Film Review with Robert Mann – Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

26th August 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World *****

If you’ve seen the poster, the trailer or any of the TV spots for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World you will be fully aware that it is “From the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz” and based on this very simply statement you just know that you can expect a movie that wreaks pure awesomeness. Described as “An epic of epic epicness” (try saying that over and over really quickly, I dare you), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a film aimed squarely at the geek within everyone one of us and, thanks for successful movies like Kick-Ass and TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, geek culture is really starting to go mainstream, everything that is awesome about geekiness being embraced by more and more people. For those of you not in know yet, however, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World finds its inspirations in a series of graphic novels, released the under the more general title of Scott Pilgrim (the film takes its full name from the second volume in the series), by Bryan Lee O’Malley, a series that both provides a fresh twist on the age old formula of boy-meets-girl and provides a unique and original blend of videogame culture, indie style, fan boy references and manga-esque imagery. And I highly doubt that a much better person could have been found to adapt the graphic novel series into a movie than Edgar Wright, his past films ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and Hot Fuzz, not to mention his television series Spaced showing that he is a director quite like no other, with a unique approach to comedies, one that combines a distinct sense of Britishness (they were British comedies after all, even though Scott Pilgrim blatantly isn’t) with his inner geek. This approach here proves to be a work of unabashed genius, as this film doesn’t merely promise awesomeness, it fully delivers it.

Charmingly nerdy slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is the bass player in band Sex Bob-Omb whose members also include ‘ the talent’ Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and sarcastic drummer/ex-girlfriend Kim Pine (Allison Pill), and whose rehearsals are frequently attended by Young Neil (Johnny Simmons), a videogame player who lives in the house where they rehearse. Scott has never been lucky in love, having been horrifically dumped by ex-girlfriend Envy Adams (Brie Larson) and now lives a somewhat aimless life, sharing a tiny apartment with gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) and having a ‘fake’ relationship with high school girl Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Everything is about to change for Scott, however. When Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) rollerblades into his world, Scott believes he’s met the girl of his dreams. However, he quickly finds there’s a big and totally unexpected problem – Ramona’s seven evil exes – The League of Evil Exes –control her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor. As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues’ gallery from her past – Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), Ramona’s 7th grade boyfriend who has mystical powers; Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), a skateboarding action movie star with an army of body doubles at his disposal; Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), a dim-witted ‘vegan’ rock star with psychic and telekinetic powers; Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman), a lesbian ex-girlfriend from a ‘phase’ who has ninja-like abilities; Kyle (Keita Saitou) and Ken Katayanagi (Shotu Saito), a twin brother band whose weapon of choice is their music; and finally Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman), a super powerful record producer who has quite a big influence over Ramona. And if he hopes to win his true love, Scott must vanquish them all before it really is ‘game over’.

From the moment the studio ident appears on the screen at the start of the film – the Universal logo is presented in 8 bit style with the studio’s trademark theme presented in the style of old fashioned videogame music – Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is unashamedly a movie for geeks and in this regard it never disappoints. Almost like a comic book or videogame come to life, this is a film that is sure to satisfy its geek target audience in pretty much every respect. About as in your face as a geek movie could possibly get, the film quite literally throws its videogame and comic book inspirations at the audience, retro and geek references being thrown all over the place, with lots of subtle details that only the most observant of viewers will pick up on and more obvious homages that everyone will appreciate. Raised on a diet of videogames and indie rock music, Scott Pilgrim has a distinctive and unique view of the world, one that is packed full of neon imagery, gaming icons, sounds being displayed in word form in giant comic book style letters and ‘game overs’. It is his view of the world that we see up on the screen, him living his life almost as though it is a videogame, with even mundane tasks such as having a pee coming with their own videogame style power gauge. This particular view of the world gives us a unique insight into the character of Scott Pilgrim and this allows us to appreciate exactly how he functions in the world and perceives what is going around him, emotion being presented in a completely new way, one that won’t be instantly recognisable to everyone but that many a geek should be able to hold some level of understanding towards. Suffice to say, character development is very well done here but not in any way you are used to seeing, Edgar Wright actually doing something that is very rare in mainstream movies nowadays – portray a familiar concept in a way that we have never seen it portrayed before. In the wrong hands this videogame style look and feel could very well have looked cheap and tacky but in the masterful hands of Wright is works superbly. Best described as a romantic beat’em up, the action sequences on display here have a distinctly beat’em up videogame look, feel and sound to them and they don’t just prove to be exciting but also very funny – the film as a whole being totally hilarious and doing so without ever resorting to lame gags or making fun – not to mention boasting trippy visuals that are as vibrant and colourful as Ramona Flower’s constantly changing hair. This film really is as much a piece of art as it is a piece of entertainment, the always dazzling and sometimes enchanting visuals both providing a real feast for the eyes and capturing the manga style essence of the source material perfectly – in fact, there is even a manga style hand drawn animation sequence. The editing offers as much to shout about as the effects too, with the way one scene flows into the next with natural ease being masterful and giving the film a feeling of moving from one comic book panel to another. There is also some superbly surreal imagery as well, which boasts fantastic cinematography. Of course, I called this film a romantic beat’em up and the film is just as romantic as it is exciting, funny or visually dazzling, the relationship that forms between Scott and Ramona being really sweet and heart-warming while also reflecting real life relationships to some extent – the threat of her exes perhaps some sort of representation of the spectre that a person’s exes might pose over their relationships in real life – something that gives the film an additional resonance, beyond just being a geek film. The writing in general is really quite superb, with Wright not only offering up an excellent and refreshing slant on character development but also serving up very funny dialogue and a storyline that ensures there is heart to go along the visuals and that the film is not just a CGI drenched mess. The success of the film, however, isn’t entirely attributable to Wright, of course. The performances on display here are almost unanimously excellent. Michael Cera, while perhaps not the fan favourite to play the part – due to the fact that, while he has perfect comic timing, he tends to be typecast as the sensitive slacker type, with many of his roles to date being very samey and not giving him much opportunity to really act beyond the confines of that particular character archetype, this year’s Youth in Revolt aside – actually proves very successful for the most part, displaying not only his usual comic timing but something more, the role of Scott Pilgrim really pushing him a bit further than he has been pushed before. His performance isn’t completely 100% perfect – to the untrained eye he may seem exactly the same as in every other film he has been in – but look closely and you will see lots of idiosyncrasies in his performance that set it apart from other roles he has played. And he does the lovable slacker in a way quite like no one else. He also shares a likable and convincing, if rather unorthodox romantic chemistry, with co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, something that is really quite important as, after all, this is a film with a love story at its heart. Winstead more than holds her own individually as well, there being something almost otherworldly about her performance and her being as strong as she is beautiful in the role. As the other girl in Scott’s life, Ellen Wong is also excellent, starting out quiet and gentle but developing a more out loud personality as the film’s progresses. The Exes all deliver superbly but the real highlights have to be Chris Evans, who is on top form as always, Superman Returns star Brandon Routh , whose presence also makes way for some hilarious, if bizarre, cameo appearances by Thomas Jane and Clifton Collins Jr, Mae Whitman and Jason Schwartzman, who steals the show as the slick and smooth final villain. Also excellent are the perfectly sarcastic Allison Pill as well as Kieran Culkin and Aubrey Plaza (as Stephen’s ex-girlfriend who has a habit of showing up everywhere). If there’s one gripe it is that Anna Kendrick, playing Scott’s sister, doesn’t feature more and that when she does she isn’t given a whole lot to actually do. This is only a minor criticism, though, and one that doesn’t stop Scott Pilgrim vs. The World from being truly awesome in pretty much every way possible. This is a film completely unlike any other that you will see year, and perhaps any other year for that matter. It’s exciting, it looks great, it sounds amazing – with a fantastic indie rock style soundtrack – it is laugh out loud funny and, perhaps most importantly of all, it packs an emotional punch to go with all the (considerable amount of) flash that is on display. Even though box office success might be beyond its grasp (as has been evidenced by its weak performance in the states), this is a film that is destined to be a cult hit. “An epic of epic epicness” indeed.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

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