Review: Scott Pilgrim VS. The World!

There have been many attempts throughout the history of the film industry where a director has strived to bring the life, energy and charm of a comic book to the silver screen, most fail at such a hardship, the rare few succeed, even fewer succeed with deserving recognition. Director and producer Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead, A Fistful Of Fingers) however seems to have successfully pulled off the task and extremely well, with “Scott Pilgrim VS. The World.”

Everything is totally sweet. Scott Pilgrim’s life is so awesome. He’s 23 years old, in a rock band, “between jobs,” and dating a high school girl. Everything’s fantastic until a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, roller blading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. But the path to Ms. Flowers isn’t covered in rose petals. Ramona’s seven evil exes stand between Scott and true happiness. Can Scott defeat all seven of the bad guys and get the girl without turning his precious little life upside-down, before the game is over?

No film is without its faults, but ‘Scott Pilgrim VS. The World‘ doesn’t have many, Wright has been frequently described as a mash-up artist, bringing refreshing and unique films to our screens, so it’s no surprise when I can say that ‘Scott Pilgrim VS. The World’ is his finest hybridization to date. Having combined action and comedy with romance and a wave of originality, Wright brings something new and somewhat inspiring to the table with enough novel quirkiness to satisfy both genders. The film is littered with easter eggs and references a plenty, many of which aimed at the Nintendo generations and just the right amount of wit combined with Wright’s special blend of comedic sauce which fans will recognise from his previous works.

Nevertheless it’s not just the comical  (see what I did there?) trices and gaming references which grant ‘Scott Pilgrim VS. The World‘ it’s charisma, but also the involved performances of many of its stars. Both protagonists, Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad, Juno) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Make It Happen, Die Hard 4.0, Final Destination 3) who play Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers respectively give dedicated performances and acts as a sturdy base on which the plot is built. With the quick introduction of Scott’s gay room-mate: Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin - The Mighty, Father Of The Bride, Igby Goes Down),  Scott’s somewhat talebearing sister Stacy Pilgrim, (Anna Kendrick - Up In The Air, Rocket Science, The Twilight Saga)  and Stephen Stills, (Mark Webber - Snow Day, Shrink, Weapons) the lead singer in Scott’s band ‘The Sex Bob-Ombs‘, the atmosphere soon hastens into a humorous but heartfelt one, providing an icing to the already unshakable foundation. As the film evolves, various small but meaningful characters are introduced with performances from the likes of Alison Pill (Milk, In Treatment, Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen),  Jason Schwartzman (I Heart Huckabees, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People) and Aubrey Plaza (Perks And Recreation, Funny People, Mystery Team) among others, especially the League Of Evil Exes.

It’s fair to say that ‘Scott Pilgrim VS. The World‘, like many films, wouldn’t be what it is without its soundtrack. The film relies heavily on its music as an important element to reach out to the audience as an important and vital chunk of Scott’s life is spent in a band. The soundtrack features some fantastic music from the likes of Nigel Godrich, Beck, Metric, Broken Social Scene, Cornelius, Dan the Automator, Kid Koala, and David Campbell, with various songs, even some original material being performed by the fictitious bands within the film.  Overall, ‘Scott Pilgrim VS. The World‘ is a fantastical, quirky film with an unfortunately confined fanbase, it’s most definitely worth seeing, even if it’s not for everyone, but personally speaking, it’s one of the best films of 2010.

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