Go big or go extinct! Prepare yourself for Guillermo Del Toro’s dazzling smash fest PACIFIC RIM.

When a massive earthquake cracks open the seafloor, gigantic monsters called Kaiju come crawling from the depths and lay waste to cities and armies across the globe. On the brink of destruction, humanity joins forces and creates the Jaeger Corps, an international army of massive nuclear-powered robots controlled by two psychically linked pilots to take the fight to the Kaiju. Cocky with their technical marvels, mankind begins treating Kaiju fighting like a global sport – until, suddenly, a new breed of larger, even more dangerous Kaiju, start ripping through Jaegers like wet paper dolls. Teetering on the brink of defeat, the last remaining Jaeger pilots rally for one last strike at the source of the Kaiju: the swirling vortex on the ocean floor.

Pacific Rim is as close to live-action anime you can get — gloriously melodramatic, gigantic in scope and spectacularly designed. Aussie star Charlie Hunnam’s American accent may be pretty terrible, but the film’s diverse cast and global stakes are an early example of Hollywood’s pivot towards international dollars in the 21st century.

Part of Nitehawk’s March LARGE AND IN CHARGE screening series.