Guys I'm back! And I have a lot of catching up to do!
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) directed by Edgar Wright is absolutely NOT just another Michael Cera movie. I know, I know, you aren't in the mood for one of those flimsy little hipster flicks about pregnancy or MP3 playlists. Not to worry. I repeat: THIS IS NOT ANOTHER MICHAEL CERA MOVIE. Believe me, when I saw the trailer for Scott Pilgrim, I felt the same way you probably would, rolling my eyes and sighing. It sounded to me like just another high school romance flick except now with flashing letters all over the place, and an absolutely awful soundtrack.
I was even more dismayed in the theater, wherein the audience was separated into literally two kinds of people: hipsters and nerds. There was no one in between, no confused mothers with a cluster of five-year-old kids, no lonely looking old men snuggled into a corner, no. The demographic for this movie was very specific. The only variation in the room lay in whether or not the glasses people were wearing had prescription lenses.
To begin with, this movie is based on a set of comics written by Bryan Lee O'Malley, a Canadian who, despite his name, is not actually a farmer. His writing as well as his drawings express a brand of humor and a particular explication of humanity that is completely unique to his work. It is honest, painfully so at times, but also masterfully uses the art of nonsense. All of the characters are drawn simply, with somewhat adorable features, but they are somehow able to convey some of the simplest and most profound emotions in the human range. Like this one for example:
SO profound.
Anyway this quality in the characters and in the story is not lost in the film. In fact, it is captured perfectly. For once in my life, I was blessed with a director who decided to just use the pre-existing comics as storyboards for making shots, which was a brilliant decision given the often cinematic quality of O'Malley's work. Everything was simply given a riot of color and noise, and very creative animation, intended to give the look and feel of a magical world where video games and life are completely intertwined. The plot itself is simple: Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old Canadian boy in the band The Sex Bob-ombs, who also happens to be "the best fighter in the province". He falls in love with a beautiful blue-haired girl, but in order to date her, he must fight and defeat her seven evil exes. It is through this mission that he finally discovers himself and learns about the power of love. Speaking of fighting seven evil exes, the fight scenes themselves were not only exciting, and perfectly in line with the experience of boss battles within a video game, but brought out new manifestations of humor that aren't easily found in film. It utilized nostalgia and the common thread felt among all gamers to make every battle hilarious.
The film of course also used the usual high school romance idea, but to great effect. Rather than executing it in a cheesy way, all of the romance between Scott and his out-of-this-world hot girlfriend Ramona, as well as the confusion of feelings involved from his relationship before with a Chinese high school girl named Knives Chow (See? Already hilarious) is carried out with a certain understanding of real human emotions and real human problems while still retaining comic relief. It was in no way difficult to get into, or frivolous. It made me able to connect with the characters and relate to the difficulties in which they found themselves.
The characters themselves have their individual quirks which makes them endearing long after the film has ended. For example Scott Pilgrim's gay roommate Wallace Wells is generally found pantsless in the kitchen cooking bacon. This quirkiness is what originally prompted me to read the comics and to play some of the excellent ensuing video game if only to spend more time with them. If I may quote Paul Lucero, after all of the media involving the characters has run out and there is nothing left to read about them, or watch or play, it feels as though "all of your friends are dead."
In short, this film was amazing, and could easily become its own classic despite the strange lack of turnouts at the box office. BUY THIS MOVIE. I can almost guarantee that the game and the comic book collection are sure to follow.
This movie's rating: AWESOME.
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