film of 2013, has found a new streaming home. The giant robots feature has been added to Netflix, giving fans of monster films a new chance to see one of the best modern approaches to kaiju cinema.
In Pacific Rim, Earth is under the threat of enormous creatures that have risen from the bottom of the ocean. The Breach is an interdimensional rift that has allowed monsters known as Kaijus to enter our realm and turn the planet into their own playground. Humankind has reacted by creating the Jaegers, colossal robots that have the might to fight the Kaijus, but they still must be controlled by courageous pilots. The Kaiju attacks worsen, and a veteran pilot is forced to come out of retirement to fight and defeat the creatures. As summarized by Rotten Tomatoes:
Long ago, legions of monstrous creatures called Kaiju arose from the sea, bringing with them all-consuming war. To fight the Kaiju, mankind developed giant robots called Jaegers, designed to be piloted by two humans locked together in a neural bridge. However, even the Jaegers are not enough to defeat the Kaiju, and humanity is on the verge of defeat. Mankind’s last hope now lies with a washed-up ex-pilot, an untested trainee and an old, obsolete Jaeger.
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Pacific Rim was based on the script co-written by del Toro alongside Travis Beacham. It stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Robert Kazinsky, Ron Perlman, and Clifton Collins Jr. Guillermo Navarro, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer of Pan’s Labyrinth, took care of the photography for the film and marked yet another collaboration with the director of The Shape of Water. John Knoll and Hal T. Hickel, veteran VFX supervisors at Industrial Light & Magic (both worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy), oversaw the visual effects that were essential to rendering the massive creatures.
More titles added to Netflix include five Mission: Impossible films, three Karate Kid movies, White House Down, and Zathura: A Space Adventure.
‘Pacific Rim’ Is a Cult Favorite and Guillermo del Toro’s Top-Grossing Film (Despite Domestic Struggles)
Legendary Pictures
Upon release, Pacific Rim was not quite successful with American audiences. In fact, the film struggled to surpass the $100 million barrier in domestic earnings. This was not good news for producers because of the $190 million production budget.
But luckily, the international box office would be the solution. The global gross was over $411 million (25% of this was the result of the release in China), a major hit for del Toro, whose previous film Hellboy II: The Golden Army had only made a little over $168 million. Pacific Rim remains the director’s highest-grossing film.
Critics were divided on Pacific Rim. Some praised del Toro’s execution of tropes that made them remember the best of the best of the hallmarks of mecha culture and robot anime shows. However, others felt the movie lacked emotion. Today, it sits at 72% on the critics’ score, and 77% on the audience score at Rotten Tomatoes, not exactly a great rating for the director, as it is slightly below del Toro’s usual critical reception, which often exceeds 80%.
Source: What’s on Netflix
Release Date
July 12, 2013
Runtime
131 minutes
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