Scott Pilgrim [graphic novel/motion picture]

[syntheticgerbil]

This thread... it is now for babies.

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[dpp]

I just read the comics, now I'm pumped to watch the movie and get the game. Too bad it sucked at the box office...

[tm_drummer]

Too bad it sucked at the box office...

Don't care.

[Cigol]

Directed by Edgar Wright, therefore you should!

[tm_drummer]

I know I can't wait to see it. I know I respect Edgar's work. And I know I don't judge movies by the box office success. Especially when movies like "Twilight" manage to stay at the first 2 places for almost a month.

[Moelman]

I don't think he meant too bad it sucked as in the movie sucks, it's too bad it sucks that such a good movie is not doing well. At least that is how I feel about it. Seen it 3 times.

[Randall Theil]

I just finished volume 6. Overall impression is they're very clever and charming books. Wallace is one of my favorite comic relief characters in comics. Just the way O'Malley draws him makes me smile.

[tm_drummer]

I don't think he meant too bad it sucked as in the movie sucks, it's too bad it sucks that such a good movie is not doing well. At least that is how I feel about it. Seen it 3 times.

Yes, I know. That's kinda what I'm saying. When a stupid movie like Twilight can stick at the first/second place for a month and does amazingly well, but a movie such as Scott Pilgrim can't....................People are stupid. Give them Sex and the city, Twilight and Eat Prey Love, the theatres are full. Give them Scott Pilgrim, with an interesting and funny story, cool loveable characters, amazing effects and amazing direction by E. Wright, it fails in the box office.

[Gwardinen]

I didn't know that the last volume of the comic hadn't been done when the film was made, but it might explain my feelings on the film. These can be summed up pretty much with "I liked everything except the end". The last 15 or so minutes of the film just didn't live up to the rest of it, for me, which kind of disappointed me as it stopped it from being an automatic strong recommendation for everyone I know.

On the other hand, the promise was good enough that I'll probably actually read the comic now.

[jennoa]

I didn't know that the last volume of the comic hadn't been done when the film was made, but it might explain my feelings on the film. These can be summed up pretty much with "I liked everything except the end". The last 15 or so minutes of the film just didn't live up to the rest of it, for me, which kind of disappointed me as it stopped it from being an automatic strong recommendation for everyone I know.

On the other hand, the promise was good enough that I'll probably actually read the comic now.

Personally I preferred the last half of the movie to the final book

[dpp]

Genius!

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[Nachimir]

One thing I really liked about the film: They seemed to vary the production on Sex Bob-omb to make them sound incredible in the living room and shitty on stage

Having seen the film now and contemplated the books a little more, I'm able to articulate what I like about Scott Pilgrim, which is basically that it's a story of characters maturing in an inherently shallow world. They live amidst surreal game conventions: Information labels,

extra lives, coins, pee bars, teleportation doors

, overblown martial arts and physics, and you can kill rivals with little to no repercussions.

That surreality meant that none of the hipster/game stuff people seem to find so objectionable in the comics bugged me; I never for a second saw any of the characters as anything to aspire to, it was just entertainment, until the end. So:

All of the fights Scott has to go through centre on shallow things, or at least, things people tend to care about in a shallow fashion for phases of their teens and early 20s: clothes, hair, skating, music, experimentation with and aspirations around sexuality, diet, etc. Early in the film and comics, all of the characters relationships are similarly shallow. They want them to work like video games and people keep getting hurt.

It's about people learning to deal with relationships more maturely, in the setting of a world that isn't grown up and doesn't change. In that respect, I think I preferred the end to the comic over the film, as Scott and Ramona explicitly articulate that they need to work harder at their relationship, and that's placed very high above the fighting and in the stead of any of the usual twists or reveals an author would save until the end.

That's one pretty fucking healthy message to be wrapped up in something so overtly cool

[miffy495]

Huh, well done David. You just took all that apathy towards Scott Pilgrim that other people's descriptions had instilled in me and made it sound more interesting. A good friend of mine wants to take me on a bro-date to see it, and I am now no longer dreading this.

[miffy495]

Ok, so between David's post, the fact that a coworker who is currently reading the series left the first two volumes on a shelf at work, and the fact that I had an hour with nothing to do today I have now read the first two volumes of Scott Pilgrim. People (specifically, people in the Scott Pilgrim game thread) were giving me crap for being down on the series without having read any, which is a position I understand, so I figured I'd give myself something real to say about it. My verdict: Meeeeh...

In the entire first two volumes, the only actual laugh I had was

when Knives and Ramona were fighting. "I totally grazed you." "How appropriate, you fight like a cow!"

Nice to see a subtle and well-executed Monkey Island reference, plus it had its own version of the joke, rather than ripping it off completely. I dug that. Otherwise, the video game references don't feel as casual and conversational as people have been describing, but rather forced and Juno-esque. There have been a few good ones, but on the whole, disappointing on that front. The non-referential dialogue I'm actually enjoying more than I thought I would. It feels pretty accurate and well-done. I also like that pretty much every character except Scott seems to be very vocally of the opinion that Scott is a total waste and way too into being a childish ass, as my worry going in was that this common geeky stereotype would be exhalted rather than shown as the negative that it is. Very glad to be proven wrong on that front, though now I'm even more worried about the fans who do think that Scott's personality is something to aspire to or be proud to identify with. As for the fight scenes, they're easily the worst part for me. They feel stupid and ancillary to any part of the book I was actually enjoying. As soon as they get into the pseudo-mystical bullshit about portals and coins and items, I check out completely. I feel like if they just cut all that out, it may be something much more enjoyable.

The long and short of it, I'm not hating it or loving it. I'm decidedly meh on it. , perhaps. It's popcorn reading. You enjoy it well enough while you're doing it, but don't have to think about it at all and it leaves you feeling somewhat empty. If my coworker brings in the others and I have more time to kill, I wouldn't be opposed to reading them, but I'm also not driven to go out and find more to continue it. The very definition of , in fact.

[tm_drummer]

The non-referential dialogue I'm actually enjoying more than I thought I would. It feels pretty accurate and well-done. I also like that pretty much every character except Scott seems to be very vocally of the opinion that Scott is a total waste and way too into being a childish ass, as my worry going in was that this common geeky stereotype would be exhalted rather than shown as the negative that it is.

As a fan of Scott Pilgrim comics, this is exactly what I loved most about them, plus all the other things (some or most of which you don't like).

...the video game references don't feel as casual and conversational as people have been describing, but rather forced and Juno-esque.

To me, the obviously indicated video game references never actually were the MOST important part of the comics...but neither do they feel forced to me.

As for the fight scenes, they're easily the worst part for me. They feel stupid and ancillary to any part of the book I was actually enjoying.

I got the feeling that they're intentionally made that way...to feel...well, not stupid but...lame. At least some of them. The best example being

the "fight" with Lucas Lee

...I mean, it's kinda obvious. I felt and perceived that as attributed to Scott's lameness and idiotic behavior.

Then, of course, some of the fights, such as

the three-way fight between Scott, Roxie and Knives' dad

I thought to be quite cool. I found it resembling the old japanese movies AND both the encounters in western movies, at the same time. So...yeah.

Edited August 28, 2010 by tm_drummer

[ThunderPeel2001]

I just read the first volume of graphic novel and guess what: It's great! Very light and witty and fun, with a wonderful twist of OTT "Manga". It reminds me of Joss Whedon's Sugar Shock (which I imagine most people probably haven't read -- but it's a light, amusing piece with a really fast pace). It's very difficult to keep that brevity up through the course of a story -- all too many times I've seen authors try and start at break-neck speeds and then slow down as the writer's energy falls/plot kicks in. In the first volume, at least, the lightness is kept up until the very end (no doubt thanks to the sudden OTT "Manga" fighting). Superb stuff if your brain is in the mood to be tickled. Pilgrim himself is an irritating person but also highly enjoyable to read.

Of course now I'm torn between reading the rest of the books or watching the film -- I'll do both, but in which order?

Also: Please keep the spoilers in

spoiler tags!

Thanks.

[tm_drummer]

Read the rest of the books first. It's a somewhat different experience, although at the same time, the movie quite follows the books, of course. So you might want to experience the events through the books first, forming your own thoughts and perceptions about it and then seeing it on screen, as a slightly different view of it all. Otherwise, it won't be so fun reading the books after you've already seen most of the core story in the movie. I guess...I've read the books first so, that's just a presumption.

And also, the books have more back story to the characters and they're much better developed so...yeah.

[Nachimir]

Ideally I'd go with the books first too if you've started them, but the film is pretty good on a big screen. It's not like it's a whodunnit or something either, so it might be good to watch the film then get a more fleshed out version of the story from the books.

Miffy, I wouldn't belabour this point if it weren't for the rest of what had been said about Scott Pilgrim: Fair enough

[Moelman]

I agree about finishing the novels first, as there are a lot of parts in the movie that you will "get" more if you've read them. Not that those parts don't make sense otherwise, but you will get the references. It won't be ruined either way though.

[Gwardinen]

Personally I preferred the last half of the movie to the final book

Having now read the books... I didn't really like either ending. I think it's partly me, I tend to feel dissatisfied with endings in general... but it also seems like games and any things to do with games don't usually have great endings.