A Retro Battle of Epic-ness

Rating: 9/10 (20 August 2010)

Michael Cera films are close to home for me. Cera always plays a nerdish sort of loner character that I can relate to. Superbad and this are both films by him that I can put my shoes in his position. Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel series that I never heard of until a few months ago after seeing a trailer for this film. Apparently, Scott Pilgrim is the character in his self titled graphic novel series in which five books were made with the first one being made about five years ago. Im unaware if this one focuses on just the second book (since both the second book and the movie share the same title) or if the movie is just an all around overview of the series. Whatever it is, its an excellent, 80s style, comic book movie combined with likable characters and a mindblowing soundtrack.
The standout of this movie is the soundtrack. The music by Scott Pilgrim's fictional band, "Sex-Bab-Omb" stands out totally. The music is so intense it shakes the screen whenever played. The music literally causes drawn lightning bolts and jittering of the camera when played which is awesome and gives you the feeling you're in the environment. Its a unique, almost indescribable feeling. Its so fast moving and energetic by the time you realized what happened a new scene appears. Its a feeling that can be had, unless you watch the film yourself.
Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a twenty two year old slacker whos life activities are playing video games and in a band. Hes dating a seventeen year old High Schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) in which he's gotten a lot of hate for by his sister and fellow band members. He frequently sees a girl in his dreams whom he saw at a record store not too long ago. He meets the girl who is Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Ramona is a quiet, shy woman, who is known for her frequent disappearances and mysterious personality. Her and Scott go steady for a while then after a random fight at a concert, Scott is told by Ramona that he needs to defeat her "seven evil exes" to continue dating her.
The film plays out like an arcade style game from the 1980s and various references to the video game "Pac-Man" confirm that as well. Every time one of the evil exes is defeated various coins explode out like a video game causing Scott to collect them which is strangely amusing. Director of this adventure, Edgar Wright has proved to be more than just capable of British Comedies doing Shaun of the Dead in 2004 and doing Hot Fuzz two years later. He is now shown to have a talent in graphic novel adaptations of other series he didn't start as well.
From the 16 bit like Universal intro I knew this was going to be a great film. It has some strange moments and sometimes the text on screen becomes annoying and somewhat tedious, but its definitely a teenage movie. Its a movie that should be enjoyed by people between the age of thirteen and thirty and by male audiences. Anybody with a knowledge of classic 80s and 90s video games will like this and the movie does a good job introducing the characters and their personalities to newcomers to the series (as am I). I will hunt for the graphic novels as I am interested in other events held by Scott Pilgrim.
One more thing that bothers me though is the film made a mere $10 million in its first week. It may seem fair, but with an estimated $80 million budget its abysmal. More people should see this because it's probably the most original movie in a while. It almost jumps off the screen without the use of the RealD technology which more movies should use. Movies shouldn't use 3D to jump off the screen. If they want to find a way to bring the audience suspense and feel like the third dimension without making them where glasswear, watch Scott Pilgrim and it'll show the way and the possibility of the action.
Starring: Michael Cera, Ellen Wong, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Directed by: Edgar Wright.