Great fights, but...

Rating: 5/10 (5 January 2013)

...like a lot of Hollywood movies these days, SCOTT PILGRIM feels very insubstantial. So much money has been put on-screen to make it look good, with special effects popping out at you all the while and all manner of technical wizardry, that real, grounded storytelling and 'meat' has been left by the wayside. I appreciate the constant homages to geek culture and video games, but at the end of this film I was left feeling curiously unsatisfied.
The fight scenes, which pop up with an almost routine regularity, are spectacular. The choreography is often brilliant and the addition of the special effects is the icing on the cake. The film is colourful, fast-paced and quick witted with it. But what is there beyond the visual spectacle? The humour isn't all that. Michael Cera, who I've never seen before, is intensely irritating with that whiny, lispy little voice. It is possible to make geeky leading men likable (it happened with KICK-ASS) but Cera remains an irritant from beginning to end. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is much better as the object of his affection, but if you're expecting romance you'll be disappointed; such moments are non-existent.
This is a flashy but ultimately unrewarding movie, something that jettisons proper plotting and character work in favour of a self-knowing, video game-style atmosphere throughout.