Pacific Rim

Monster aliens emerge from under the sea to colonise the planet in this cheesy hybrid of Transformers and Godzilla from director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth). Led by a heroic Idris Elba, Earth's resistance consists of colossal robots operated by two humans sharing a neurological connection. Sadly, there's little romantic chemistry between star-crossed co-pilots Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, while the other peripheral characters are of little interest. Too much downtime between epic battles means an overreliance on derivative macho drama and silly dialogue - especially the failed comedy double act of scientists Charlie Day and Burn Gorman. But when the gallery of supersized creatures face off against their towering iron giant opponents, this does become an engaging muddle of weird monsters and hardware, even if enervating sound and fury do win out over narrative sense. Del Toro provides a few of his signature visual flourishes, but this dumb but fun offering is the director at his most faceless.