4. Action!
People say they want mindless action, but they really don't. You can only take a guy shooting a machine gun for so long before you ask yourself, "who is that guy?" Pacific Rim doesn't settle for mindless action, but it doesn't take action too seriously either. It brings us action that makes us melt into giddy kids again; when Gypsy Danger picks up that ship and uses it as a bat, we laugh and feel an intensely satisfying joy. When a Jaeger fights a Kaiju in the city, the story makes it believable by evacuating everyone out of major streets and buildings, so when a Kaiju throws a Jaeger into a building, we know that people are safe and sound. I'm pretty sure there were more casualties in Man of Steel. del Toro drew inspiration from classical works such as The Colossus and George Bellow's boxing paintings to create the sense of awe from the fight scenes. While I may have not been in awe, I took great pleasure in watching a Jaeger slicing a Kaiju in half with a sword, I even heard some cheer and clap in the theaters. The action was more palpable because of the characters and the emotions involved; we cared for these pilots and what happened to them, which brings me to my next point...