It should come as no surprise that a film lambasted by Mystery Science Theater 3000 would be bad, but Atlantic Rim is so far beyond awful I can barely bring myself to utter its name. From its idiotic opening seconds to its moronic finale, Atlantic Rim is completely incompetent in every way. Some circles might argue that this level of substandard filmmaking could place Atlantic Rim in the “it’s so bad it’s good” category, but those arguments would fall annoyingly on deaf ears. It is not “so bad it’s good,” it’s just really bad.
Popularizing on Guilermo del Toro’s 2013 giant monster hit Pacific Rim, Jared Cohn’s “mockbuster” is a mishmash of horrible writing, acting, FX, editing, and production values. While this sort of thing can be charming in films like Plan 9 from Outer Space, Cohn offers no such appeal. Instead of leaning into his lack of budget with ingenuity and charisma, he browbeats us with unlikable characters, misogyny, and incoherent storytelling. And for the love of Pete can someone tell me why Academy Award nominee Graham Greene is in this movie? On second thought, I don’t want to know. Let’s just leave it alone.
Suffice to say, the MST3K team has plenty to work with and do an admirable job with what they’re given. Despite my decades-long dedication to the original show and my skepticism about its return, I must say I’m impressed with the new team. Jonah and the gang are a bit more frenetic than Joel and Mike (whose listless attitudes are rooted in the same Minnesota upbringing as my own), but they get the job done. My only real complaint with the new cast is that it seems unlikely I’ll get to hear anymore inside jokes about the Minnesota Twins, The Replacements, or Twin Cities geography. A small price to pay for the welcomed return of bad entertainment made palpable by a space weirdo and his cynical robots.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.