Two more images have been released from Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, and this time the monsters are getting their due.  The story is kicked off by the emergence of monsters (known as Kaiju) who start a war that devastates humanity.  To fight back, humans build giant robots (known as Jaegers) that are controlled by two pilots.  Most of the marketing so far has focused on the robots, so I'm glad a little love is being thrown towards the monsters (even though they're the bad guys).  They look cool, and Del Toro has explained how he has used each one to provide a different kind of aesthetic for each fight.

Hit the jump to check out the images, and how one fight will evoke Wagner and Goya.  The film stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Ron Perlman.  Pacific Rim opens in 3D on July 12th. Images via Empire.

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Del Toro said he based the fights on the wrestling matches he saw in his childhood, which inspired him to give each smackdown its own structure and feel.  For example:

The first fight is very operatic, theatrical: Wagnerian. It happens in the middle of an iceberg-strewn sea, in the middle of a storm, with huge waves crashing on the Jaeger and Kaiju. We worked really hard at making water a character in this movie, frequently referring to Hokusai or the Fuji wave, and trying to make the water enhanced and add to the drama. This fight tries to quote the majesty of a painting by Goya called the Colossus."

For comparison, here's Goya's The Colossus:

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Here’s the official synopsis for Pacific Rim:

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end.  To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge.  But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju.  On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past.  Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.