I hated it. On the other hand, I loved the books (highly recommended) so it might be something like the whole Watchmen ordeal. And yes, the fight scenes weren't the usual dizzying fast-cut crap and showed off some impressive work from people I wouldn't have expected to do good fight scenes (Schwartzman, Cera)
No movie in history has been post mortemed more than Scott Pilgrim though ("why did this movie fail?" everywhere, even places that don't usually care about movies), so it's all been said already, but I think my problem was mostly with Cera. Scott Pilgrim is supposed to be one of the most renowned fighters and bass players in all of Canada. He's got a little bit of swagger to him (in contrast to his irresponsibility toward his interpersonal relationships). There is no swagger in Cera. He's all cringey-twee-kinda-sorta-whatever. It just threw everything off for me, like Zaphod as Dubya. (Plus I haven't forgiven anybody involved with Year One yet, except maybe Thirteen.)
The Expendables was great, on the other hand. It's exactly what you would expect it to be, and not the least bit ashamed about it. President Camacho has an auto-shottie that cuts people in half, for example. It's that kind of thing. Violence punctuated with wisecracks, something that used to be a great American export, like cars. In that respect, maybe nostalgia plays a role as well. The audience at the showing I attended loved every second of the Stallone/Willis/Schwarzenegger scene, for sure.
Centurion: General Jimmy McNulty leads his Roman armies in battle (I was sad he didn't say "What the fuck did I do?" during the scene where he's grooving with the Picts) in what looks to be a standard sword-and-sandal story at first, but then turns out it's more of a chase thing, as a small group of Roman soldiers make their way through enemy lines (filmed beautifully in the Highlands) while being pursued by a relentless gang of warriors (incl. a particularly badass mute woman). It's probably about as violent as The Expendables. Definitely an interesting and well made movie.
