It's hard to gauge whether the first Pacific Rim movie was a success or not. Financially, the movie did fine, taking in over $411 million at the global box office - which was clearly enough to convince Legendary Pictures to greenlight a sequel, anyway. However, while it did provide great entertainment value (in the form of monstrous kaijus battling giant robots), there were elements of the movie's story that didn't sit particularly well with some audiences and critics alike.
While talking to EW about his next role in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur, Pacific Rim star Charlie Hunnam acknowledged these narrative issues, and claimed he'd like to see the sequel rein in some of the special effects, and instead put more focus on story and character.
"When it becomes very technical, those technical aspects create a rigidity to the process. Then all of the sudden, you have to find where your little place to fit into that process is, as opposed to the whole thing being about you... I think world creation and monster creation and all of that stuff is exciting as a secondary element of storytelling. When it becomes more important than storytelling, I get very nervous, and you sort of lose me a little bit."
"Although we tried very hard on Pacific Rim to marry those two elements, I do feel like ultimately it got weighed heavier on the side of spectacle than storytelling. Not to say I wasn’t proud of the film. I really liked it, and I felt like it delivered exactly what it was supposed to. But I do feel like we could have maybe plumbed the depths of the character and the storytelling a little bit more."
Some may argue that these sorts of movies were only designed to be 'mindless entertainment'. However, given Guillermo del Toro's prowess as a filmmaker, and the film's exciting concept, it shouldn't be too much to ask for an engaging story to accompany the visual brilliance onscreen. Throw in the fact that the existence of Hellboy III seemingly hinges on the success of Pacific Rim 2, and comic book movie fans should all be hoping for a fantastic sequel!
Pacific Rim 2 is scheduled to hit theatres August 4, 2017.
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