Giant robots fighting giant monsters, what more do you want?!
If you're looking for a serious, grounded-in-reality sci-fi movie, maybe give this one a pass.
If you're looking for a fun, blockbuster action movie where you can turn your brain off for a couple hours and watch giant robots beat up giant monsters, you're gonna have a good time.
This movie is Guillermo del Toro's love letter to giant-robo anime and old Japanese kaiju films like Godzilla and Gamera. Nothing more, nothing less.
The plot is pretty simple: A handful of soldiers piloting giant robots are defending humanity from an invasion of huge monsters emerging from an interdimensional rift at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. With the monster attacks becoming more and more frequent, and the numbers of the robots and pilots ever decreasing, will they be able to stop the invasion in time to save humanity?
The visuals in this movie are gorgeous, and the actions scenes are pretty intense. There's also plenty of levity mixed in, though, so the movie never feels like it's trying to take itself too seriously. The dialogue can definitely get a bit cheesy at times, and if you're watching the movie with a critical eye, there are plenty of plot holes to be found and nonsensical decisions being made. However, if you grew up in the 80's and 90's watching Transformers, Voltron, Gundam and as many old Japanese monster movies as you could get your hands on, like I did, do yourself a favor and check this movie out. Watching the titanium titans battle it out with the colossal killer kaiju made me feel like I was 8 years old all over again.
Overall, I'd give this movie a solid 9/10 for metal-on-monster mayhem!
As a side note, fans of the Portal video game series will instantly recognize the voice of Gipsy Danger's AI as none other than voice actress Ellen McLain, AKA "The Voice of GLaDOS". Apparently Guillermo and his daughter were big fans of Portal, so he got permission from Valve to use the GLaDOS voice filter for the giant robot's AI system. This little easter egg made me geek out on a whole other level!
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned