Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I'm actually pretty torn as to whether I like the comic or the movie's final battle more. On the one hand, the movie basically reduces Ramona to an object to be defended by her boyfriend and his ex, which sucks because Ramona and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are awesome. On the other, I do like that the movie makes Gideon more of a direct threat - the final battle in the comic was more symbolic, it was about Scott and Ramona burying their demons before moving on, rather than Gideon really doing anything to them, while in the movie, Gideon has directly assaulted the leads by brainwashing Ramona.

He does that in the comic too. It's just more complicated because of Subspace, a major plot point that the film barely has time to acknowledge outside a single throwaway line despite visually showing it off at every opportunity.

edited 18th Mar '17 9:16:22 PM by TobiasDrake

I do remember something about that but I didn't really understand it. It seemed to me more like Scott and Ramona didn't have to fight Gideon, strictly speaking, but they did so for closure, making sure all debts are paid. Gideon at least didn't seem particularly interested in them, as he'd already moved on to Envy.

One thing I feel like the movie did better than the comic was its second sword. In the comic, it's the Power of Understanding, while in the movie, it's the Power of Self-Respect. They both serve essentially the same purpose to Scott's story, but I feel like the latter's name does a better job of communicating what it represents.

Sadly, the best moment involving the swords did not make it into the movie at all. "Gideon stole the Power of Love! What a dick!"

edited 18th Mar '17 9:28:33 PM by TobiasDrake

The movie has the Pixel Katana though, that thing's awesome.

I never got around to finishing the movie, but I thought the graphic novels' finale just felt really good in showcasing how Scott and Ramona really are meant for each other, that I'm kinda worried the movie's ending will feel subpar in comparison.

Although, now I kinda want there to be an animated Netflix series that adapts the books in a format similar to how the A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017) show is doing it. And I kinda want Genndy Tartakovsky to get in on it. And also this guy should be character designer.

It will feel subpar in comparison. There's no getting around that. But it's definitely got its high points.

Also, interesting bit of trivia: did you know that O'Malley stated that the Evil Exes didn't actually die? They just got zapped back to their homes in the US, and decided to drop their grudges because they figured the money for plane tickets wasn't worth it.

Well, that's a relief. Does that include Gideon though?

I'm not surprised. The idea that Scott actually has to kill them always seemed super-dark, which didn't really gel with the otherwise light-hearted nature of the series.

There was a planned alternate ending where there was a news story about a Canadian man killing several of his girlfriend's exes, played completely straight for the horror, as a sort of Black Comedy take on it all being in Scott's mind.

Personally, my biggest problem with the movie is not enough Kim Pine, but that's because the movie takes six fairly large comics that takes place over several months and has to compress it into less than a year. Plus the last one wasn't even finished when the movie was being made-they were written at the same time and the original script included a Mecha-Gideon idea that was just there to pad out the pages and never intended to be used.

So the movie works for me on that level-I understand that it and the comics are separate things.

Only recently I saw hardocver, larger print, full-color versions of the comics (I have the original B&W softcovers) at a bookstore and I was like "I have to buy these, just cause."

I could've used a more impressive Gideon fight in the movie. In my opinion, the most impressive fight is the first, against Matthew Patel.

It's funny, because in the comic It never felt to me like Scott would end up with anyone else.

From what I understand, early production on the film started well before Bryan O'Malley had even decided what the final outcome would be, and wrapped before the publication of his final installment. They made the two endings so they could go with whichever one matched what O'Malley did in the graphic novel. Kudos to them for structuring the film so that it could go either way and still make sense.

I doubt O'Malley ever intended anyone other than Ramona to be endgame, considering she was based on his own wife.

O'Malley has a cool wife.

Apparently the inspiration for the story came when O'Malley discovered that prior to meeting him she dated three guys named "Matthew" in a row, and joked that they should form a super villain team or something.

Yeah, initially it was going to be a "League of Matthews" rather than a "League of Exes." It's why Ramona's first ex is named Matthew Patel.

I'd like to annually celebrate how awesome this movie is, and how I wish I could go back to a time when it was still relevant to my social circle.

Aalways fun to look back and smile. And wish that they'd re-release the video game on PS 4 so that I can get all the DLC.

edited 17th Feb '18 9:31:07 AM by Soble

... I think my wish would be "make the PS 4 backwards compatible because it's hilariously bullshit that the game won't run it" but that's just me.

I'm pretty pleased that in my social circle, one cannot refer to themselves as sad without being asked how sad they are. And the only response is "SOOOOOOOO SAD!"

I introduced a friend of mine to this movie a few months ago and now it's one of his favorite movies ever.

Well, I finally read the comic and I have to said....this movie is a pretty damn good adaptation, probably one of the best when it come in how to adapt.

I mean, the comic is good but I feel it does have a really huge cast that is underused a lot, not all exes are intersting and they dont have the same weight in the story(in fact, aside of Todd the vegan and gideon, all other are disposable mooks) and Ramona just kinda come and goes into the story as she likes.

So in general, I feel the movie really did a good job.

Agreed. Honestly, the only real problem I had with the movie was that the extra life gave Scott a do-over, while in the comic it brought him back to life. Combined with the fact that they had to cut most of the other characters' plots for time, and it kinda implies that Scott is the only real person in the world.

I preferred Scott and Ramona teaming up against Gideon to Scott and Knives doing it. I get that burying the hatchet with Knives is important to Scott's development, but this had the side-effect of reducing movie!Ramona to an object/MacGuffin.

Is not like that? at least Scott didnt really have any sense of devolptment in the comics until the last two numbers so I never really feel other chararter were important.

....yeah, I think is because in the comics is clearly obvious Scott is going to end with Ramona, the last comic point how alike they are with one each other, while Knives roles is pretty much decaff Yuno gasai(whch is why I didnt like her so much).

it feel the movie go to far in the other direction.

So far that there's an alternate ending where they do end up together.