Very few directors can worldbuild like Guillermo del Toro can. Whether it’s the massive world of mysticism and monsters in his Hellboy films, the ghosts lingering within the manor of Crimson Peak, or the hauntingly compelling fairy tale that is Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro has a talent for crafting entire worlds that the viewer could spend hours in. He also has a knack for delivering some amazing introductions to his films, as well. The opening to the first Hellboy doesn’t just set the stakes for the entire movie, but it also serves as the perfect introduction to the character — even if you’d never read the Hellboy comics. But del Toro’s best example of worldbuilding is the fifteen minute opening scene of Pacific Rim.
‘Pacific Rim’ Manages To Set Up an Entire World With Its Opening Alone
Pacific Rim is set in a world that’s attacked by massive monsters known as Kaiju, who emerge from an extradimensional rip located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, leading the world’s nations to construct titanic machines known as Jaegers to battle them. Del Toro delivers the exposition in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the audience, but still keeps them entranced. Sweeping shots of wrecked cities and Kaiju carcasses are a hint to the kind of scale del Toro’s bringing to the screen, while news reports dispense information about the Kaiju and Jaegers. The Jaegers were built when nuclear responses to Kaiju became too hazardous to continue, and it’s revealed that it takes two pilots to share the neural load necessary to keep a Jaeger moving. Further underlining the themes of unity throughout Pacific Rim is the fact that the world’s nations put aside their differences to construct the giant war machines. Within its first fifteen minutes, Pacific Rim manages to set up its major conflict, and how its world works.
That approach continues as audiences are introduced to protagonist Raleigh Beckett (Charlie Hunnam). Not only does Raleigh narrate the opening, but audiences get to view what piloting a Yeager is like through his eyes as he and his brother Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) are deployed to battle a kaiju. It’s through this approach that audiences are introduced to the biggest idea in Pacific Rim: the Drift — a shared mindspace that pilots enter when they prepare to take control of a Jaeger. You have to be fully “Drift compatible” with your partner in order to move the Jaeger, but you also run the risk of getting lost in their memory. Raleigh was drift compatible with his brother, which makes it all the more shocking when Yancy is ripped out of their Jaeger Gipsy Danger as they battle the Kaiju Knifehead.
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The Opening Battle in ‘Pacific Rim’ Is Full of Adrenaline-Packed Visual Storytelling
When it comes to the battle between Gipsy Danger and Knifehead, del Toro doesn’t hold back on the earthshaking combat that takes place between machine and monster. Gipsy Danger‘s first punch is shown from the Beckett brothers’ POV, and the end result feels like the audience is right in the cockpit with them — resulting in an unmistakable thrill when Gipsy Danger‘s mechnical fist collides with Knifehead’s jaw. As if that wasn’t enough, Gipsy Danger has a certain swagger to its fighting style that makes it feel unique among the other Jaegers, which is a result of del Toro basing the mech’s movements on legendary Western star John Wayne. The Kaiju’s dangers are also re-emphasized when Knifehead uses its appropriately-named cranium to tear through Gipsy Danger‘s plating, ripping off one of its arms and costing Raleigh his brother. And once again, this fight sets the stage for the rest of the film. Scarred by losing his brother, Raleigh chooses to walk away from piloting Jaegers until his former C.O. Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) comes to him with a dangerous gambit to take down the Kaiju once and for all. He even pilots Gipsy Danger once again with Pentecost’s adoptive daughter Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).
Pacific Rim‘s opening didn’t just set the stage for the remainder of its runtime, but also an entire franchise. In 2018, Pacific Rim: Uprising would hit theater screens while Netflix launched the anime series Pacific Rim: The Black in 2021. In addition, Legendary is planning a Pacific Rim prequel series with Arrival scribe Eric Heisserer at the helm. There aer even plans for a graphic novel that will serve as the conclusion to the story established in Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim: Uprising. None of it would have been possible without the action-packed, richly layered fifteen minutes that open Pacific Rim, and it’s all thanks to Guillermo del Toro’s steady hand.
Pacific Rim
- Release Date
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July 12, 2013
- Runtime
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131 minutes
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