It’s been over a decade since Guillermo del Toro delivered his take on classic kaiju flicks with Pacific Rim — and Legendary Entertainment is still trying to recreate its magic. In many ways, Pacific Rim was the anti-blockbuster: its schlock and spectacle almost seemed like a means to an end for del Toro. The 2013 film used its sci-fi conceit — that of giant mechs fighting even bigger monsters — to explore something that transcends words, the concept of soulmates. Of course, it resorted to some fairly elaborate worldbuilding to do so. Clunky exposition aside, Pacific Rim deserved to become the next big genre franchise; it’s just taken a few attempts to get it right.
