Pacific Rim

Lore & Background

In 2013, colossal extraterrestrials called Kaiju emerge from an interdimensional portal called the Breach at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and begin to attack coastal cities along the Pacific Rim. In response, humanity constructs massive mecha called Jaegers; each is co-piloted by two or more people who share the mental stress of piloting the machine through a mental link called the Drift. The Jaegers are initially highly effective. By 2020, brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket pilot the Jaeger Gipsy Danger to defend Anchorage. A Kaiju severely damages Gipsy and kills Yancy. Raleigh manages to kill the Kaiju, but traumatized by his brother's death and the stress of solo-piloting the Jaeger, he quits the program. Five years later, world leaders divert funding from the Jaeger program in favor of coastal defense walls due to resurgent Kaiju attacks and the rapid attrition of Jaegers. However, the walls are soon proven ineffective when a Kaiju breaks through in Sydney before being brought down by Jaeger Striker Eureka, piloted by father-son duo Herc and Chuck Hansen. The remaining Jaegers are relocated to the Shatterdome in Hong Kong under Marshal Stacker Pentecost.

In Their Own Story

Raleigh, now working on constructing the wall, is convinced by Pentecost to rejoin the Jaeger program and is brought to Hong Kong, where he meets Mako Mori, director of the Jaeger restoration program. Only four Jaegers, including Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka, remain. Pentecost informs Raleigh of his plan to destroy the Breach by detonating a tactical nuclear weapon inside it. Raleigh searches for a new co-pilot and finds Mako is compatible. During their first test in Gipsy Danger, Mako loses alignment while recalling a Kaiju attack in Tokyo that almost killed her, nearly discharging Gipsy's plasma cannon inside the Shatterdome. Consequently, Pentecost suspends Mako. Raleigh protests, having seen through Mako's memories that Pentecost had adopted and raised Mako after her parents died in a Kaiju attack. Pentecost consults Kaiju experts Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb. Hermann predicts that while Kaiju attacks will increase in frequency, the Breach will soon be stable enough to permit passage of the bomb. Disregarding Pentecost's orders, Newton drifts with a Kaiju's brain, learning that they are a hive mind of bioweapons created by an alien race to help colonize Earth. At Pentecost's instruction, Newton meets with Hannibal Chau, the leader of a black market organization selling Kaiju body parts. During the meeting, two Kaiju attack the city; Hannibal deduces that the hive mind accessed Newton's memories during the drift, which prompted the two Kaiju to attack Hong Kong in search of him. All three Jaegers aside from Gipsy Danger intervene, but two are destroyed and Striker Eureka is disabled with an EMP blast which injures Herc. With Mako reinstated the nuclear-powered Gipsy, immune to EMPs, manages to eliminate both Kaiju. Newton and Hannibal attempt to harvest one of the Kaiju's brain but find that she was pregnant; the infant Kaiju bursts out, devouring Hannibal before strangling itself with its umbilical cord. Newton and Hermann drift with the infant's brain, discovering that the Breach only opens if it detects Kaiju DNA. Pentecost reveals to Raleigh that he has radiation poisoning from excessive Jaeger piloting. Although doing so again would prove fatal, Pentecost resolves to co-pilot Striker in the injured Herc's stead. When two new Kaiju are detected at the Breach, Gipsy and Striker approach, before the most powerful Kaiju yet appears. Gipsy kills one Kaiju, but is damaged. Pentecost and Chuck sacrifice themselves by detonating their nuclear warhead, killing one and allowing Gipsy to defeat the other and ride its corpse into the Breach. Raleigh ejects Mako from Gipsy, triggers a meltdown in the Jaeger's nuclear reactor, and ejects before its detonation seals the Breach. Their escape pods surface as rescue helicopters arrive, and humanity celebrates the defeat of the Kaiju.

Reader's Guide

The narrative begins in 2013 when Kaiju first emerge from the Breach. By 2020, brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket pilot Gipsy Danger in Anchorage. After Yancy is killed, Raleigh quits. Five years later, with the Jaeger program defunded and walls failing, Marshal Stacker Pentecost recruits Raleigh back to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. There, Raleigh meets Mako Mori, whom Pentecost adopted after her parents died in a Kaiju attack. After a failed drift test, Mako is suspended, but Raleigh protests. Scientists Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb discover the Kaiju are a hive mind of bioweapons. Newton's drift with a Kaiju brain leads two Kaiju to attack Hong Kong. Gipsy Danger, immune to EMPs, kills both. Newton and Hermann learn the Breach only opens with Kaiju DNA. Pentecost, suffering radiation poisoning, pilots Striker Eureka with Chuck Hansen. At the Breach, Pentecost and Chuck sacrifice themselves. Raleigh rides a Kaiju corpse into the Breach, triggers Gipsy's meltdown, and ejects. The explosion seals the Breach, and humanity celebrates.

Did You Know?

• Principal photography began on November 14, 2011, in Toronto and lasted through to April 2012.
• The film earned a worldwide total of $411 million, with $136 million coming from China alone, making it del Toro's most commercially successful film.
• Del Toro initially offered the role of Stacker Pentecost to Tom Cruise, who briefly accepted but backed out over pay and scheduling.
• Rinko Kikuchi never complained during filming in the intensive Jaeger cockpit harnesses; her secret was 'I think of gummi bears and flowers.'
• The film is regarded as an homage to kaiju, mecha, and anime media.