There are multiple del Toro-ish touches (Hannibal Chau the Russian cosmonaut suits), but not so many as to be overpowering, as occasionally happens with design-led directors such as Tim Burton. Mako (blue) and Raleigh (amber) are dressed and lit in complimentary colours: not identical, but opposites that click as soon as you see them together. We already know that the creators of Pacific Rim put a great deal of thought into worldbuilding, and costumes are a significant part of that. But we don't really care if the gangsterish Hannibal Chau lives or dies, so the reappearance of one of his shoes is nothing more than a comic beat. Mako is important enough that her shoe is kept by Stacker Pentecost as a reminder of her survival, and her Batman-like quest to avenge her parents. While the young Mako clutches onto her broken shoe for comfort as she runs from a Kaiju, Hannibal Chau's climactic scene also revolves around a shoe. Best of all are his gold shoes, which are not only an A+ Rich Eccentric Criminal accessory, but are used as their own little callback to the red shoes of Mako's childhood. Dressed like a 19th century pimp, he's gone to the trouble of procuring an entire suit made from red and gold brocade, and then dressed his gang of black market Kaiju dealers to match. Del Toro likened that broken red shoe to Mako's heart, kept safe by Stacker Pentecost for all those years until he could symbolically return it to her, and she could complete her own journey.įinally, the prize for most stylish character has got to go to Ron Perlman's Hannibal Chau. This provides a startling contrast with her red shoes, arguably one of the most important props in the movie. In adulthood, it's in her hair, and during the flashback sequences we see her in a cute, child-sized coat that looks like something from Alice in Wonderland rather than 21st century Japan. Mako is the character with the most personal connection to the Kaiju, and so that Kaiju blue is there throughout. The one modern touch is a fur-hooded parka, which looks so out of place with his other outfit that he may well have borrowed it from one of the other characters. Not only does he wear Charlie Chaplin trousers, but he buttons his shirts up to the collar and wears a sweater-vest over the top. You have to make a serious effort to look like that much of a twitchy old professor, particularly when your character was probably born in the 1990s. If Stacker Pentecost is the archetype of every anime patriarch ever, Gottlieb is the ultimate Hammer Horror mad scientist.
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(Hopefully they're saving that for the sequel.)Īnother vintage-inspired costume belongs to Dr Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman, sporting a truly terrible haircut to complement his bizarrely elastic face).
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They don't even have time to get matching bomber jackets made up. All the rest are family partnerships (even Cherno Alpha's married couple use the same hair dye, and could be mistaken for brother and sister), but Raleigh and Mako remain resolutely dissimilar. In fact, she and Raleigh are the only Jaeger team who don't look and dress alike. In the latter half of the film, Australian beefcake Chuck Hansen gets to play the role jockish bully, complete with 1950s-style leather aviator jacket.Īlways neat as a pin, she's the polar opposite of Raleigh Becket's messy, unwashed appearance. So we get cheesy Americana for Raleigh and his brother in Gipsy Danger, and gangster-style red jackets for Crimson Typhoon's Chinese crew. Either way, Jaeger Rangers are the hero pilots of the 2020s, and they need callsigns to match.
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It's not precisely clear if they're a uniform or just a status symbol that sets the Rangers apart from the rest of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. The most obvious '40s reference is the fashion for Ranger bomber jackets, which have each Jaeger's symbol on the back. No artificial fibres here: everything seems grounded and weighty, much like the grimy appearance of the Jaegers. Even the fabric choices hark back to an earlier time, with Mako Mori, Tendo Choi and numerous background extras wearing soft woollen shirts and tough, high-waisted trousers.
#PACIFIC RIM MOVIE APPAREL FULL#
Rather than using the kind of iPod-like interiors popular among most futuristic sci-fi movies at the moment, del Toro went for a gigantic hangar full of steam and tarnished metal, and populated by Rosie The Riveter types. The Hong Kong Shatterdome is full of references to WWII-era styles.