Mr. Topp and the Big Bad Blog

The Big Bad Blog rates this movie as FUN.

We begin this review with a warning. This paragraph and the one following do not include any spoilers for the movie. After that, it is anyone’s guess. Your intrepid blogger, while not wanting to ruin the movie for you, will also happily refer to events and characters in the movie. You have been warned.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is original. It creates its own little parallel universe, is full of imagination, and quite often hilarious. All these things make the film worth seeing, and make it likely that you — as a reader of the Big Bad Blog — will probably enjoy yourself quite a bit. It is also very, very shallow. Very shallow. Seriously. It makes Rambo look deep.

As a caveat, it must be noted that your intrepid Blogger has not read the books. At a runtime of one-hundred-and-twelve minutes, it had to fit in seven epic fights, introduce us to seven evil ex-boyfriends, and show us Scott, Ramona, Knives, Scott’s sister, ex, roommate, and bandmates. Sixteen characters to have a feel for and seven fights leaves us less than five minutes per character investigation/fight on average. And that would leave no time for joining them up.

Your Big Bad Blog now explores his reasoning behind Scott Pilgrim:

What’s Awesome

We begin with why you should see this movie.

The answer is simple: It is a brilliant visual representation of the comic.

In this respect, it is much like Sin City, based on the Frank Miller comics. While I have not yet read the Scott Pilgrim comics, I do have a vague idea of what they look like, and that was brought to life in a brilliant and inventive way in the film.

Moreover, Scott Pilgrim has a video game feel to it, as well. Here at the Big Bad Blog, we assume that came from the comic too. Regardless of the origin, it is undeniably awesome.

The open sequences to the movie do more than introduce us to the characters, they introduce us to the world. It looks like the Toronto we know and love on the surface, but it is filled with comic book and video game logic and physics — it goes beyond a mere look.

If you love comic books and video games, see this in the theatre. Even if you only like them. Or liked them once upon a time. It is worthwhile for this alone.

What’s Good

So that’s what’s great about the movie — but is that enough? Certainly not for this blogger. All style and no substance is great for a short film, but not for a feature.

Luckily the film is funny. Very funny.

The supporting characters are brilliantly done. With the exception of Knives Chau, they are one-dimensional, each and every one, but they add so much colour to the film — they are used brilliantly, and not given so much screen time for their one-dimensional nature to become a detriment to the movie.

And they’re funny. And one supporting character or another steals pretty much every scene in the movie. Usually Knives.

And the main character is pretty funny himself.

If you are anything like us at the Big Bad Blog, you will find that Scott Pilgrim vs The World will give you endless quotable one-liners.

What Sucked

Unfortunately, the supporting characters are not the only ones that are one dimensional. The protagonists are as well, and they do not have the luxury of spending the majority of their time off screen.

For all the (excellent) humour and the brilliant visuals, the movie is a love story. A bizarre romantic comedy. And both the male and female lead are one dimensional.

As the viewer, I never once cared about Scott getting the girl. Ramona was really, really boring. Really boring. And as soon as the evil exes start showing up, the script stops trying to give Scott Pilgrim anything interesting to say or do (other than get in fights and throw off one-liners) — Scott gets boring too. Ramona’s influence?

And the characters aren’t the only thing that is one-dimensional in the movie. The plot is, too. There is not a single plot twist, unless you count having to fight the evil exes. The closest we come is to have the record producer Scott’s band is trying to impress actually being an evil ex-boyfriend.

Here at the Big Bad Blog, we are uncertain that such a linear plot has ever before been put to celluloid. Perhaps that’s the nature of the beast, and part of the cost of having a video-game feel is to have a video-game approach. Beat all seven levels, get the girl at the end. Good work, Mario!

Your blogger does not think this works well in a movie.

We would like to think that subtlety, character development, and interesting plot elements had to be abandoned to fit six books worth of material into less than 120 minutes — that’s less than twenty minutes per book. We plan to read the books to confirm (or deny) this theory. But whatever that verdict may be, as a movie that should stand on its own Scott Pilgrim vs The World is seriously lacking.

We performed a thought experiment here at the Big Bad Blog — as readers, you are welcome to repeat it at home: think of your least favourite movie; the movie you like least of those that you watched all the way through. Was the plot less predictable than Scott Pilgrim’s? Did the protagonist have more depth?

Here at the Big Bad Blog, we cannot think of any. Titanic was less predictable. Maid in Manhattan features more character depth.

The Final Verdict

Scott Pilgrim is a fantastically fun movie — those good and awesome points above are undeniable for anybody with a geeky bone in their body. But in the end it suffers from a lack of attention to what makes movies great: great stories and emotional attachments to the characters on the screen.

At the end of the movie, I wanted Scott to end up with Knives. I was kind of happy when it looked like that was happening. Knives, you see, is the only character that undergoes any kind of change or growth within the movie. She is the only interesting character. I cared about her, and wanted her to get what she wanted — Scott Pilgrim.

And that I cared more about the crazed, seventeen-year-old stalker ex-girlfriend than the leads hurts a little inside.

Because this movie could have been more than just fun.

Normally “you ask, we answer” looks at questions found in search terms. Not today.

Instead, a friend has asked some zombie-related questions.

We answer.

What is your favourite zombie movie and why?
A difficult, difficult question. And I might give a different answer on a different day.

Night of the Living Dead is, of course, the gold standard of zombie movies. It is easily the best zombie movie out there.

However, Shaun Of The Dead is more fun. It is well made, hilarious, and — of course — full of zombies.

But the question is not about which movie is best, or which is the most fun to watch. No — it is favourite. And the leader on “favourite” has to be Re-Animator. A movie so bad, it’s good.

What is the worst zombie movie? Why should we avoid it?
This question is much easier to answer: Re-Penetrator. A pornographic remake of Re-Animator, it is simply awful.

As for why you should avoid it … it is zombie porn.

What is your favourite zombie killing weapon of choice? Why?
My zombie killing weapon of choice is the sawed-off shotgun. There is just something beautiful and magical about zombie fighting scenes with sawed-off shotguns.

What was the first zombie movie you ever saw? Is it what hooked you on all things zombie?
I can’t remember. And no. Whatever that first zombie movie was, it certainly did not get me hooked. I did not care much for zombie movies until I was in University.

Do you have some kind of zombie escape/preparation plan prepared? If so what is it?
No, I don’t. The problem is that zombies are not real. So having plan seems foolish. I should plan on more probable scenarios, like an invasion of mutant spider monkeys from Mars.

If you were making a zombie movie who would be in your ideal cast?
I have made a zombie movie — well, been in one, anyways. I’m pretty proud of it.

If you were writing a zombie movie what scene/stuff would you absolutely put in the script?
I think there needs to be a good base-jumping scene in a zombie movie. And also a zombie movie set on a submarine. These probably would not be the same movie.

If there were a zombie movie being filmed near you would you volunteer to be a zombie? Would it be worth getting covered in corn syrup/fake blood and going through make up to be in the movie?
Absolutely. Participating in the making of small films is quite exciting. It would be good to participate in a big one up close — I already feel a bit foolish about procrastinating my way out of an opportunity to be in Pirates of the Caribbean IV. Which, by the way, we are hoping finds itself with the subtitle “A New Hope”.

Joining in the “you ask, we answer” fun is now easier — as Mr. Topp can now be found on formspring! Interesting questions will make it here.

Photograph by Rachel Cobcroft

They should make a live action Inspector Gadget movie. Yes, I know that one already exists, starring Matthew Broderick and … Michelle Trachtenberg? … but that movie was an attempt to bring the cartoon to the screen in live action.

I am not suggesting such a thing. I would not suggest such a thing.

I am thinking of something darker.

There are two different Gadget movies that I think would be enjoyable for someone like me — an adult who enjoyed the TV series as a child. Movies like the Broderick movie are bound for failure, as the series only ran from 1983-1985. People who watched the show as a child — people close to my own age — are not going to enjoy a movie targeted at ten-year-olds. The ten-year-olds, in turn, will wonder who this Gadget person is. It’s a wonder that the Broderick movie made money.

Instead of hoping that parents take their kids to a movie that neither is likely to enjoy, instead invoke some nostalgia while forcing Gadget to grow up.

Idea one: Dark Gadget

This is the simpler of the two ideas, though I like it less. Here, Inspector Gadget remains, by-and-large, the same. The only difference is that instead of having largely useless gadgets (a hammer?), he has gadgets that are a bit scarier — go-go-gadget-Gatling-gun, for example.

The movie can begin with Gadget’s Robocop moment, in which he is gunned down by his nemesis, Doctor Claw and gets rebuilt as Gadget.

Instead of a cute little girl, Penny should be a chain smoker with bleach blonde hair, questionable fashion sense, and a bad attitude. What fun is taking care of your niece if she’s a goody-goody-two-shoes? She would, of course, continue to be a genius.

Brain should be a robot, not a dog. I’ve got no arguments to back that up, I just like the idea of Brain-as-robot.

From there, we go about our usual Inspector Gadget plot. Instead of being an incompetent buffoon, Gadget thinks that his new gadgetry means that he needs no backup. Penny sees the folly in this, and secretly provides the backup. Yadda-yadda-yadda. With a Gatling gun.

Idea two: Hallucinatory Gadget

This concept would again begin with Gadget’s Robocop moment … but in this version, something has gone wrong. Gadget’s body and his gadgets do not interact well, and Gadget needs to take medication that causes him to hallucinate, or he is in great pain.

And, oh, the hallucinations. He sees his nurse as his niece, Penny, and the agent assigned to him for protection as his dog, Brain.

They are living what — to Gadget — seems like a happy domestic life when Gadget finds a lead on Doctor Claw’s whereabouts in a newspaper. Dreaming that his old police chief came and assigned him the case — though the instructions self-destructed and he cannot prove it — Gadget uses his new powers to break out of the hospital and hunt down Doctor Claw, while his nurse and bodyguard scramble frantically to keep him alive.

I would definitely pay to see this movie.

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Credits

Finally, we must give credit where credit is due. These thoughts were inspired by this photograph:

By Kizer 180 at Deviant Art.