ManWithPez

Huey Lewis said it best "That's the power of love."

Upfront I should tell you that I’m a huge fan of the Scott Pilgrim books.  They’re brilliant, fun, and ring alarmingly true at times.  You can tell they hit a chord with Edgar Wright, who directed the new Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie.  What hath Edgar wrought this time?  Find out after the jump.

I’ve had high expectations for this film ever since I heard it was being made.  I thought the casting of it was brilliant, and the trailers only strengthened that view.  For the most part, I was not let down.  Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, a Canadian who’s a little simplistic, very romantic, and just a bit selfish.  The object of his affections at the movie’s beginning is Knives Chau, a Chinese 17 year old who’s far too young for Scott.  Why is he with her at all?  His exgirlfriend Natalie dumped him right before she became the famous singer, Envy.  Seemingly Scott dates a much younger girl because it’s simple and she adores him.  Scott glances Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and falls head over heels for her.  I don’t blame him!  Have you seen this woman? 

First, what you might expect.  It’s  quirky, Michael Cera is awkward, and there’s plenty of stunt casting going on.  Scott soon finds out that he must defeat Ramona’s seven evil exes if they are to be together.   The fights with the seven exes are the highlight of the film, as you find out early in the first battle.  Michael Cera, I have to say does not disappoint as an action fighter.  Can you believe that shit?  Not only that, but Edgar Wright seems to abondon his usual Sam Raimi bag of tricks to make something new and compelling. 

The seven exes are great, too.  My favorite, however, was the first.  Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel, who clearly takes his role as Ramona’s first ex boyfriend very seriously.  His fight scene with Scott is brilliant, as he even conjures up demon hipster chicks to aid him in his little song and dance fight number.  Chris Evans is great as is Brandon Routh and Mae Whitman as several more of the League of Evil Exes.  As was foretold in the trailer, Jason Schwartzman is on hand to play Gideon, Ramona’s ex and Scott’s final big boss battle.  That’s not just a phrase I’m throwing out there.  The entire movie is filled to the brim with vide game references and all are used to great comic effect.  Also brilliantly played is Wallace, Scott’s gay roommate, performed quite tongue in cheek by Keiran Culkin.  This kid is awesome, and damn near steals the show, as his character in the comic almost did likewise.  I mean, for me, anyways.

That’s all on the good side of the ledger.  On the bad, for me, is that the first half of the movie plays out very closely to the book.  To a detriment.  The books have a rich and diverse supporting cast, but not all of them should have been around for the movie.  This aspect of it made things a little confusing.  It would almost seem that Mr. Wright only had a vague idea what to do to finish his movie, and while it’s serviceable, for me, it isn’t Scott Pilgrim.  the introduction of Nega-Scott, a big deal in the comic, is thrown in here for a two second laugh.  See, that’s the point of the comics, is that Scott Pilgrim is his own worst enemy.   The book shows Scott try to get his life together, succeeding and failing in turns, and those parts, for me, were just as compelling as the fight scenes and videogame references.  Here, they are given short shrift.

The bottom line?  Go see it!  I had a blast.  This is such a fun movie…especially if you’ve never read the books.  After that, however, do yourself a favor and read Scott Pilgrim.  Enjoy the books as a seperate entity, and I think you’ll enjoy the film a great deal more.  Edgar Wright’s visuals are vibrant, and you can tell, not only is he a huge Scott Pilgrim fan, but he knows how to apply a love of videogames to his movie.  Not surprising, as he did so on his show Spaced several times to equally cool effect.  Go, have fun, and remember, if you’re going to fight over a woman, make certain she’s worth fighting for!  I know I’d fight for Ramona.

Tags: Movie, Review, Scott Pilgrim

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 9:39 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.