Atlantic Rim (2013)

When considering the modern ‘me too’ movement, it is quite a bizarre creative choice to have the third act of your movie begin with two male characters who have never been demonstrated operating a giant robot before, to leave two female mecha pilots in a room to subsequently go save them, all while defeating the overgrown creatures that previously bested the ladies. First of all, there is a hint of ‘mechsplaining’ in the narrative that tries to gloss over overpowering the women for everyone’s benefit. But to some degree, it is inadvertently laughable how these men chose not to trust the women with what is essentially a suicide mission, as there is initial self-censorship to their plan to eradicate trust issues.

To make matters worse, one of those young ladies was infected by one of those monsters, which is surely going to cost her life. But it looks like no one cares much about that these days.

This is a film by ASYLYUM INTERTAINMENT called Atlantic Rim: Resurrection, where military officers and scientists fight with giant mutant crawdad-like monsters by deploying massive battle bots that resemble 1980s toy robots. The setting is the east side of the US, but surprisingly, the attackers look like they are from California. To make it worse, according to the Asylum plot synopsis featured on their website, the monsters being attacked are in Los Angeles. The release date for the film is inaccurate too, as their website claims the movie was released on February 15, 2017.

Like the other films, this one has horrendous continuity too, as it serves as a mockbuster for the sequel of pacific Rim, called Atlantic Rim: Resurrection. This is unlike the original movie, which came in 2013 alongside the first pacific Rim and was distributed in Canada under “Attack from Beneath” because the world was not ready for that too many lawsuists. I have to admit, it is a funny looking title. But the sad truth is, most Americans are unaware of the movies preceding it.

Because this mockbuster sequel confirms one of the great scientific mysteries of our time, it matters: Robonet or Python, what is the best neural operating system for psychically synching Go! Go! Gobots! to their human operators? Or as I was thinking after almost 20 minutes of what really is more babble than techno, ‘Are they ever going to shut up and punch a giant monster? I’m here to see big ugly robots get face punched by big ugly monsters dammit!’

By the time this sequel gets to its first full blow robot vs monster brawl, the Atlantic Rim had put out the most monster mayhem and mania, more molten steaming robot on monster entertainment with melted hot metal, and far more entertaining footage of monster smashing robot pilots getting hammered and hanging out in the bars. The first had desired more of everything you would from the Asylum mock Pacific Rim about disobedient ade alcoholics operating giant robots to save the East Coast from gigantic sea dragons.

This sequel is missing the “Mighty Drunken Broski Ranger” feeling, the cartoonish delirium, and ham-fisted acting of the original that earned me a three-star review. It does not have the main scientist who was meant to pilot the robots looking like he was perpetually hung over because the entire demeanor just wasn’t there.

Just because it is not as entertaining as watching David Chokachi lurk in a film like a intoxicated broski stumbling through an intervention, this does not make it boring. Especailly since he and his bro-guzzling robot pilots proceed to demolish an apparently lost laughing giant monster like a neon dipped madman. Interestingly enough, this sets the stage for the unhinged, one-eyed military officer commandeering his superiors at gunpoint, begging them to give him the order to nuke something… anything. The stars of this go-for-broke original did not return for the sequel and made, quite frankly, a pedestrian extension and fixation pointer of Too Grounded in Reality than its bonkers predecessor, and let’s face it, it is not realistic either.

The paradox of this situation stems from how I felt utterly flabbergasted as to why the pilots still needed to shift gears and press buttons on the dashboard for the robots to function throughout the over-simplifying dialogue, the brakes on the robot’s neck are firmly seized by my thoughts. Did my brain completely go to the Drift during this time and I missed any clarifications that resolve this sticking point?

Though they reveal Logan’s primary characteristics in bits and pieces, one of them is to have passive concern for the wife and without forgetting marriage, tacks on a plot that has these two women running away from roughly sized Kaiju that offer mightily mess the place up. Silly me for thinking the family portion is absent, but I do think there has to be an easily dismissable biting of keyword tag, subordinate supportive. Truthfully, it is an Asylum film at the end of the day.

Honestly, is there anything tragic about having the Uber’s pick them up from the danger zone? The answer to this painful subplot seems to be yes because the dad calls an proffessional unlicensed driver while in a much more powerful vehicle which, believe it or not, borders on reality.

A simple yet fantastic twist is that a gigantic lobster-like creature with a gaping maw from the ocean world realese invades the streets of East Coast L.A. and lays hundreds of smaller buggers. The characters use the terms “spiders”, “insects” or “arachnids” for the subservient chitinous kaijus but they use “bugs” not to eliminate the confusion with a certain character. Regardless of the appearance, everybody calls them “spiders” and I actually doubt they have an external appearance resembling spiders, they are more like enlarged earwigs. I can’t say for sure whether they sport eight legs or not.

And please do not make me explain the term ‘Resurrection’, with respect to Atlantic Rim: Resurrection. It’s beyond me. They could have taken that direction, instead of ‘Resurrection’, since this is a mockbuster of Pacific Rim: Uprising. Even naming the movie ‘Atlantic Rim: Rising Up’ would have been more appropriate since the movie starts with the gigantic monsters rising from the ocean. So much more believable!

The good thing is that any film in which humans use specially designed sophisticated super science weapons and battle bots, that are mind controlled, to fight monstrous creatures from the depth of oceans, and there is still a part in the movie where the robot gets injured and still manages to take off a control panel and pulls out a medicine kit with nothing but Band-Aids packed inside earns a badge in audacity from me.

For more movies Visit Gomovies.