Pretty classical question, curious to see what you all think.
For me, it’s Pacific Rim. It is mostly about giant robots fighting huge monsters, but the the psychological treatment of the characters is more refined than someone would expect for this kind of movies.
spoiler
And the intro is very poignant scene, again, not something you would expect in this kind of movies.
That movie is sooooo underrated.
The critics never really understood it at the time, and the movie suffered from poor press. Definitely a cult classic. Also love that Arnie got Sly to do a Terminator poster for the video store, and all the references to other movies hidden all over the place. It’s an Easter egg extravaganza!
I didn’t see it for years after its release, just because of the bad press. When I finally ended up renting it, I really enjoyed it.