This was the movie I was born to see.

Giant Robots versus Giant Monsters.

This was the movie I never thought I’d get to see.

To give a little background, I used to haunt the matinee showings of Godzilla movies my hometown theatre put on sometimes on Saturday afternoons. If I’m pressed to name a favourite science fiction movie, I say Gojira. One of the first comics I ever picked up was Shogun Warriors #15. (Still have it)

I don’t know where to even begin to dissect this movie. All I’ve been left thinking is: awesome.

Normally, I don’t bother with 3D if I have the option, but the 3D conversion didn’t feel tacked on in Pacific Rim, and didn’t play it for cheap gags or tricks. I didn’t have a headache by the time the movie was over either, which I often do after a 3D summer blockbuster.

The music was perfect. Each of the Jaegers had their own theme music, appropriate to their nationalities. And the Jaegers! Those three hundred feet tall robots always seemed to have weight. Such a hard trick to pull off with CGI. Gipsy Danger is a brilliant looking lead robot. But you could also believe that the Jaegers were developed by different countries, and at different times in war against the Kaiju. And while I am dubious of the physics that would allow a tanker ship to be used as a baseball bat (more than once!), quite simply, I didn’t care.

Two of the major rules of Jaeger piloting seem to be: 1. Don’t touch Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) and 2. Don’t touch Stacker Pentecost. Idris Elba absolutely killed it in Pacific Rim (he always does). But all of the cast were great. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, and of course, Ron Perlman.

The story (and yes, there was one) was smarter than you’d expect, while never forgetting what it was supposed to be: a huge spectacle. Tonally, despite the end of the world being at stake, the movie seemed overly grim or dour.

My only complaint (and it’s barely that) would be that I wanted more. More Jaegers. More Kaiju. More Jaeger versus Kaiju fights. More Ron Perlman. I understand why I couldn’t get these things. Budgets. Pacing. Blah, blah, blah. I get it. I’m sure Guillermo Del Toro has notebooks full of more monsters and robots. Maybe we’ll get to see them some day. So, I guess my only complaint is not really a complaint, just me being greedy.

Now if only the box office for Pacific Rim will justify more movies like it. Should Marvel’s space opera weirdo fest Guardians of the Galaxy work, I might, dare I dream, get a Red Ronin versus Fin Fang Foom movie?

Dare to dream. Dare to dream.

In the meantime, I’m off to go buy another ticket so I can see Pacific Rim again. You should to. Right. Now.