3. Character
When Newton (Charlie Day) is introduced, he isn't your typical scientist, he's the biggest Kaiju fanboy. He watches the Jaegers fight the Kaiju and even helps the pilots out with his research and intel, but at the same time he has an appreciation for the Kaiju. He has multiple tattoos of them and geeks out at the black market when he finds Kaiju "goodies." He'd fit right in at Comic Con and he's not a one note character. The crazy part is that Newton is a side character. The crazier part? I cared for each and every character in the film. There were multiple layers to each relationship in the film; del Toro and writer, Beacham did a phenomenal job of making us care for everybody. We feel for Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) from the get-go as his brother is taken so suddenly from him and we feel for Stacker (Idris Elba) and Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) as we find out about their shared past. Even Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky), the jerk alpha male pilot, becomes relatable later on. I haven't cared for all the characters so equally in a long time. The rise and fall of emotion that the movie invoked in me was quite surprising and that brings us to the next point...