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Pacific Rim! Or maybe I should say, Peoshipik Rim (퍼시픽 림). I’m a huge kaiju fan, so I made a point to see it on opening day here in Korea. Gone are the days when I had to wait months before a movie would come out on the other side of the world; Pacific Rim was actually released in Korea the day before the US.
I like to go to the movie theater from time to time here, and yesterday confirmed how smooth an experience it is in Korea. Yesterday, I:
- Showed up 15 minutes before the start of a summer movie on opening day;
- Paid $4.50 USD for my ticket (I used a coupon that’s available in restaurants around the cinema);
- Got to reserve my seat by clicking an interactive map of the theater;
- Saw exactly one trailer for a Korean blockbuster, and no ads, followed by the movie starting exactly on time;
- Sat in a fairly comfortable chair, up to US and Canadian standards;
- Shared the theater with silent, respectful people who never checked their cellphones;
- Enjoyed digital images and sound with bone-rattling bass during the big fights.
I mean; wow, right?
How was the movie itself, you ask? I loved it! It suffered from the usual kaiju movie problem of “people talking” getting in the way of “monsters fighting”; but whenever the characters on screen shut up, things got fun and very loud. If there’s one thing I would have liked to see, it’s monsters actually on the loose and rampaging. But that’s a very specific criticism from a grumpy old Godzilla nerd.
Definitely a movie I’m glad I saw in theaters, more so considering the overall experience!
