New Pacific Rim featurette sheds some light on why there are two pilots for each Jaeger and how it works

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Just because the final trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's PACIFIC RIM was released last week doesn't mean nothing new from the film will be seen until it hits theaters. Warner Bros. has put out a featurette on the epic looking sci-fi movie and the focus is on how the pilots operate the massive Jaegers.

I don't think there's much new footage in the featurette (one or two shots tops) but the explanations on how the Jaegers work by Del Toro and actors Charlie Hunnam, Rob Kazinsky, Max Martini and Rinko Kikuchi are pretty interesting. Some of it has been mentioned in previous trailers, such as how there are two pilots for every Jaeger and that the pilots are connected to each other through their memories. However we do learn from this featurette that when they pilots are connected it's called "the Drift" and when the pilots are drifting they can see each other's entire history, both good and bad.

Take a look:

Some people have complained that it looks like the characters are going to be two-dimensional and lack depth. That is a valid argument since most of what we've seen from the movie so far has been Jaegers and Kaiju fighting, but maybe a lot of the characters' histories will be told while the pilots are drifting. And I'd like to think that with Del Toro directing that he'll make sure there is some sort of emotional attachment between us the audience and these characters.

PACIFIC RIM also stars Charlie Day, Idris Elba, Clifton Collins Jr. and Ron Perlman, and will be released on July 12th, 2013.