@dahj I just watched this for a third time. Maybe I should rate it 8/10. I don't find the story that good but I like Raleigh Becket's character/backstory (and Mako Mori as well but I somehow seem to have forgotten her a bit), the Sci-Fi/Jaeger designs are cool, and the soundtrack (especially the main theme) is so nice that I simply had to give in and watch it again.
I find the Kaiju boring but together with the Jaegers it's fine. The Jaegers probably don't make much sense (steel is strong but also super heavy and not good at absorbing the energy of impacts so the Jaegers would probably damage themselves from their massive weight) but I somehow find robots much cooler and more fascinating than biological creatures (even if they're bioengineered and even though bioengineering itself is very interesting and cool).
IMO a movie before this one (when the Kaiju first appear and they start building the first Jaegers) could be even better. It feels like this movie starts in the middle of the story and I always like origin stories and seeing how things begin.
The idea of the great wall seems super stupid... :o It's fine to try that as well but a sole focus on defense seems super unlikely against an evolving enemy that constantly gets stronger (they could become strong enough to break through the wall (as it happened with the other unbreakable costal wall), they could climb over it, tunnel under it, fly over it, etc.). I don't think humanity would be that stupid to believe that wall is all they need...
That "Would you like to try again?" from the computer voice after the failed drift between Raleigh and Mako felt like from/in a video game :D
Raleigh seems to have learned from Zombieland: Always double tap ("check for pulse" :D).
The ending got a bit long and boring again but it wasn't as bad as I feared.
Review by Dahj AshaBlockedParentSpoilers2022-04-10T00:11:26Z
7.5/10 - The Jaegers are freaking awesome! :D
Seriously, the Jaegers are super cool :) I like their designs/engineering and size/mass. And the quote about them being able to fight a hurricane.
Scientifically they don't make a lot of sense (e.g., it would seem smarter to pilot them remotely and they don't seem like cost effective weapons at all) but they're simply cool to watch.
My favorite scene was the one where they dropped down inside the Jaeger's head to connect to the body. I just like such mechanical rail/elevator constructions and find it fascinating to watch (cool CGI combined with cool sound effects and animations).
When the intro talked about the aliens coming from below I immediately had to think of the Crysis game franchise. Until that portal/breach got mentioned right after that which makes it a bit different.
And of course there's the soundtrack! The main theme is just epic <3
And the main characters are pretty fun. Becket and Mori are lovely together, Geiszer and Gottlieb are entertaining, Pentecost is the boss, and Chau is just badass (I'm glad that he isn't dead :D).
The beginning was really good but I got quite a bit bored during all of the fighting in the second half (I'm not interested in the Kaiju and it doesn't show that much of the cool abilities of the Jaegers - or maybe I'm just bored because it lacks depth/meaning).