The Mako Mori test is passed if the movie has: a) at least one female character; b) who gets her own narrative arc; c) that is not about supporting a man’s story. I think this is about as indicative of “feminism” (that is, minimally indicative, a pretty low bar) as the Bechdel test. It is a pretty basic test for the representation of women, as is the Bechdel test. It does not make a movie automatically feminist.
I feel like calling it "woman-friendly" if it passes the Bechdel Test reveals a clear misunderstanding of the Bechdel Test, while also being patronizing. PS. I love(d) del Toro, but Pacific Rim was a disaster of a movie. It had major plot holes, horrible writing, and some bad acting.Nearly three decades later, the Bechdel Test has become almost a household phrase, common shorthand to capture whether a film is woman-friendly.
Same here, the two scientists were just... UGH! I went into that seeing that it was (to me) the second Charlie Hunnam movie I had ever seen. The first being The Ledge, and yeah I'm sure he's done a lot of movies but I only knew him for Sons of Anarchy at the time.
What really stuck out to me was the lack of consistency with the portal (which is only frustrating since they laid out the facts so intensely during the plot). According to the scientists two things are true: 1) to destroy the portal they needed to blow up a nuke inside the portal (or else it would have no effect like their previous attempts), 2) to enter the portal you have to be a monster, which they know from the process of a monster leaving the other universe and entering ours. Then at the end, the main character goes all the way through the portal to the other side and blows up his nuke. This somehow destroys the portal. He also somehow then makes it back through the portal to the other side without hiding in a monster. And yea the scientists were bad...I love Charlie Day as well, but that was just bad casting or directing.
I view del toro as a filmmaker that I want to like, because Pan's Labrynth was so good. The rest of his movies are marginal to garbage. I don't know if he's a great director who just loves crappy subject matter, or a shitty director who happened to hit one out of the park.
I've never seen Hellboy, but I know there is a big contingent of people that like it. Have you seen it?
Thanks, I'm indifferent to Ron Perlman, but it's definitely a film that is on my list.
Sometimes this kind of thing confuses me when it's centred around a single movie. While I think it's be great if Hollywood wasn't a man's, man's, man's world, it's not like it's the sole responsibility of Guillermo del Toro to bring it there with Pacific Rim...