Pacific Rim: Man, Machines & Monsters
The Inner Workings of an Epic Film
By David S Cohen
Foreword by Guillermo del Toro
156 pages
ISBN: 978 178 1168 189
Review by Mark Yon
As I type this we’re in the season of big summer blockbuster movies. Man of Steel and World War Z have just been released, and hot on their heels next month is Pacific Rim.
Although the film isn’t out yet, many of you will however have seen the trailer which has been around since the beginning of the year. It’s Godzilla-style monsters versus mech-suits on Earth, in the seas and on the land in 2025.
The aliens, known as Kaiju, have appeared not from space but from beneath the seas from the ocean trenches. The battle for supremacy is not an easy one. There are cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo destroyed and many people killed as the Kaiju step onto the land. Leading the fight against the Kaiju are the Jaegers, massive robots piloted by an international team of soldiers in the Pan Pacific Marine Corps. The film is of their resistance.
What has got many people excited is that the film is directed by Guillermo del Toro, director of Hellboy andPan’s Labyrinth. The background to the production of the film, as explained in the book, is complex, with Guillermo dropping out of two film projects (The Hobbit, and a cancelled version of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness) before settling on Pacific Rim, although it was a film he had been thinking of whilst involved in those two movies, and as a result was producer first without committing to direct it.
In his Introduction, Guillermo says that in making Pacific Rim, “my craft, experience, and rigor were those of a forty-eight-year-old man, but my heart was that of an eleven year old. This was playtime boot camp.”
This book shows that he clearly enjoyed the experience. The robots, monsters, cities, boats and other vehicles from the film are all shown here in various guises, in quite some detail. Although there’s the odd film picture, the book also shows a lot of obligatory behind the scenes photos of the film’s quite colossal production.
To the book itself, then. Presumably like the film, it is a lavish production – quality stock, lots of full-colour pictures throughout, and some lovely big versions that would look terrific framed. The attention to detail is very pleasing. The book has lots of little items stuck into the book throughout, that the inner fanboy/girl will love. There’s posters in an envelope at the back, Jaeger stickers, alien diagram pullouts, identity cards, blueprints of all the main robots, a page from Guillermo’s notebook. It’s the sort of thing you can imagine being paraded proudly in the school playground, although the reader may find them a little fiddly and annoying, even when they look great.
The writing by author David S Cohen covers the material well. The book’s structure goes through the production of the film, from concept to production through to post-production (special effects, music, 3D) and the marketing of the film itself, although there’s clearly a ‘wait-and-see’ aspect to it at the end.
There’s some enlightening interviews that deal with the origins of the film and with the director and actors. The book covers details about the characters, both human and otherwise, from the film (and a pleasingly international cast.)
The artwork is, as you might expect, stunning. Guillermo has always had a very visual eye in his productions (and this is shown by extracts from his very detailed notebooks) and it is shown here also through the poster art and the production pictures herein. I recognised, amongst others, art by Wayne Barlow, whose Guide to Extraterrestials is clearly an influence on the monsters.
The film and the book has a deliberate manga/anime feel, being partly based on del Toro’s love of kaiju movies like Godzilla, Mothra and his personal favourite, The War of the Gargantuas. (There’s also a rather icky story about Guillermo’s film-watching experiences in Mexico, when younger, that you need to read there but not here.)
One slight warning – although the book doesn’t tell the plot, there are details throughout that might spoil the film a little for some, although the book is clearly meant for people who have seen the film and want to know more, rather than something that will generate interest for the film (although I think it does that too.)
In summary, this is what you’d expect, a lovingly produced and classy art book, with enough new material to gain the fan’s interest, as well as enough of the art to remember the film by. If you love the film, or just love the idea of ‘monsters and mech-suits’, you’ll love this book as a memento.
Mark Yon, July 2013.
I’m very much looking forward to the film, one of my top 5 of the year.
I’ve ordered this art book from amazon, it looks gorgeous and I am looking forward to seeing the Jaeger and Kaju designs in particular.
Think you’ll like this one, Mith. It’s quite interesting how all the Jaeger and the Kaiju are similar to each other yet subtly different in their design. Hope you like it. M.