MovieChat Forums > Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) Discussion > why this film does not work

why this film does not work

posted 11 years ago by crakatoot
25 replies | jump to latest

Because ( in my opinion, some people get hysterical if you don't say that) lets forget how underwhelming the two leads are, or the nauseating level of hipsterness, which could be forgiven cause it is a cool looking movie and it was a different idea, but it was to far removed from any reality or any sort of consequence. in movies, no matter how fantastic the setting there still has to be some kind of rule. Some kind of logic, some way that can ground it in reality. Like look at Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a fantasy film with a lot of crazy cartoon elements but early on they establish that cartoon characters can be killed. They can survive anvils landing on them but that dip stuff Christopher Lloyd had, that could kill them. So we know despite all the crazy elements Roger or Jessica can still be killed, that gives the movie stakes. Which this movie totally lacks, despite all the crazy *beep* Scott goes through he never really gets hurt. Cause of this the fights look good but there not very compelling. plus a lot of other things, Scott replaying the final fight, the computer chip she has in her head, which may or may not be real, I'm not sure. just to much stuff like that, that takes you out of the movie.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] puschit-1 11 years ago

The movie doesn't work because the main character didn't have a kryptonite type of weakness? Really, that`s it?

I, for one, am always happy if movies do NOT follow such simplistic rules.

[–] crakatoot 11 years ago

if the character can't be beaten the story isn't interesting.
and I don't know when I mentioned kryptonite.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] puschit-1 11 years ago

I mentioned kryptonite as an example for an artifical generic comedic token weakness. That's not interesting, that's borderline stupid.

And Scott Pilgrim wasn't unbeatable. For one, he is unable to hit women. He almost got smoked there by Roxy. Next, he was unable to beat Todd both in martial arts and in playing the bass, he only won with the help of the vegan police and a little trick. Against the Katayanagi brothers he didn't even fight and it was an effort of his entire band. Lucas Lee? He didn't beat him in combat either. And the final fight? In the movie I saw, Scott DIED in that one. And the second time around it was a 3 vs 1.
So, in recount, Mathew was the only opponent Scott was able to beat in a fair fight. Now tell me again where Scott is unbeatable and why he needs an archilles heel.

Apart from that, why does it matter if the character can be beaten or not? He is the hero, so we know he will win anyway, don't we? It's the way to that point that is interesting. Christian Bale didn't suffer even a single scratch in Equilibrium but this didn't make the movie any less entertaining. Because, there was so much else going on. The main conflict of this movie wasn't all those physical fights he had, that was just eye-candy. The main conflict was fought on another level, his transition from a mindless drone proteting a police state to a sentinent being, switching sides.
Likewise, Scott Pilgrim fights a constant fight on personality level. The physical fights aren't his real opponents. He basically fights against himself the entire time. I mean, the movie spelled it out for, when he literally got the power of love and the power of self respect. Remember his last opponent? AFTER Gideon? That was his "evil twin". How turned it out? He didn't fight, he came along well with him. Character transition completed. <= And that is actually interesting.

[–] MikePaul854 11 years ago

What I find unbelievable is why in the world would Ramona be interested in Scott in the first place. By all accounts, he's a bland loser who creepily dates high school girls.

[–] puschit-1 10 years ago

Because all guys she dated before were *beep* For once she wanted to try something different.

[–] PirateMetalFan 11 years ago

as for your "hipserness" comment i'll never find out. hipster has no ground definition to speak of. but for your setting arguement.

this movie is based out of a reality based off of old school fighting/nintendo games. people turn to coins, points are added, lifes are added. at the same time it's a comic book movie in the literal sense since dialouge and sound effects literally pop up in the screen. the reality is there. it's just not our reality

"Hating on haters is a form of Hatin!"

[–] crakatoot 11 years ago

yeah but during this move pretty much anything can happen, anything if at the end a dragon showed up it would not have seemed out of place. that kind of unreality could work in a loony tune cartoon since there only a few minutes long but for a whole movie it gets a bit grating.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] PirateMetalFan 10 years ago

the dragon scenario might happen yeah since the logic is retro video games. In the comic and the video game adaption, the last boyfriend had several stages in his boss battle one was this big hulking monster. you made a god point with the roger rabbit logic, it's cartoon logic then here it's video game logic.

"Hating on haters is a form of Hatin!"

[–] gogiggs 9 years ago

But a dragon did show up, during the Katayanagi twins fight.

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

exactly your totally right this movie sucksss.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] Jolly_Fatman 11 years ago

Great points.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Adult_Themes 11 years ago

It was just a terrible movie.

[–] Jo_Mama 11 years ago

Unfortunately I cannot forget how underwhelming Michael Cera was.

[–] 11 years ago

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