What do you get when you take an underground comic book, slap some videogame coolness on it, and then follow it up with a soundtrack written by Beck? Scott Pilgrim vs. The World that’s what! Famed director Edgar Wright, whose awesome work includes Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, went the comic book route to bring us one of the best videogame movies that’s NOT based on an actual videogame.
For those that are unfamiliar to the graphic novels, the Scott Pilgrim series was written by the beloved Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley who captured the hearts of fans with the Scott Pilgrim series. One of the most interesting things that director Edgar Wright brought to the table is the fact that a lot of the images and set pieces were true to these novels. Particularly in the character dialogue, the audience is treated with O’Malley’s vision as you see the geeky Canadian take on the 7 evil ex-boyfriends. Michael Cera (Superbad, Juno) plays the heroic Scott Pilgrim who is the bass guitarist for the fictional band “Sex Bob-Omb”. He and his patrons are trying to earn a record contract by competing and winning in the “Battle of the Bands”.
Plot (Some Spoilers):
23-year old Pilgrim, the little lover boy that he is, happens to be dating the 17-year old high-schooler Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). His new found relationship causes a stir amongst his band mates, especially since they are trying to win a record contract from the “G-man”. But later on Scott realizes that his destiny has changed by falling head-over-heels for the mysterious chick Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
Upon dating the roller-skating girl of his dreams, (secretly behind Knives Chau) Scott discovers that before he can have her heart he must defeat the “League of the 7 Evil Exes”. Sound pretty screwy so far? Oh it gets better. The Exes include the Bollywood dancing sensation Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), skateboard extraordinaire Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), and the psychic vegan rival bass guitarist Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh). Whew that was a mouthful!
All the characters in the film are very imaginative and seem to be lifted right off of the pages. The most creative draw of the film for me was the gratuitous comic POOFs & BIFFs during all of the battles. Much like the Watchmen, Sin City, or 300, Edgar Wright really did an awesome job of bringing the comic book imagery to the big screen. Everything from the subtle storyboard panes to the flashy 60-hit air combos, you visually get a sense of seeing the graphic novel come to life.
My inner “geek-dom” flailed like a school girl by knowing all of the videogame references in the movie. From hearing the bass line to Final Fantasy 2 (as well as the Zelda theme song) and seeing coins fly everywhere from the bad guys – it was quite entertaining to relive my childhood during these sequences. I mean come on even the band name “The Clash at Demonhead”… I used to rent that Nintendo game at my local video store!
I could go on and on about how cool it was to see a lot of the videogame references, but I think one of the major things that kept me into the movie was simply the soundtrack. Beck lent a lot of his sound to the movie’s fictional band “Sex Bob-Ombs”. Anytime I saw them together, it gave me the convincing illusion that they were really rocking it out.
The cast in my opinion had just the right amount of talent to bring the characters to life. From the glamour-eyed Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) to the sarcastically funny gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), all of the actors really made the movie entertaining. Having read a few of the graphic novels, a lot of time and effort seems to have been emphasized on making the movie adaptation more authentic.
Personally I thought Michael Cera was a good choice. He didn’t overly do the “Michael Cera thing” which was characterized in movies like Superbad and Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. Although in the graphic novels, Scott Pilgrim’s character seemed a little bit tougher. Compared to Edgar Wright’s past work, I do feel that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was a little underwhelming in regards to the general audience. But at the same time I happened to see lots of Scott Pilgrim t-shirts scattered through the crowd.
This is a film that is best suited for an age demographic between 16-30. And quite honestly only die-hard videogame/comic fans are going to “get” the movie. But in the end the droves of human beings will watch this film because they have a strong liking for some Michael Cera in their lives. I’ll personally watch it again to see Ramona Flowers skate through my sub-space highway! Anyhow if you like all things pixeled in 8-bit graphics, quirky dialogue, and floating vegan heart-throbs, then this film is for you !
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