A couple of years ago I was looking for some comics to purchase. I think I went for a Batman one in the end (jumping on the bandwagon) but I remember reading about Scott Pilgrim. Scott Pilgrim is in a band called Sex Bob-Omb, and to date this girl he has to defeat her seven evil exes. It sounded great, but I was in a frugal mood and completely forgot about it until I heard that it was Edgar Wright’s next project. About a second later I had ordered volume one. Friday night, I finally saw the film. It kind of feels like the end of a long, very geeky, journey (I will avoid saying pilgrimage).
Scott Pilgrim is probably my favourite comic. It’s not written that well, the drawing isn’t brilliant, but in a strange sort of way this gives it a charm that’s hard not to fall in love with, and you could kind of define Scott Pilgrim the character like this. He hasn’t got much going for him, he hasn’t got a job and he cheats on his girlfriend. If this was a real person you’d hate him, but you love him. He is a clueless idiot who just has too much love to give. He is relentlessly optimistic, he shares a bed with his gay best friend, he gets excited about almost holding a girl’s hand, and he’s incredibly insecure about his hair, how can you hate someone like that?
The imperfect styling of the books goes perfectly with the imperfect Pilgrim, and I don’t know if Bryan Lee O’Malley intended this, but it really works. Take away all the fights and the subspace highways, and you still have a great love story at heart, with some fun and engaging characters to boot. O’Malley has spent as much time on Ramona as he has on Scott and this makes the romance more believable, even if it does take a while to figure out why anyone would like Scott.
Other characters like Wallace Wells, Kim Pine, Knives Chau, and Envy Adams all create a diverse universe that never gets old or boring, it’s just sad to see the series end so quickly. It would have been cool to see more background stories as to how Scott and Wallace met, or how Sex Bob-Omb formed, or even how Ramona met all of her seven exes. Volume 6 was a bit of a disappointment as it felt more like a rushed tie up than a complete ending, it would have certainly been interesting to delve into Gideon’s past a little deeper, but hey, that’s just my opinion.
It’s not often that I find a piece of fiction this cool though, and any criticism has ten plaudits in return. It never takes itself seriously, and because of this I don’t think anyone should break it down in too much detail, it was a very cool experience and my only gripe with it is that I wanted more. It may seem like the end of a long journey for O’Malley as well, but this is the start of a very promising career for him, and there will be a lot of people (including me) anticipating his next project. Unfortunately this means there is a lot of pressure for him to deliver the goods.
So that’s the books done, they will stay on my bookshelf and I will read them again every year or so…now on to the film. This doesn’t happen often, but every time I see a film where I have read the book beforehand, I just sit there and compare the two, like a massive nerd pointing out how the hat he is wearing looks exactly like it does in the book, or how that line at the beginning of the film was actually in volume five. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is now the first film I have ever seen twice at the cinema, and with the book - film comparisons done with on the first viewing, I could really sit and enjoy it the second time round.
I am wary to use the term “massive Edgar Wright fan boy” because after all, this is only his third film, and I see a lot of people, including Empire Magazine and that other blog The Incredible Suit, getting very carried away with the Edgar Wright fangasm. Try as I might to touch down on Earth, Wright does make it very hard to maintain any nonchalance when speaking about him. I love Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz to the point I watch them every few months or so, and no doubt will do with Pilgrim when it‘s released on DVD, but I think it’s somewhat premature to give him this god like status. Don’t get me wrong I love Wright, but I don’t want to be part of this group idolising him and praising everything he does, I’m trying to be that cool guy in the corner who doesn’t give a shit (but clearly is the biggest doting dork in the room).
Unfortunately for my coolness, Wright has made another great film. Despite the great source material it could have been very easy to ruin it and make a terrible film. Everything from the screenplay, to the casting, to the soundtrack, to the special effects, to the sound effects, to the fight choreography, just about everything is near perfect.
When the screenplay was written, O’Malley had not finished the series, so Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright had to write their own ending. The first half of the film is very similar to the books, with some scenes almost identical. Bacall and Wright are faithful to the source material, but to see the books copied frame for frame would be boring, so it works that they go their own way in the second half.
Where the books sometimes lose focus, the film never strays, maintaining a bursting energy right to the end. Wright has put his own ideas into the film which gives existing fans a new experience, and nothing ever feels out of place to what O’Malley has already created.
Music and fight scenes were featured heavily in the books, but were obviously hard to convey on paper, so it would have been a wasted opportunity if the film did not focus on bringing these to life. Wright said in an interview that he wanted it to be impossible to distinguish if Sex Bob-Omb were brilliant or terrible, and it really is impossible to tell. A lot of work has been put into creating an authentic soundtrack, and it adds a dimension that you didn’t have when reading the books. As for the fights, they are brilliant, but they never seem actually violent due to the video game tone of the film.
This may be the first great video game movie without actually being adapted from a video game. Save for a few Zelda sound effects and theme, there aren’t any references exclusive to the hardcore gamer, but even if you don’t play games, it won’t take anything away from the experience, it’s just a nice little touch for geeks.
For hardcore Pilgrim fans, Cera’s take on the title character may take a while to get used to, but you do get used to it, but Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ellen Wong steal the show with their portrayals of Ramona Flowers and Knives Chau. Winstead is as cool as Ramona is in the books and exactly how I pictured her, and Wong’s endlessly energetic Knives is a lesson to every woman trying to play a kooky chick with bundles of energy. The evil exes bring a whole spectrum of colour, and we have another reason why Chris Evans is on course to take over Hollywood, and why Brandon Routh should still be Superman.
If any criticism should be made it’s that a lot of source material was left out, and the film does seem a little rushed. There is still a lot of content, and it’s not often you get to see a film under two hours these days though, so it’s not all bad, in fact it really is very hard to fault this film. It baffles me though that both times I have seen the film, a Friday and Sunday night, that the screens have been pretty much empty. Why is no one watching this film?
I talked about this in my previous post, and it saddens me that this film will probably be branded a flop despite that fact it’s the best film I’ve seen all year, yeah, I said it, the best film I’ve seen all year. Perhaps it’s too ahead of its time, or the casual movie goer has no idea who any of the cast are, but Superman is in it! That skinny kid from Superbad! That girl from Die Hard 4! The Human Torch! It even has a fucking Culkin in it! So these aren’t massive names, but they will be, and if people only watch films with Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie in them then they are missing the whole point of film. Films are about telling good stories in an exciting way, it’s not all about Brangefuckinglina, and their films aren’t that good anyway.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World can’t go down as a failure, it’s too good for that, but like many other great films that have flopped, this will no doubt spawn a massive cult following and will gain notoriety in due time. I would like to think that Edgar Wright’s reputation won’t be tarnished by the box office takings (or anyone else’s involved for that matters) and that he will be given the freedom to continue making films like this. As much as I enjoy them, I hope Michael Cera stars in a film in which he doesn’t play an awkward teenager/young adult who gets the girl. I’d like to see Brandon Routh in the next Superman film. I’d like to see Chris Evans in a Captain America film that’s actually good. I’d like to think I have a chance with Mary Elizabeth Winstead should our paths ever meet. I’d also like to think I’m not deluded. Other people just want to see Avatar again…Morons.
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