Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: A new kind of comic book movie

Comic book movies have certainly risen in popularity in the last decade. We've seen movies of Spiderman, the X-Men, a reboot of the Batman series, and even a Watchmen movie. While not all comic book movies have been good, they are still a growing trend. To some, it may appear that the they are beginning to become a bit stale, since there are so many out there now. If you do, then let me tell you about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. As you may have read in my previous article, this is one of my top 5 favorite movies of the year. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a movie adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comics written by Bryan Lee O'Malley. Directed by Edgar Wright, this movie is highly entertaining with intense action, and clever humor. The overall story of the movie is about a boy named Scott who wants to date girl named Ramona Flowers. Unfortunately, he has to fight her seven 'evil exes' to be with her. In the story, a lot of the characters have some kind of special ability. These abilities are never quite explained, at least not in the traditional sense that superheroes powers are explained. But that's kind of the point of this movie. The movie is meant to be a tribute to nerd culture. In the movie, Scott is shown early on playing a game called ninja revolution with his first girlfriend in the movie, Knives. It is a motion fighting game that involves actually doing the moves. In the director's commentary, Edgar Wright talks about how this is supposed to be were Scott got his fighting ability. In the comics, the Bryan Lee O'Malley got the overall idea of Scott Pilgrim from Street Fighter, his idea was that the ultimate fantasy for a gamer was to one day be able to do the moves they do in the game.


All the characters in the film are great, and the cast does a great job with their roles. Every character whether they are a minor character or a main character is highly entertaining. All the evil exes are funny nicely portrayed, even though they have brief roles, they each feel like they have distinct personalities. Michael Cera does well in the main role as Scott, managing to be both nerdy and funny, giving us and entertaining main character. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does fairly well as Ramona Flowers. Her character is not the most entertaining to watch onscreen, mainly due to the fact that she does not seem to get as many jokes as the rest of the main characters, but she manages to play her role skillfully, which is all that can really be asked of her. Ellen Wong does a great job as Knives Chau. She manages to be funny, hysterical, and sympathetic making her one of the most likable and entertaining characters in the movie. There many other supporting characters such as Scott's sister and roommate, but I will not go into great detail with each of them. They are all well played and make the movie even more enjoyable.


One of the things that is really cool about this movie is its fight scenes. All of the fights are just awesome. Each one had great choreography, and was incredibly creative. You can really tell that the stunt team worked hard with each fight. The fights include fist fighting, sword fighting, and all kinds of action. The amount of effort put into each fight really pays off in this movie. There was not one fight that I did not enjoy watching.


One of the things I want to talk about is this films visual style. First, as I am sure you noticed if you watched the movie, there are several scenes were when a phone rings, you see the word 'ring' pop up, or when a doorbell rings, you see the words 'ding-dong' pop up. During the fights, you also see words like 'krow' pop up when someone is hit kind of similar to the Adam West Batman. It creates an almost comical effect in the fight scenes, making them both ridiculous and intense at the same time. This was how the scenes were done in the comic-book and Edgar Wright adapted these scenes exactly, giving the film a unique atmosphere. These effects, along with other effects used during the fight gives this film a unique style, that helps make the film even more entertaining to watch. Another thing that adds to this movie's atmosphere is that all of it is shot on sight in Toronto, were the books take place. In one of the commentaries, we find that the settings in the story were real places that Bryan Lee O'Malley had been to as a kid. The film crew goes to each of these actual locations giving the film's setting an authentic feel to it. The camera angles and cinematography add to this as well giving the movie a very unique feel to it. Many of the scenes in the movie are amazing, such as the scene with Ramona and Scott walking in the park.

This scene has such a unique, magical feel to it. There is nothing you can see in the back ground, letting you focus on the characters while at the same time making you feel like your actually there. Scenes like these take the film to another level. While not groundbreaking, they do help make this movie slightly above average.
Another part of the movie I loved is the music scenes. The music is great in this movie, and the effects in these scenes make an experience I won't forget anytime soon. Effects in these scenes, such as the D's coming from ones guys guitar really make these scenes unforgettable. The soundtrack is just awesome, made up mostly of Rock music, a genre that I personally love. The soundtrack for this movie is great, and the music scenes really added a lot. The band Scott is in in the film is called Sex Bob-omb and we get to see them play several times in the movie. Every time, they play, you know something awesome is about to happen, whether it is a fight or some other kind of stunt, it is almost always exciting. The other music in this movie is great and really makes the movie feel exciting and fast paced.

Apart from the visuals, action, and music the thing this film really has going for it is humor. While the story is nothing spectacular, the humor written into it is extremely funny, and I found myself laughing though out the film. While not all the characters are like able, they are enjoyable, and that makes up for it. I don't want to go into great detail on the jokes, they are more enjoyable, I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. Most of the jokes are clever, and avoid cliches the majority of the time. Part of this is due to the fact that the movie is based off of a pretty clever comic series, but another factor contributing to it is that Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall wrote a good screenplay. They also worked with Bryan Lee O'Malley, and all their hard work really pays off.


The DVD has a lot of extras including deleted scenes, galleries of photos, bloopers, and commentaries from the cast, director, and even the writer of the original comics. I recently watched the commentary with Director Edgar Wright and comic writer Bryan Lee O'Malley and it was really good, it gave me a lot of insight on how they put the movie together, and how they worked together to make the movie while the comic wasn't even finished. Other commentaries where with people from the special effects team, and cast members such as Michael Cera and Brandon Routh. The deleted scenes are a nice addition, they included extended scenes that were shortened, alternate scenes that were cut and re shot for various reasons, and even an alternate ending to the movie. The galleries were interesting, especially if you are someone who is interested in art. They included some great concept art, photos, and a slide show that compared scenes in the comics to scenes in the movies to show how they were adapted. There also a few photos of Edgar Wright at various filming locations for the movie, and some the cast members on set. Some of the concept art was of stuff that did not even make it into the movie because they could not fit it in, which was pretty cool. I do not have a Blue-ray copy of the movie unfortunately, but I know it has all the bonus features of the DVD, as well as a few extras. Overall, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a great movie, showing that there is still fresh content out there for comic book movies. It certainly isn't groundbreaking, but it is a lot of fun, an pretty original (or at least as original as a comic book movie can get).The DVD and Blue-ray had a lot of bonus features that definitely make it worth buying. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys comics, video games, music, comedies, or was born in nineties, as this movie has a lot of references to them. If you like movies that are serious, story driven, character driven, or logical this movie will probably not fit your tastes. If you like the Scott Pilgrim comics, I would definitely say check this out, but don't be to upset if a few things change, after all, the comic still wasn't finished when the movie was being made. I am not saying this is for everyone, but I am sure there are many people out there who will have a blast watching this movie. Its humor and style separate it from any other kind of comic book movie out there making it an experience that is unforgettable.

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Directed by:

Edgar Wright

Written by:

Michael Bacall
Edgar Wright
Starring:
Michael Cera
Mary Eliabeth Weinstead
Kieran Culkin
Ellen Wong
Alfie Rackley
Studio:
Big Talk Studios
Relativity Media
Distributor:
Universal Pictures
Running Time:
112 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Outstanding!

(+) Extremely funny and entertaining
(+) Awesome action scenes
(+) Cool visuals give the film a unique atmosphere
(+) Highly enjoyable film
(+) Well written dialogue
(+) Good performances from the cast
(+) Great music, really fits the movie
(-) Humor may not be understood by everyone


2 comments:

SpeedBrkr said...

I watched this on Blu-ray last week and it's still enjoyable even after multiple viewings; admittedly I'm a big fan of the comic and movies with lots of references to video games.

For anyone that has Scott Pilgrim vs the World on blu-ray, did you notice any artifacting in a couple scenes because I swear I saw some pop up. I'll have to take a closer look the next time I view it.

Zenithwillrule said...

Scot Pilgrim is simply amazing. I love every single minute of it. Sure its mostly nerd humor but im a nerd.

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