2. How Romantic
I don't mean lovey dovey romance, but romanti
cism. Pretentious, yes, but bear with me. Romanticism put an emphasis on the imagination and emotions. The elevation of emotion I felt during Pacific Rim was tremendous. When we saw Stacker rise up out of his Jaeger after saving Mori, it didn't feel corny, it felt heroic and uplifting. When Raleigh and Mori used the sword in Gypsy Danger for the first time, I felt like I had just witnessed my favorite fighter pull out a comeback knockout win in the 5th round. I believe summer blockbusters were meant to entertain the masses, but somewhere along the line, Hollywood forgot that their job wasn't merely to distract us, but to engage us. This is where Pacific Rim beat out all other blockbusters, even Star Trek 2, in terms of emotional engagement. No movie in the summer has really made me care about the characters like Pacific Rim did. This emotional connection with the audience ramped up the stakes even higher in the film; in the end, it wasn't just the world that was at stake, but the characters we had grown to love.