Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

admin | August 27, 2010 | Comments (0)

DIR: Edgar Wright • WRI: Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright • PRO: Eric Gitter, Nira Park, Marc Platt, Edgar Wright • DOP: Bill Pope • ED: Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss • DES: Marcus Rowland • CAST: Michael Cera Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is like nothing you’ve seen before. It’s your run-of-the-mill, boy-meets-girls story while also being anything but. Director and co-writer Edgar Wright describes his previous work – cult TV show Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz – as a mixture of the mundane with the insane and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World headlines this impressive line-up with bells on.

Fact vs. Fiction: Set in Toronto, Scott Pilgrim… is about a boy that falls for a girl. Don’t rush out and buy your tickets yet though, there’s more to it than that. The film is based upon Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series which filters this common story through the active imagination of the eponymous Scott Pilgrim (played by the ever watchable Michael Cera), who grew up on a diet of video games, comic books and superheroes and whose life is as visually dramatic as these influences elicit. With the girl of his dreams comes her baggage in the not so mundane form of seven evil exes. Scott must battle each of these exes in duels to the death (where the loser explodes into coins in classic Super Mario style) if he is to win the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

Substance vs. Style: There is so much style in the imagery of Scott Pilgrim… that it could easily overshadow its substance; of which this film is not lacking. Characters have as much depth and complexity as they have inhuman endurance and one-liners; which is to say a lot. In a film laden down with impossibly polished wit, Kieran Culkin shines as Scott’s gay roommate, Wallace Wells. Other notable mentions in a super cast are Chris Evans and Brandon Routh taking a break from playing superheroes to play super evil exes. The only other film to come close to the comic book aesthetics of Scott Pilgrim… is Sin City, but even that is a cut below the comic book flourishes of this film. Reality is blended with fantasy with no explanations or excuses offered. Street Fighter-styled health gauges accompany duels and bathroom visits are joined by a depleting ‘Pee Bar’ gauge. The action moves from one scene to the next without any transitional shot; the shortest distance between two points is apparently Scott Pilgrim. You could only get this degree of absolute immersion within a comic without having to turn pages if you had someone turn the pages for you.

Mundane vs. the Insane: Scott Pilgrim… is a welcome addition to a genre of chronic banality. Thematically; there is nothing in this film that we haven’t seen countless times before but what separates Scott Pilgrim… from the homogeneous is the insane. Scott Pilgrim battles exes between battling bands and his peers’ constant battle of wits. There is an everyday core to this film. That everyday core just happens to be strapped into an explosive rollercoaster of superhero battles, ear-shatteringly loud music, and all the while saturated in more colour than a dulux catalogue.

Peter White

Rated 12A (see IFCO website for details)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is released on 27th August 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Official Website