Pacific Rim's Mako Mori Test: What It Is & Why It's So Important

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Pacific Rim inspired something called the "Mako Mori Test" among film theorists — here's why it's so important. Pacific Rimdocuments an invasion of extraterrestrial Kaiju from a trench portal called "The Breach" in the Pacific Ocean, with giant robot mechs called "Jaegers" fighting the Kaiju and eventually closing The Breach. Piloting the film's nuclear-powered Jaeger «Gipsy Danger» is Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi). The 2018 sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising focuses more on the Jaeger program and the aftermath of the Kaiju attacks.

Mako Mori is introduced in Pacific Rim at the Hong Kong "Shatterdome," where Jaeger pilots from around the world convene to handle the exponentially increasing Kaiju attacks. She becomes a Jaeger pilot upon the insistence of both herself and Becket, much to her father figure Marshal Stacker Pentecost's (Idris Elba) reluctance. Pacific Rim, set between 2020 and 2025, requires that Jaeger pilots can mentally link together in a process called "drifting," which she can do naturally with Becket. In their first time drifting in Gipsy Danger, Becket relives his past of losing his brother in a Kaiju fight. This prompts Mori to remember the traumatic childhood experience of running away from a Tokyo Kaiju that killed her family, only to then later be saved by the Pentecost-piloted Jaeger. As she and Becket improve their drifting and fighting, they eventually work together to fight incoming Kaijus and blow up The Breach using Gipsy Danger as the bomb.

Related: Pacific Rim Uprising Director Regrets Mako's Arc Didn't Have 'More Weight'

Mako Mori's character arc influenced the Mako Mori test, which requires that a film include a female character with an arc that doesn't support a