Pacific Rim

PACIFIC RIM: Got the 3D Bluray but watched it in 2D since I'm the only one that had 3D glasses. I was hoping to like it in a MATRIX way (being blown away visually and conceptually) but I only liked it in an INDEPENDENCE DAY way (visually impressive but conceptually never got deeper than the premise offered up in the trailers). 

And I think it didn't appeal to Japanese audiences because the film chose to focus on the "human" story rather than making the robots and monsters the main event. The robots had some distinction but still took a backseat to their pilots and the drift system. The monsters had some physical variations but were basically generic bad guys with no unique motives. In fact the plot was almost exactly INDEPENDENCE DAY which in itself was nothing special other its scale.

Which is all too bad. I would have liked to seen a film where the giant robots and kaiju combatants were distinctly characterized over the self-absorbed soap operas of their pilots (other than Idris Elba - which was just him being him - I thought the acting was abysmal).