Pacific Rim

Guillermo del Toro does “Transformers” meets “Godzilla” - and thanks to a spirited effort from Charlie Hunnam turns out quite a decent adventure. There’s some sort of rift between the surface dwellers and these prehistoric beasts that bide deep within the planet. They have an habit of coming up to visit every now and again and causing havoc, so mankind has developed these great nuclear-powered machines to guard the entrance and send them packing. Under the guidance of the grumpy “Pentecost” (Idris Elba) these “Jaegers” (that’s hunters in case you didn’t know) are our main line of defence, but when they start to become overwhelmed by the sheer size and power of their foes, the world must turn it’s hopes to the veteran “Becket” (Hunnam) and his novice partner “Mako” (Rinko Kikuchi) and hope they can find a way to seal this doorway once and forever. It takes a while to get going, indeed it could probably lose twenty minutes, but once it gets going there’s loads of action set amidst some impressive visual effects and featuring extended combat scenes that don’t just repeat themselves over and over. There’s a bit of testosterone zinging about between “Becket” and the other “Becket” (Diego Klattenhoff) and there’s also plenty of entertainingly geeky science from Bruno Gorman’s “Gottlieb” and Charlie Day’s “Dr. Geiszler” as the adventure hots up. Nobody watches these films for the writing, so little effort has been expended on that front beyond giving them something to do with their mouths whilst doing their own, more sophisticated, impressions of Sigourney Weaver from 1986 and it is all enjoyably easy on the eye for a couple of hours.