Was asked what i thought of the Pacific Rim trailer…do you remember that feeling upon seeing key aspects of the Watchmen storyline ripped off borrowed by The Incredibles and that first season of Heroes, long before the release of Zack Snyder’s adaptation? That’s exactly what the Pacific Rim trailer feels like.
If a trailer features a giant blue humanoid mecha being controlled inside by a man and a girl, there better also be a shot of a sweet, black sedan driving through a dystopian, domed city, with the accompanying voiceover, “My name is Roger Smith. I perform a much needed job here in the city of amnesia.”
And yeah, i know this is borrowing even more heavily from Evangelion, as well, but i’m not as invested in that series. My sympathies to its fans, though.
Of course i’m going to see it, but with a head full of resent and reservations. If this performs really well, though, and leads to a proper live-action Big O adaptation by Nolan, Fincher, or the like, then all is forgiven.
9 Responses to “Cast in the Name of God…”
I was thrilled when CN finished Big O. One of the better mecha series.
Why is GLaDOS in this movie?
Dude, if these mechs have rocket punches, I am so gonna have a dorkgasm. =D
yeah… that does look like evangelion… i don’t know if i’ve seen more than a few episodes of big o to have an accurate frame of reference.
I’d be upset if Big O itself and (let’s be honest) most giant robot cartoons/tv shows/movies weren’t a never ending stream of swiping. Big O (which I love unreservedly- its one of those things I’ll always have in my home video collection until the day I die) pulled from every pre-Gundam robot property ever. Gigantor, Super Robot Red Baron, The Mysterians, Giant Robo, so on. Hell, the director said straight up that Roger Smith was Tom Cruise with a Batmobile- everything about Big O is homage (WONDERFUL homage).
But let’s boil down the basic plot from the trailer: humans in tight costumes are piloting giant robots to defend earth from monsters that are intentionally trying to destroy the world, sent by an evil otherdimensional being. Smells more like Power Rangers/ Super Sentai, and has caused a neverending series of fist-pumps from me, which is making typing very difficult. I’m a HUGE fan of kaiju films/giant robots, and I dig Guillermo’s work. The only thing that’d make me more excited about this is if they were using stunt men in robot and monster suits.
I did have to laugh at Charlie Hunnam’s opening plot explanation, partially because it is perfectly cheesetastic, partially because Sons of Anarchy would be a way better show if they were dealing giant robots instead of guns.
Here’s hoping it’s a massive success, because the world needs more giant robots fighting giant monsters.
Honestly, while we’re on the subject of swiping, I’m much more frustrated by Snyder’s ripping of visual motifs from Akira in Watchmen, because Watchmen was iconic and important enough on its own that it didn’t need to pull from other classics that would make incredible movies if only given the right budget/director/actors/everything…
This seems, to me at least, to be a Kill Bill for fans of mech/monster movies… that is taking parts from nearly all of these niche (and not so niche) parts and bringing them together in one big FANGASM. There is no need to feel resentment towards Kill Bill for ruining old kung fu movies because it had quite the opposite effect in allowing a broader audience to discover some of the most amazing movies ever made! and in turn lead to more ideas being tested and made in the kung fu style… If Guillermo Del Toro does as Quentin Tarantino did and makes sure he says well i loved this bit from Big O, That from Evangelion, This bit from Godzilla and that bit of Halo and this from Ghost in the Shell etc etc it will open the eyes of the world to look beyond hollywood while producing a movie that just has everything any fan could want. I guess in short I praise these movies as eye openers not deride them as ripoffs.
Well it’s more a modern Kaiju movie. I honestly didn’t even think Big O or Evangelion either(I love the latter a whole lot more than the former) while watching the trailer. If anything since the giant mecha are thrown in, it seems at least the battles would resemble more of the Sentai series.
The not-entirely-subtle nods to the cultures in which the robots are built reminds me of Super Robot Red Baron- the Russian robot has what looks like a nuclear steam stack for a head (and is named Cherno Alpha- after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, I assume), and the Chinese robot has three arms, which I hope dearly is in reference to this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4oli_three-arm-baby-born-in-china_fun#.UMygY3dL3f0
Also: the piloting system reminds me not a little of the Mobile Trace System in G-Gundam.
“This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory!”