Pacific Rim

In 2013, an interdimensional portal called the "Breach" opens at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, from which giant monsters, the Kaiju, emerge, destroying various cities across the Pacific Rim. To combat the Kaiju threat, humanity builds massive robotic machines called Jaegers. Each Jaeger is piloted by two (sometimes three) pilots, who are mentally linked in a process called "Drifting", to share the mental stress of piloting the machine.

In 2021, the Becket brothers, Raleigh and Yancy, pilots of Gipsy Danger, are launched to defend Anchorage from Knifehead, a Category III Kaiju. Defying direct orders from command, they engage the monster directly rather than protect the coastline. Knifehead kills Yancy, and Raleigh barely manages to pilot the Jaeger on his own, killing the Kaiju before crashing it at a shoreline. Traumatized by Yancy's death, Raleigh quits the Jaeger program.