Post by Ferro_Vida on Jan 9, 2011 23:24:12 GMT -5
Edgar Wright has shown on more than one occasion that he is a very capable director, especially with films that are in some way parodying or paying tribute to an established genre (if you have not already seen Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR). His theatrical style is energy, hectic, often times over the top, and always entertaining. Which is why when I found out that he would be directing the film of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World I was more than just a little bit excited at what the finished product would be. It can be difficult to transfer the plot, characters, and ideas of some novels and comic books from their original form to one that would work on the screen (see Zack Snyder’s take on Watchmen for evidence of both success and failure), but if there is anyone who could make it happen I was confident that it would be Wright.
I was not disappointed.
This was easily the best “video game movie” I have yet to see, and it wasn’t even based on a video game. Where other films have seemingly tried to what made their source material great (Resident Evil), and others have failed to do so (Doom), Scott Pilgrim fully embraces the action, humour, and sheer ridiculousness that anyone who has read the comics would come to expect. People who have played classic video games before are going to love the little Easter Eggs and jokes peppered throughout the course of the movie, from the choice of background music to the way that the Evil Exs burst into coins when they are defeated. The soundtrack was top-notch, combining established talent like Metric and Beck with vocal tracks written just for the movie. The pacing was good, and any quieter moments were still full of things to keep the attention of the audience.
Despite everything it did right, SPVTW isn’t perfect. The casting of Michael Cera as Pilgrim was a bad idea; I have only ever seen Cera play one character in any of the movies I have seen him in, and that is the awkward teenager. This is the way he plays Pilgrim here, and it really doesn’t suit the character as he was written in the comics. Thankfully the rest of the casting was quite well done, and the snappy dialogue was enough to minimize Michael Cera’s Michael Cera-ness. Another issue was that they tried to condense six graphic novels into one movie, and a lot of things ended up being lost in translation. We aren’t really given the chance to really get to know a lot of the characters in the movie nearly as much as I would have liked to, and Scott and Ramona really end up coming off as horrible people because of it. While I would have preferred to have seen this stretched over two films, I also understand that making a movie based on a relatively unknown comic from a small Canadian company was a big risk, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to risk leaving a potential dead-end franchise open to a sequel.
The biggest problem with this film, though, was the release date. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is mainly aimed at the teenage/young adult demographic, with enough of a blend of genres to appeal to most men and women. Unfortunately, it was released alongside the testosterone-fueled The Expendables and it’s polar opposite, Eat Pray Love. This split the viewing demographic down the middle and guaranteed that Scott Pilgrim’s opening weekend would be a bad one. Despite being universally praised by critics, the film didn’t see a lot of success in theatres, which, considering its over-all quality is a damn shame. There has been more than one occasion where I have had the strong desire to punch whoever thought it would be a good idea to release this movie alongside Eat Pray Love and The God Damn Expendables
VERDICT: See this movie. While there is a lot of humour targeted at people who love video games, there is also more than enough that is not related to games to keep everyone happy. The majority of the acting was excellent; the cinematography was spectacular and kept the feel of the source material, and all of the fight scenes were very well choreographed. If you are looking to watch a movie this weekend than make it this one, because you could do a lot worse (cough Resident Evil cough Doom cough Eat Pray Love).
I was not disappointed.
This was easily the best “video game movie” I have yet to see, and it wasn’t even based on a video game. Where other films have seemingly tried to what made their source material great (Resident Evil), and others have failed to do so (Doom), Scott Pilgrim fully embraces the action, humour, and sheer ridiculousness that anyone who has read the comics would come to expect. People who have played classic video games before are going to love the little Easter Eggs and jokes peppered throughout the course of the movie, from the choice of background music to the way that the Evil Exs burst into coins when they are defeated. The soundtrack was top-notch, combining established talent like Metric and Beck with vocal tracks written just for the movie. The pacing was good, and any quieter moments were still full of things to keep the attention of the audience.
Despite everything it did right, SPVTW isn’t perfect. The casting of Michael Cera as Pilgrim was a bad idea; I have only ever seen Cera play one character in any of the movies I have seen him in, and that is the awkward teenager. This is the way he plays Pilgrim here, and it really doesn’t suit the character as he was written in the comics. Thankfully the rest of the casting was quite well done, and the snappy dialogue was enough to minimize Michael Cera’s Michael Cera-ness. Another issue was that they tried to condense six graphic novels into one movie, and a lot of things ended up being lost in translation. We aren’t really given the chance to really get to know a lot of the characters in the movie nearly as much as I would have liked to, and Scott and Ramona really end up coming off as horrible people because of it. While I would have preferred to have seen this stretched over two films, I also understand that making a movie based on a relatively unknown comic from a small Canadian company was a big risk, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to risk leaving a potential dead-end franchise open to a sequel.
The biggest problem with this film, though, was the release date. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is mainly aimed at the teenage/young adult demographic, with enough of a blend of genres to appeal to most men and women. Unfortunately, it was released alongside the testosterone-fueled The Expendables and it’s polar opposite, Eat Pray Love. This split the viewing demographic down the middle and guaranteed that Scott Pilgrim’s opening weekend would be a bad one. Despite being universally praised by critics, the film didn’t see a lot of success in theatres, which, considering its over-all quality is a damn shame. There has been more than one occasion where I have had the strong desire to punch whoever thought it would be a good idea to release this movie alongside Eat Pray Love and The God Damn Expendables
VERDICT: See this movie. While there is a lot of humour targeted at people who love video games, there is also more than enough that is not related to games to keep everyone happy. The majority of the acting was excellent; the cinematography was spectacular and kept the feel of the source material, and all of the fight scenes were very well choreographed. If you are looking to watch a movie this weekend than make it this one, because you could do a lot worse (cough Resident Evil cough Doom cough Eat Pray Love).