The modern comic book movie is nearly inescapable. Every year, Marvel pours out a barrage of the public’s favorite superheroes— Thor, Captain America, Black Widow… You know the drill. DC, for its own part, will throw out a couple of token shows or movies to maintain the image of a competitor. And every year, just like the last, they go on to achieve some of the greatest box office successes of any movie released that year. Yet, regardless of the heights of success to which these movies ascend, I can’t help but feel like there’s something missing. You see, they never really feel like comic books, do they?
Comic books have captured the imagination of adolescents for decades because they are punchy, bright, eclectic, and often bizarrely creative. You would think, given the capacity film has to experiment with light, color, and angles, that this would more effectively translate onto the screen. However, the modern comic book movie seems to altogether lack the vibrant “spark” that makes comics so special in the first place. The color grading is uninteresting, the sets are too realistic, and the cuts and angles are no different than any other action movie. I can always tell when I’m watching a clip from a Marvel movie because it feels altogether too clean, with none of the entertainingly garish design of real comics.
I have this sense that comic book movies are less adaptations of comics and more direct translations of each narrative element, line-by-line, to the screen. To watch a comic book movie feels more like to read a plot summary than to see comics come to life, and I think that’s a shame. When I watch Marvel’s Thor movies or Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), I see none of the vibrant colors or stylized movement that make comics such a compelling medium. The visuals feel flat and repetitive, like I’m watching another blockbuster action movie with no association with comics.
There is, however, one movie that I think truly does understand the style of comic books, and that is Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010).
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is an adaptation of the bestselling comic, following Scott Pilgrim, a 23-year-old bassist from Toronto who must battle seven evil exes in order to date the girl of his dreams. The premise is deliciously absurd, and director Edgar Wright more than delivers on the execution.
The color grading is vibrant, the cuts are sharp, and the visual effects intentionally mimic the stylized motion in comic books. Not only are the visuals a tribute to comics, but the writing is too. The villains are unabashedly ridiculous, with one scene featuring a battle between Scott and a vegan character whose powers are disabled when he accidently drinks milk and activates the vegan police. Wright abandons all pretense of realism, instead opting for the intentional folly of comics. The outcome is a bright, action-packed movie that tells a genuinely moving story while entertaining the audience with its playful and highly stylized visuals.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a glimpse into what comic book movies could be— colorful, lively, and genuinely comedic. Wright captures the spirit of comic books, and I hope someday that comic movie franchises will learn the same lesson.
