Pacific Rim

It's been five years since Guillermo del Toro's last film, Hellboy II. Since then we've waited with anticipation to see if he could recreate the magic he did with the dark and mesmerizing 2006 Pan's Labyrinth. This year we got our chance with Pacific Rim, one of 2013's blockbusters directed by del Toro. I can sum the plot of this film up for you in one sentence: after aliens attack earth, humans create giant robots to fight back. See, easy. The difficulty would lie in finding something beyond this in the plot.

The film has everything an epic robot action film needs: robots, an enemy to fight, kick-ass heroes and excellent visual effects. What it lacks however is an original story, character development, realistic dialogue and the desire for a sequel. 

Let's start with the story. There really is nothing new or interesting here. The film is basically about aliens attacking earth (seen that before), humans working with giant robots (Michael Bay's got that sorted) and trying to save the earth (I wonder if they'll succeed?). It's not that I don't expect plot points to be borrowed across the board, it's just that I expect a new spin on them. I went into the film expecting something interesting, fresh, different, because that's what critics have been writing about it. I was disappointed to find a film that didn't offer anything new, and instead missed out on some opportunities to flesh the story out and create intrigue and suspense. 

The film's biggest flaw lies in its lack of character development. Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh Beckett and Rinko Kikuchi's Mako Mori have very simple back stories that give us some kind of insight into their personalities but not enough to create a link between the audience and their protagonists. At some point near the end of the film I wasn't sure whether or not our heroes would make it, and I realized that I didn't really care. I never really got to know them. Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost was probably the most intriguing character, but this had more to do with Elba's talents as an actor than with his role in the story. There are two actors in the film playing father and son duo Herc and Chuck Hansen. Max Martini is from The US, and Robert Kazinski is from England. Both play Australians. I have no problem with actors playing characters from different countries, but please, please make sure you get the accent right.

That brings me onto the dialogue. The film goes out of its way to not be a typical American blockbuster and then it falls into its own trap. There is of course the classic line "today we're canceling the Apocalypse," as seen in the trailer, and unfortunately it doesn't stop there. One of the reasons we don't get character development is because 90% of the dialogue is exposition, making it impossible to move beyond the very linear structure of the plot. 

The marketing campaign of this film has to be one of the worst I've seen in a long time. The trailers offered nothing about characters, relying on the robots and special effects to be the selling point. It didn't work. The marketing team ended up having to release a final trailer that showed the characters more. Except it didn't really add anything. As I watched the film I realized that it's because there was nothing to add. What you see in the trailer is what you get. 

I can't end on a bad note though. As disappointing as the film is there are some positives. The visual effects are incredible, visually it's a stunning film. The varying ethnicities amongst the characters is refreshing for a blockbuster, even though some of the accents are a little suspect. And then there's the...the, okay I'm out of ideas. It's got giant robots though and it seems, for some, that's all a film needs. 

Underrated Television: The three shows you should be watching, but probably aren't

Sons of Anarchy (Kurt Sutter, 2005-present)

I say this without any reservation. Kurt Sutter's Sons of Anarchy is the best television show I have ever watched. I cannot believe I only just discovered it this year when it's been on the air since 2005. This is without a doubt the most underrated television show.
IMDb states that the premise as: "A man in his early 30s struggles to find a balance in his life between being a new dad and his involvement in a motorcycle club." This doesn't really do the show any justice though. Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) is vice-president to the motorcycle club the Sons of Anarchy. They are much more than mere motorcycle enthusiasts however, with their arms reaching into guns, drugs, Mexican cartels and the IRA. His step-father, Clay Morrow (Ron Pearlman) is the club's President, and although things start out well between Clay and Jax, they quickly unravel after Jax discovers a manifest written by his late father John, who had a different vision for the club. Jax's life is further complicated by his drug addicted ex-wife, premature son Abel, and the return of his high school girlfriend and true love Tara (Maggie Siff), who is now a doctor. 
Although Jax is arguably the show's main character, the others are not left by the wayside. Each character is explored throughout the series. Gemma is played by the highly talented Katy Sagal, who is married to Kurt Sutter. She is both mother to Jax and matriarch to the club. 
Throughout the five seasons each character is tested and no one is the same once we reach the end of season five. I was able to watch all the seasons back to back, but now I, like so many fans, eagerly await the next season. One thing is for sure, on this show anything can happen.  

Justified (2010-present)

Like Sons of Anarchy, Justified plays on the FX channel. And like Sons of Anarchy it is highly underrated.
IMDb lists the premise as: "Old-school U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is reassigned from Miami to his childhood home in the poor, rural coal-mining towns in Eastern Kentucky." To add to this, Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) is a skilled Marshall who dresses like a cowboy, is a quick draw, and has no qualms with shooting people. His Miami boss doesn't take too well to Raylan shooting a felon at an upmarket Miami restaurant during lunch. As punishment he sends Raylan back to Kentucky where he works the small towns, including his own hometown, the notorious Harlan County. Raylan reconnects with people from his past including his criminal father, his ex-wife Winona, and an old coal-mining buddy Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), who is Harlan's most charismatic outlaw. 
The show is currently in it's fourth season. Each season brings a different criminal source to Harlan that Raylan has to deal with. However the one constant is always Boyd. Raylan and Boyd have an interesting relationship. There are times when it's been Boyd that Raylan's hunting, but for the most part Boyd is a source for Raylan, although there's no love lost between the two men. 
The character of Boyd was originally going to be killed off in season one, however it quickly became apparent that he was an asset to the show. I can't imagine Justified without Boyd, it'd be like taking away Raylan's gun. 

Elementary (Robert Doherty, 2012-present)

Elementary is Sherlock Holmes with a twist. In this American adaptation Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) is a drug addict who has had to leave London and now resides in New York. He works with the local Police Dept., cracking complex cases the only way Sherlock knows how, with frightening intelligence, lack of modesty and limited social skills. The big twist however is that the famous Watson is a woman, played by Lucy Liu, who also happens to be Sherlock's sober companion.
If you think that having Watson played by a woman means a Sherlock/Watson romantic relationship you'd be wrong. The writer's are very careful to keep their relationship platonic. I'm not sure if they'll be able to continue doing this down the road, but so far there is no chemistry between the two.
I was hesitant to start watching this show because I'm not normally a fan of American adaptations of British shows. However, after finishing the two seasons of Sherlock (2010-present, which, if you haven't seen you need to) I was in the mood for some more Sherlock in my life. Miller is very aware of the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock is loved by many fans worldwide, and he has taken care not to mimic him in any way. This Sherlock is not as socially awkward, is more sexual, and has been pulled down a peg or two by his addiction. He's definitely more relatable. It's a really interesting show and so far the relationship between Sherlock and Watson is being explored in a unique way.

So there you have it, three shows that you probably aren't watching but really need to. There's so much crap on television today (cough cough anything with Kim Kardashian cough) and it's a shame that great shows are ignored. One way that can change is by word of mouth. If you find a great show, tell everyone about it. Make sure your favourite shows don't follow so many other greats to the TV cemetery.