Hey, yo, Bells: Pacific Rim

[Magus]

Sounds kind of up your alley.

From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' epic sci-fi action adventure "Pacific Rim." When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes -- a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) -- who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse. "Pacific Rim" also stars Idris Elba, Ron Perlman, and Charlie Day

Sounds very Gundam/Evangelion to me. Clearly seems inspired by mecha anime at least in the most basic sense. I'm excited, especially since it's from Guillermo Del Toro. Still disappointed they shut down At The Mountains of Madness on him, but at least this sounds like an interesting alternative.

UPDATE

Here's that Comic-Con poster Bells was talking about below:



UPDATE

Pretty great interview with Del Toro about Pacific Rim:

[Bells]

I Thread calling out to me? Oh my oh my i feel validated =D

Yeah, that totally sounds like the type of stuff i would keep my eyes on, thanks!

Funny enough, as much as i like Mecha content and want to see more of it, my expectations are really low... people just don't seem to know how to Make Giant Robots in live action...

Hell, they hardly ever get it right in games...

The thing about Gundam and hell, even Evangelion is that it's Sci-Fi with just the right tea spoon of Real Science to allow you to dive in... then you get the Giant robots zipping across the sky flipping the bird to gravity.

Just let it be said that if i ever become a Billionaire i vow to purchase the rights to Omega Boost and make it a Movie... that will be the day.

Also keeping track of that Macross Movie, that one MIGHT work...


PS: BTW Jaeggers is a terrible, terrible Mecha name...

[Magus]

Yeah, maybe when you pilot the Jaegers you get really drunk.

What gives me hope for it is that it's Guillermo Del Toro. He doesn't usually make a movie about a character or a genre without understanding what makes it good. So if I hear he is tackling giant robots defending Japan from sea monsters, I think, "Here is a man who knows and cares about what he is doing. If he can't do it right, no one can." I also love his eye for monster design and environmental design--between Pan's Labyrinth, the Hellboy movies, and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark he's become one of my favorite film makers.

[Bells]

i really hope so, although i'm aware of the man i'm not really all that intimate with his work

The thing with doing mecha is just getting down how they move. It really depends on the type of mecha...

In Evengelion, the mechas were Biological machines, so they move like sluggish humans untill they get a good rhythm going.

In Gundam, every pose the mecha does is pre-programmed, so it's fast, fluid, human-like but have a certain weight to it.

In other situations, the Mecha moves out of a complex network of cogs and parts, so everything is blocky and sluggish...

Depending on what kinda of Mecha Del toro is trying to make, if he nail down the movement so it doesn't look like a giant human, and at the same time doesn't look like everything is in slow motion, he should do just fine...

saw the poster for it on IMDB (too lazy to go pick it up now) and the design sees Ok so far.

[Magus]

Man, that mech is massive, I wonder if that is the actual size comparison for the characters in the movie? That thing is as big as Godzilla.

Yeah, I can't wait to see more about it. I don't know that we'll see any actual teasers or anything until later this year, though. It'd be cool to see something CGI to get a feel for what the mechs will be like.

[Magus]

Pretty great interview with Del Toro about Pacific Rim:

[Bells]

As long as it DOES NOT look like this



However, i will be happy if it ends up like THIS:



He seems to be fairly aware of the roots of the genre and people's expectations regarding the genre and mecha... which is a great positive point.

Since this movie will come out next year, i suppose we'll get a trailer by the end of the Year, no?

I really liked to hear his thoughts on the movie, i'm excited for it. Cause he really does seem to know where to take this and the audience that would enjoy this level of detail... great stuff!

[Magus]

I assume it will look pretty good...this is a guy well-known for his special effects.