Review of Atlantic Rim (2013) by Xsaris G — 11 Sep 2013

Terrible screenplay and acting defeat moderately good sound and camera work.

The film opens to a spill on an oil rig.

Three untested giant robots are sent to find it. Drunken incompetence results in a lot of collateral damage before an early success over one of the monsters.

The 'hero' gets both lionized and jailed. Nice.

After the first incident, another monster emerges. The robot pilot who was so dedicated to assisting the cleanup is shown playing checkers with his fellow pilot.

The second monster is bombed by one of our stealth aircraft; no one seems to notice that the monster slithers away alive and unharmed.

Gratuitous jiggling and drinking. Florida does not really resemble Manhatten Island that much.

Worst piece of all: the use of giant melee weapons by the giant robots where much more powerful ordinance failed before.

Cinematography: 8/10.

Sound: 8/10 OK.

Acting: 0/10 Uniformly bad. This was undoubtedly the worst performance by Grahame Green that I've ever seen. There's a big disconnect between what the actors say and what's supposed to be going on, such as, 'maybe we hit a wreck' -- when the speaker is on a stationary oil rig.

Screenplay: 0/10 Mardi gras in Florida. Interesting, unexpected. 'The pressure is increasing exponentially.' Exponentially is not what it used to be; the issue vanishes two seconds later with no explanation. Which character(s) am I supposed to care about? Unknown. Which plot thread is supposed to be engaging? None of them are. Generally incompetent dialog. Needless romantic triangle that was barely explored.

Special Effects: 7/10 Varies between competent (dinosaurs) and amateurish (fake explosions, loss of the aircraft carrier Wasp).