Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh
Rated PG-13 for adult content, violence and language
Story: Scott Pilgrim, a 22 year-old bassist from Toronto, Canada is having a rough life of dating a high school Chinese girl, playing in a terrible band and living with his gay roommate Wallace Wells. Then he [literally] meets the girl of his dreams named Ramona Flowers; and upon dating her must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart… for great justice. Based on the cult comic books by Bryan Lee O’Malley.
Acting/Dialogue: Let me get this out of the way first… you will not care about most of the dialogue. In fact, the dialogue and scene transitions are so jumpy and tightly bound to each other, you might even see a scene change as the character on-screen is talking more than five times per minute. It’s just like… a comic book. What does matter is that Michael Cera, Mr. Awkward, isn’t a one-dimensional actor anymore; his portrayal of Scott isn’t really the greatest but it works for the movie. Add to it Mary Elizabeth Winstead being a deadpan bitch, Kieran Culkin being a whore of a roommate, Brandon Routh playing a Vegan superman [ha!], Jason Schwarzman playing the great douche-machine Gideon, Chris Evans playing the silly-yet-radical Lucas Lee and Brie Lawson playing that bitch Envy Adams; and you’ve got enough star power to make it out of this movie with coins left over for the next round.
Visuals/CGI: From the 8-bit intro, you know how this movie will go. The blending of iconic 8-bit arcade sounds, zany zop-pow-thonk! pop-ups in comic book style and the scene transitions all make the movie a little less than your typical crazy awesome anime but more like a live-action mega-concert-seizure-inducing-rave fest. I did make that up, because I can’t describe all the eye candy that went into the production and the cinematography that was done to recreate the style of the source material down to the letter. From the Pee Bar to the drumstick hits, everything is meant to visually pop to the point where even a deaf man could understand the entire movie. I like how every Evil Ex battle started off with a “VS.” symbol in 16-bit lettering flying in and then after every fight when Scott wins, the baddie turns into coins. Every game homage, from the shirts to the flashy K.O.’s, that was mentioned in the comics is brought in here… everything.
Audio/SFX: Again, remember the sounds of the 8-bit ding! and the classic Sonic ring noises? Remember the original Zelda themes and the bass-line from Final Fantasy II and Song of Storms? Ever wondered what Beck sounds like with only three chords? Yeah, it’s all here. All of the comic’s iconic lines, gaming’s greatest sounds of all time (most notably, the KO sound from Street Fighter Alpha 3) and the copyright infringing renditions of video game tunes were put in here and Wright made damn sure that everything was done right. Even with the Sex Bob-Omb’s three-chord songs were done well.
Comic Correlation: Okay, so here’s where I nitpick, being a fan of the Oni Press comic. The film was finished before the end of the series was even written, so as luck would have it, O’Malley and Wright (the director) had to come up with something to finish the flick and NOT completely wreck or spoil what would be Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, the last volume in the series. The ending here did just enough to satisfy; but also enough for me to ask… wha? There were a lot of liberties taken here, major changes that will NOT spoil the ending but make it just enough so the movie can end on a slightly positive note instead of an infinitely better ending from the comics which provides an assload of closure, including a completely different sword. Still, the ending was enough to satisfy and there’s nothing wrong with that. Otherwise, the film adaptation was pretty good; even joking knocking on itself in the final “level” with Comeau mentioning “the comics are always better than the film”. It’s that kind of humor and attention to detail that Edgar Wright is known for and he made sure the film was done just enough that the comic book fans would be heavily satisfied and the average movie-goer would be entertained.
Overall: The hype scared me since it just looked so damn good for something almost completely out of left field. It’s like Kick Ass, which was colorful, loud and obscenely outrageous in its own right; and it lived up to the hype but got poor reception because absolutely no one knew where the hell it came from; and now a secuel is in the works. This one has the same thing going for it; but this could make it considering the massive marketing (The game, the adult swim short, the comics being ON DISPLAY and mentioned in Kick Ass) and the amount of super-crazy action that just cannot be passed up. If you are anywhere close to a comic book geek, video game nerd or just someone with hipster style and tastes, this movie is tailored / relevant to your interests. For everyone else, screw the lack of 3D, you’re in for a crazy romance story best describe as live-action AWESOME. Insert credit, get ready… HERE WE GO.
RATING
9.5/10
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