Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I gotta admit, the trailers for this movie, the source material for which I sadly haven't read, were enough to guarantee I saw it on opening day. I mean, just look at it! And it's directed by Edgar Wright, the man behind Hot Fuzz! And it's got Chris Evans and Brandon Routh as villains, along with a whole slew of others! And Michael Cera as a somewhat superhuman lead! And... well, just look at it!

Scott Pilgrim lives a happy little life as a bass player for a garage band on its way to some semblance of notoriety. His life is filled with animated excitement, complete with significantly younger girlfriend Knives Chau. But things get spun for a loop when Scott encounters Ramona Flowers. She's the girl of his dreams (Literally. She makes deliveries for amazon.ca using a subspace highway in his head. Don't ask, it's not really that big a deal.), and she agrees to go out with him. Scott quickly dumps Knives, and he and Ramona begin to experience "the L word" for each other.


And then things get spun for a loop again. Scott finds out first via e-mail, then attack, that Ramona has something of a violent past. Namely, seven evil exes who have formed a league to keep anyone else from dating Ramona. Cue energetic fight sequences in the spirit of classic video games!

This is a polarizing movie if I ever saw one. Half the audience in the theater couldn't stop laughing, and the other half barely laughed at all. It depends who you are, really. Or rather, how geeky you are. And I am geeky, I'll be the first to admit, so I had a blast.

The visuals are over the top and unique to a wonderful degree. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a saturated movie in every sense of the word. It's saturated with action, saturated with the visuals, and saturated with jokes, both in the foreground and the background. Combatants flash red when they are on low health. Baddies burst into coins when they are felled. Scott graps a 1-UP icon, saying he's "getting a life."


Scott Pilgrim's sense of fun is contagious. The action is delightful and comic-booky. The humor is ever-present. The acting is purposefully, enjoyably cheesy. The visuals pop like those of Speed Racer desperately wanted to. And it's probably one of the weirdest, most original movies you'll see this year. Do see it, by the way. It's great fun, and perhaps the only film which uses the line, "I'm in lesbians with you."


My rating: 9.5/10

Coming Soon: Ooh, a lot of stuff. But I'm not making any promises.