The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World panel at Comic-Con concluded with director Edgar Wright marching most of the audience over to the Balboa Theater for a secret first screening. Both Dixon and I were there. What did we think of the film?
Kyle: So I think we're in a unique position to discuss the screening of Scott Pilgrim, which we just saw. You've read the books, and I haven't.
Dixon: That's true, and as a connoisseur of comic books and the often-crappy movies they inspire, I think I can say this is probably one of the best comic book film adaptations I've ever seen.
Kyle: I had a good time with it, too! Especially vis a vis some of the other summer movies we've seen lately. It feels like more of a power-packed comic book film than Iron Man 2, and it's wilder and more dreamlike than anything in Inception.
Dixon: I strongly disagree with you on the latter and mildly agree with you on the former, but let's not dwell on your shortcomings.
Kyle: I mean, I liked Inception, but most of the dreams there were about architecture, whereas in Scott Pilgrim, literally anything can and does happen from scene to scene. It can even defy its own motif...you think this is a movie built with video game language? Well, how about a sitcom scene straight out of Seinfeld, with a laugh track?
Dixon: Ignoring your fatwa against Inception, I think that the director himself put it best: It's like a musical. When the emotions get so strong in a musical, all one can do is sing or dance, and in this case, all they can do is throw roundhouse kicks and combo-punches.
Kyle: So, let's quickly recap the movie for people who might be unfamiliar with it (and for those people, they have NO idea what they're getting into...). Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim...but basically, he's still playing Michael Cera.
Dixon: Which is the one part of the movie I found lacking.
Kyle: He falls in love with a blue-haired girl who's not big on the talky-talk, while trying to shake his adorable, underage kinda-girlfriend. Wait, I should say "multi-color-haired girl."
Dixon: YOU SHOULD. She's like a rainbow!
Kyle: So then he must fight his new, rainbow-colored girl's seven evil exes, throwing down as if each was a video game boss battle.
Dixon: Exactly, but all of this is just window dressing. At its heart, it's a story about a young guy learning to grow up, take responsibilities for his actions and not be such a passive actor in his own life. It just helps that there's kung fu and shit in there.
Kyle: And let's talk about that. Which battle with the evil ex did you most prefer?
Dixon: Well, I have to say that all of the battles are very faithful to the books (except for the last one, which I have not read yet), but if I had to pick a face, it would be the whole last battle with Jason Schwartzman and his evil henchmen. It reminded me a little bit of Uma Thurman's fight at the end of Kill Bill Vol 1, except not as masculine.
Kyle: I liked the very first battle, simply for providing ample warning of just how insane the movie would get, but I also liked the one where Mary Elizabeth Winstead goes up against Mae Whitman. It's the most ingeniously staged and almost the most musical...it becomes like a dance. And I appreciated that Winstead's character actually got to take part, instead of standing on the sidelines all inscrutable.
Dixon: Indeed, and on the subject, let's have a brief moment of silence for the reunion between George Michael Bluth and Ann.
Kyle: Her? You know, as a Nintendo fanboy from back in the day, all I needed was an audio sample from A Link to the Past on the soundtrack, and I felt any resistances slipping away. Still, it's interesting. I mean, this is a film that is just densely packed with everything, including nostalgia, which: easy points. People laugh when they hear the Seinfeld music. They smile when they recognize the Triforce theme from Zelda. If the movie rested on those laurels alone, it'd be insufferable, and I wonder, for an audience not well-versed in this very specific cultural soup, WILL those things seem insufferable?
Dixon: Well, as someone who was not and is not into video games, I can say yes. I get the cultural touchstones, but much of the specifics were lost on me. I still enjoyed the story of a boy becoming a man, at its heart. And speaking of that boy, can we have a minute to discuss Michael Cera? Who, for me, is the one weak link in the movie. Perhaps it's because I've read sarcastic interview after sarcastic interview with him, but I have trouble believing that Cera can adeptly convey emotions on screen. He's got superb comic timing, but I can never think of him playing angry, scared, passionate, or depressed. He's in his own humid bubble of self-deprecation and I'm finding it a bit stifling.
Kyle: He can do "depressed"...it just looks like a Snoopy walk. I thought Cera was fine, if familiar. The interesting thing they pulled off in this movie -- and at first, I wasn't sure they would -- was that they were really able to pull off this vivid community of small roles and supporting characters. At first, the movie is startlingly top heavy with characters and introductions and it's a lot to get your bearings, especially with the quickest, weirdest wipes between shots that i've seen since Ang Lee's The Hulk...but it eventually worked for me. It didn't help at first that Wright would layer on additional onscreen "stats" for each character that told us exactly what we already knew. It was over-emphasis, but this is a movie about EMPHASIS!
Dixon: Well, that comes straight from the book, and is the point there as well. It tells us stuff that's patently obvious.
Kyle: Right, but that works on the page. Onscreen, I just need a costume and a real human face to look at and then it's overkill.
Dixon: Well, even though I couldn't help but imagine how well Jesse Eisenberg (or, as I call him, "The Acting Man's Michael Cera") would've rocked the role, it certainly was no deal breaker. The movie is perfect fun and comes not a moment too soon for this crappy, blah summer of crappy blah movies.
Kyle: It's so visually inventive and confident -- the action is cut insanely fast, but by and large, it makes spatial sense.
Dixon: Honestly, I think a lot of action directors could learn from Edgar Wright. The action was fast-paced but smooth, and I never had any trouble of keeping track of whose ass was getting handed to him or her.
Kyle: I would say this has better action sequences than Inception, but I don't want you to come after me with a flaming sword, so I'll just say you haven't seen ANYTHING like this at all this year.
Dixon: +100 experience points for you!