pacific rim

i fucking love giant monster movies. the first one i saw is jurassic park when i was about 5 or 6. i remember being completely terrified every time i watched it, lying on my stomach inches away from the 2' x 2' tv-vcr combo in the barely furnished family room. the room has since become the house's display-dining room. that one nobody eats in.


until i was about 7 or 8 i was addicted to the fear 'jurassic park' inspired in me. i was mostly afraid of the dilophosaurus, the way it hissed and rattled its lizard mane. it spit acid at the fat guy from space jam and seemed to always wear a smug, razor toothed grin.

my feeling of terror towards this thing compelled me to research the dinosaur further. the fear was conquered when i discovered that it spitting acid was a detail created specifically for the film, but that research ignited my childhood obsession with dinosaurs. the flame was fed when my parents took me to see 'the lost world' and 'godzilla' (the ferris bueller one) in theaters. what a thrill it was to see a giant fucking lizard give a large city a good thrashing. i would buy dinosaur toys by the pound and have them destroy my own lego metropolises. it was bliss.

my favorite box of toys

i still have that strong affinity towards dinosaurs and over the years the interest has developed to include all monsters and creatures. but no giant monster movie has ever inspired that same feeling 'jurassic park' did. it's hard to expect any to do so, since that film has nostalgia in its favor.

but on the other hand, contemporary monster movies just suck. i must admit there have been a lot of cool scenes, like the white ape fight in 'john carter' or the ice creature chase in the new 'star trek', but the giant monster genre has fell off considerably in my zealous opinion. 'cloverfield' was a fucking travesty; a movie about a group of post-grad yuppies and ditzes doesn't come close to one about dr. ian motherfucking malcolm. and using the storytelling tactic spielberg used in 'jaws' to hide the monster for most of the movie doesn't really work for these giant monster movies, the biggest reason being that i know exactly what a fucking shark looks like but not a giant space creature with 6 legs. because i felt there was this void in hollywood, i swore to myself that i would make a kick-ass giant monster movie if i ever became a filmmaker.

but along comes guillermo del toro, geek filmmaker extraordinaire. i love all of his movies and watching the trailer to his new film, i think that void i've felt is about to be filled. i'm usually disappointed by great trailers so i try not to hype things up too much for myself, but if this film is as good as i imagine it's going to be, i want to sincerely thank mr. del toro for finally appeasing my inner child.

i can do without the 3D though.