TL;DR - The major studios should be encouraged to make more movies like this, and they won't notice without that strong opening weekend. Go fluff up the opening weekend. It's worth the money.

Disclaimer: I did not read the books aside from a book-one imagedump on /co/. For the most part, I came into the theatre without any known spoilers or expectations.

Right off the bat, Universal dives into the Scott Pilgrim vibe with the starting splash screen of the Universal logo and theme being sort of de-made, 8-bitted and chiptuned. To me, that denotes right off that the studio put this movie first, even before themselves. The maker was subservient to the creation.

Overall, it was a very, very well produced and directed movie. There were no slow parts, there were no awkward-to-watch parts. The fight scenes were very smooth yet complex, and did not belie even a hint of wire-fu despite the comic-style physics-defiance.

The effects blended seamlessly with the action, and any video game references were almost more reflexive than "inserted". There were no characters saying "Wow this is just like a video game" and no one started a monologue on how or why this certain thing works. You kill someone, then they turn into money. Neither of those facets are questioned or commented on.

It feels a lot like Zombieland, and manages to feel more polished than even that. It almost, or even does, manage to establish a new movie genre; Arcade.

I have a hard time saying it's "clearly" better than The Dark Knight, Wall-E, or Zombieland, but it's in that group. It won't appeal to everyone, just as those others don't, but it will feel worth a trip or two to the theatres even at twenty bucks a shot. Given its bright, flashy arcade-y stylings, you will want to see it in theatres, and not from a cam-rip on your PC.

I wanna see it!

Saw it! Loved it! Go see it!