Del Toro lands a real monster hit

Guillermo del Toro’s robots versus aliens smackdown has more intelligence and creativity than the entire Transformers franchise.

Brit Idris Elba began his ascent up the Hollywood ladder here and the film manages to batter away comparisons to Avatar and Godzilla by being its own beast.

Stand-out moments are the rain-soaked super collisions between steel and slime.

As wonderful as the action is, there’s not enough of it. The gap between the first and second major battles – filled by training and bickering – is too long.