Movie Review: Atlantic Rim

I love a good mockbuster. For those that don't know, a mockbuster is a rip off movie that comes out, usually direct to video, around the same time as a big Hollywood blockbuster. It'll have a similar plot, same artwork on the box and a lot less money behind it. However, the idea (I guess) is to capitalize on people's craving for more of the same, even if it means a lesser quality of film. The Asylum film studio does this better than anyone, they have made several mockbusters over the years, titles like: Transmorphers, King of the Lost World, and I Am Omega have all graced SyFy Channel movie nights and DVD shelves at Wal Mart. They also seem to be good at it, as I have actually been more entertained by some of Asylum's offerings than their Hollywood counterparts. For example, I enjoyed their Cloverfield rip off Monster more than Cloverfield and their take on Hansel and Gretel was really good (the Hollywood version didn't even appeal to me in the slightest). So when I was scanning through my TV guide and saw that Atlantic Rim was playing on the Space Channel I immediately set my PVR to record.

So if you know the plot of Pacific Rim, you can pretty much guess what happens over on the Atlantic. Monsters rise out of the ocean and battle giant man made robots controlled by military personnel; who seem more like they are playing video games than battling monsters. Apparently, the robots were created for finding underwater wreckage's, but are equipped with rockets that shoot out of their arms (in case they need to blow up a whale or something). Our leads are Jim (played by Treach), Red (David Chokachi from Baywatch) and Tracey (Jackie Moore) who man the robots and seem to be caught in some sort of love triangle. They are led by General Hadley who is played by Graham Greene from North of 60 and Twilight: New Moon (I can't believe he was in this either!). The story has a lot of false finishes: they kill one monster, they think it's over, go celebrate, another pops up, wash, rinse, repeat. 

Now, I have not seen Pacific Rim (or as I would've called when I was a kid: Specific Rim) but I would imagine the effects are ten times better than what we have here. No surprise there. I also don't expect Oscar award winning performances from Treach (is he a rapper or something, why the gimmick name?) or Chokachi, although both are passable as action heroes. Jackie Moore did a very job good with what she had to work with; she has been in many B-movies I have seen and I think she could be one big project away from making it to the A-list. But, BY GAWD Graham Greene stole the show here, and by stole the show I mean he chewed the scenery like a termite in a lumber store. Greene is a damn good actor and I think for this movie, he was being a damn good BAD actor. He must've been throwing in the towel knowing what Atlantic Rim is and who would be watching it. His performance needs to be edited for a YouTube music video or something, it would get a million hits and that would just be from me! On the flip side, there was some decent action and the opening scene where an oil tanker gets taken down was pretty cool, but things move too slow in this movie. I felt like the dialogue scenes (which were clearly the movie's weak point) went on forever! Especially Graham Greene's robotic acting, (the CGI robots had more range than he did) which really should've been keep to a minimum. There was also this weird dude with an eye patch who kept wanting to use nuclear weapons. Hasn't he seen Reign of Fire? Nukes don't work on dragons or whatever these monsters were supposed to be. That was another thing, the monsters looked good, but all three of them were the SAME monster. We couldn't switch it up a little? Maybe give one an extra head, or maybe make one a giant panda, give us some variety!

All in all I would not recommend Atlantic Rim unless you want a lesson in how to be a good bad actor from Graham Greene. Otherwise, skip the trip to the Atlantic and maybe check out the Pacific. 'Til next time.

Best Scene: Graham Greene's bad acting

Worst Scene: see "Best Scene"

Grade: 4/10
Viewed on: Space Channel