A movie for my generation.

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2010)

8.4
The relationship between video games and movies is undeniable. Obviously, video games were originally inspired by movies. However, after video games' inception into our world, movies began to be inspired by them. You can easily find its inspiration in the films that are being developed today. There is a new generation of audiences, and thus a generational gap between film critics and today's movies.
It is almost written in stone that a movie based on a video game will be terrible, and that a video game based on a movie will be mediocre at best. This might be because most of these products are just that: products. There is little to no love being poured into it. It may just be produced by people who's main incentive towards the project is financial compensation.
The best video game movie ever made is Scott Pilgrim. It is a movie that is not based on a video game at all, though. It is based on a comic book that is heavily influenced by video game culture. So maybe Scott Pilgrim doesn't exactly qualify for this category. Either way, it's a movie made for those who love video games, and it's great.
Edgar Wright helms the directors chair and shows us that he understands my generation. Thanks, Wright. The editing is Scott Pilgrim is superb. The movie likes to use multiple camera angles on-screen at the same time. It also likes to put words and images on screen, such as onomatopoeias and symbols like lightning and even a pixeltated version of Scott's face, representing an extra life. All this works to the film's advantage, creating a style that's not exactly unique, but is used in a unique way.
The narrative in Scott Pilgrim is strongly targeted towards the 18-24 age group. Scott's experience with women, and life itself, is limited. However, he learns in the movie, and thus, the audience is presented with the opportunity to learn as well. However, if you are well above that age group, you might find Scott Pilgrim to be quite tedious. You usually get a more mature, experienced take on the situations presented in this movie. But in Scott Pilgrim, you let a goofy 22 year old take the wheel.
Scott Pilgrim is a great movie, but it is obvious to see the generation gap between its target audience and older viewers. If you are Scott Pilgrim's age, you must see it. If you aren't, you will probably find it to be a mix of cute and annoying, like children usually are. Scott Pilgrim gets away with what movies based on video games wish they could pull off: using actual references to video games in the movie. I don't know how much they payed for the Zelda music, but it was well worth it. Thank you Scott Pilgrim crew, for making a movie for my generation. Well, at least the nerdy/geeky side of it, anyway.