Pacific Rim - 環太平洋

Pacific Rim (環太平洋) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, and Rinko Kikuchi. The supporting cast include Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, and Ron Perlman. The movie is set slightly in the future with most of it taking place around the year 2025.



In the near future, alien creatures have come to earth from the bottom of the ocean and attacked the lands. When the attack first happened, the world joined together to create huge man helmed robots called the Jaeger. The nickname given to the alien creatures was Kaiju. Most of this was explained via newscast style. Fast forward a few years and the Jaeger program has matured and helmed by two people that can access one side of the brain to pilot the Jaegers. The pilots have to slip into dream state that allows them to access each others memories. Once connected, they can pilot the robots. However, the Kaijus grew stronger and attacks more frequent. Jaegar casualties started to increase and the world order decided to build a wall to keep out the Kaijus. Which only 4 Kaiju's left, they were retired to a base near Hong Kong. All the while, a pair of scientist decided to research the Kaijus and found out a way to destroy them. Well the pilots in fighting and the world order prevent the Jaegers from saving the world?



This movie was non-stop action. From the start to the finish. Sprinkled with some human angst storyline, you get the sense that this dog and pony show was only going to win on luck. Luckily, lady luck was on their side. The story was straight foward and sorta a glorified Power Rangers storyline. Big monsters attack land cities, marital arts big robots come to the rescue.



I enjoyed it enjoy to give a watch one recommendation. I would probably leave it on if came on regular tv. Background fodder approved for sure.

Conan the Barbarian - 蛮王柯南

Conan the Barbarian (蛮王柯南) is an 2011 summer film. The movie stars Jason Momoa. The supporting cast includes Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan, and Ron Perlman. The is a reboot of the Conan and is supposedly closer to the orignal material of creator Robert E. Howard.

The movie starts with an young Conan learning the ways of the barbarian in his homeland, Cimmeria. Conan's mother died giving birth to him in battle. Because of this, Conan and his father have a very tight bound. Conan proves to be an excellent warrior. When his village is attacked and wiped out, Conan vows to take revenge. Along the way, he leaves a trail of carnage.

The movie was quite disappointing. The mythic character of Conan I watched in Arnold in the 80s and the Marvel Conan I read around the same time was missing. Conan's line of "I live, I love, I slay, I am content" is barely there. Conan is much more Kull in this film. I was hoping for a better villain and lead love interest. The movie was completely casts wrong too. Production value is really high. Story, cast, and flow were not.

Season Of The Witch - 魔女神兵

Season Of The Witch (魔女神兵) is an 2011 film. The movie stars Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman. The film was based during the crusades era of the middle ages.

Nicolas Cage plays Behmen and Ron Perlman plays Felson. Both are Teutonic knights for the Church during the crusades. After a battle where they kill many innocent women and children, they both quit the army and head back to Germany. As fugitives, they have to keep a low profile or risk being thrown into prison. However, they much replenish supplies and head to a town where they are captured. The Church offers them a pardon if they take the black witch to a monastery for a trial. The two agree to the deal and set up on a quest to delivery the black witch.

If you like medieval type films of knights and chivalry, this is a good modern film for it. You've got knights honor, fighting for good, and a genuine antagonist that causes lots of headaches for the protagonist. Although the movie as a whole had a weak premise, it plays very much like a video game. Strong and skilled protagonist are charged with a mission of dangerous proportions with a huge payoff at the end. I enjoyed it.