No shocker here. The best thing I saw last week, which was actually last night, was giant robots fighting giant monsters, Pacific Rim! The new love child of director phenom Guillermo del Toro is a tour de force smashing sci-fi epic. 255 tons of total bad assery indeed. This is my favorite film of the year so far. It’s not an in-depth drama, it’s not a tense thriller, it is exactly what the posters and previews tell you that it is. Giant robots trying to defend humanity from giant killer monsters, HUGE fights scenes, rousing speeches, and just enough character interaction and dialogue to get us from one fight scene to the next.

Anyone going into this movie expecting depth of story and realistic character development is in for a bit of trouble. What Pacific Rim is, is Guillermo del Toro saying “Hey, I can make a Bay/Bruckheimer summer movie with explosions.” And he does. And he does it damn well. The added bonus being that at no point during the film did I ever have any trouble telling which robot I was watching fight, that’s a nice change. Also the folks at ILM put their powerful stamp on this film and I never saw a Jaeger or a Kaiju that pulled me out of the story, beautifully done.

Charlie Hunnam, Rink Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Ron Pelrman, and Clifton Collins Jr. all turn in great performances. There’s some trash talking, there’s some witty banter, there’s an appropriately powerful speech at the right time. Is it the stuff of Oscars? No. Is it the stuff of fun nights at the movies? Hell Yes!

Grab a pal, head down to your local multiplex or IMAX 3D (this one I will see again in IMAX 3D and not complain about the ticket price), grab a soda and a bucket of popcorn and just sit back and relax. Let the robots take away your cares. Enjoy a night out, you worry too much. Go see a monster movie, have some fun.

I want  a Jaeger. :-)