Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Director: Edgar Wright
Actors: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Anna Kendrick
An epic of epic epicness. This is the tagline used to describe the movie. Is it true? Hell yes! Scott Pilgrim starts off with the narrator describing the situation and you are immediately thrust into this mind-blowing, explosive world where people battle each other and rock out with their bands. As The Voice (Bill Hader) begins with the narration, "Not so long ago...in the mysterious land...of Toronto, Canada. Scott Pilgrim was dating a high schooler." Then, the film begins. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is about Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) meeting a girl, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who he immediately falls for. But, dating Ramona turns out to be harder than he thought when he learns he must defeat her seven evil exes to be with her.
Scott Pilgrim is based off a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley. I have read the novels myself and thoroughly enjoy them. They are fast, quick-witted, and action packed. The film...exactly the same. The film may leave out parts from the graphic novels but what they leave out is not very essential and does okay without it. O'Malley was on set most of the time to help with the film's direction. While other movies based on graphic novels screw up the film and do not respect the graphic novel, this film does. It looked at the graphic novel, got an idea of how to do it, and nailed it.
This film is directed by Edgar Wright who made two of my favorite movie of all time, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This is Wright's first American film so Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are not present. The reason I think Wright was perfect for this movie is he is great with quick shots and action. I also think the actors in this movie fit their roles perfectly. Michael Cera is usually very quiet in movies and therefore I did not know if he could do a good job with this but I think when I saw him I knew that was the only Scott Pilgrim. Chris Evans has a great performance as Lucas Lee, the second evil ex who is a skateboarder and movie star. Jason Schwartzman appears as evil ex number 7 Gideon Graves who sports a ring that is a homage to the cult film Flash Gordon.
Scott Pilgrim also pays homage to classic video games from an arcade machine all the way to the Nintendo 64. The opening Universal logo has been digitalized and played with a modified, arcade-sounding theme. The fights in the film are also pretty epic. They are all well choreographed. Scott Pilgrim to me seems like a film for all people but I do understand that many people will find this unintertaining. I, on the other hand, could not have loved this film more. The music, fights, characters, and dialogue is all epic. So to answer the question again, "An epic of epic epicness?" Yes!
Rating: 4
Matt
Scott Pilgrim is based off a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley. I have read the novels myself and thoroughly enjoy them. They are fast, quick-witted, and action packed. The film...exactly the same. The film may leave out parts from the graphic novels but what they leave out is not very essential and does okay without it. O'Malley was on set most of the time to help with the film's direction. While other movies based on graphic novels screw up the film and do not respect the graphic novel, this film does. It looked at the graphic novel, got an idea of how to do it, and nailed it.
This film is directed by Edgar Wright who made two of my favorite movie of all time, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This is Wright's first American film so Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are not present. The reason I think Wright was perfect for this movie is he is great with quick shots and action. I also think the actors in this movie fit their roles perfectly. Michael Cera is usually very quiet in movies and therefore I did not know if he could do a good job with this but I think when I saw him I knew that was the only Scott Pilgrim. Chris Evans has a great performance as Lucas Lee, the second evil ex who is a skateboarder and movie star. Jason Schwartzman appears as evil ex number 7 Gideon Graves who sports a ring that is a homage to the cult film Flash Gordon.
Scott Pilgrim also pays homage to classic video games from an arcade machine all the way to the Nintendo 64. The opening Universal logo has been digitalized and played with a modified, arcade-sounding theme. The fights in the film are also pretty epic. They are all well choreographed. Scott Pilgrim to me seems like a film for all people but I do understand that many people will find this unintertaining. I, on the other hand, could not have loved this film more. The music, fights, characters, and dialogue is all epic. So to answer the question again, "An epic of epic epicness?" Yes!
Rating: 4
Matt
