Pacific Rim Plot Details And Behind The Scenes Photos

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Guillermo del Toro’s giant creature feature, Pacific Rim, includes two distinct elements we’re rather partial to. The first are big-ass monsters called Kaiju, rising from the sea, and the second are massive combat robots called Jaegers. Things on set have been rather secretive, but del Toro took to the web to drop a few choice details about his robots and monsters. There are also a couple of behind-the-scenes photos to gawk at, like this heavily armed helicopter.

Del Toro writes:

The first monster took VERY long to stop and the material/human loss was huge… Kaijus targeted populated areas (no more- spoilers) and vector weapons (missiles, tanks) etc took too long to react against the kaiju’s ever-changing strategy…The first few Kaijus were stopped in this manner for over 2 years. Then the first gen Jaeger was tested.

We knew there was a massive conflict between humans and the Kaiju, but this gives a little more background into how things started, and how the Jaegers came into existence. As if you weren’t excited enough for Pacific Rim, the prospect of huge monsters tearing up major metropolitan areas should be enough to make you drool.

There’s been much speculation as to the logistics around the giant mech suits, and del Toro goes on to give a few more specifics about the Jaegers. Turns out they won’t be able to fly. They’ll “use thrusters to jump high,” but this isn’t Voltron, so they won’t be able to actually soar through the atmosphere.

So, they can’t fly, but they will have a sweet collection of weapons, though these armaments vary from Jaeger to Jaeger. “THREE Jaegers have blade-like melee weapons. TWO are knife / sword like since their ammo takes a while to reload or are impossible to reload amidst the battle (rockets).” You can’t help but smile at the phrase “battle rockets.” It is just such a lovely pair of words.

This first photograph shows a set used in the filming of Pacific Rim. The location is named as West Hong Kong (it was originally Kowloon, though that was removed from the script), but it is rather reminiscent of Blade Runner.

Here’s another glimpse of that chopper you saw earlier. It still looks just as cool.

Then there’s this customized golf cart that plays some undisclosed role. You can imagine this vehicle being used to transport weapons, fuel, or some important bit for the pre-combat Jaegers.

Pacific Rim stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Rob Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., and Diego Klattenhoff. It will invade theaters July 12, 2013.