Video Game Warrior

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2012)

One of the rarest things to ever happen to me, is finding a movie that has about everything I want, or even as a fan of a comic book for an adaptation to live up to my expectations. This film does that just like the graphic comic mini series it was derived from it is a film I feel was made for me.
This film just has so much that one watch just isn't enough. The action is great it is well filmed just old fashioned style (which I prefer) where you can see the hits as well as who's hitting who. It is well choreographed, it really looks like a video game or even comic book/anime come to life. From the visual effects and sound when we see the attacks delivered down to the power moves. Just seeing this makes me wonder why the hell the live action "Street Fighter" movies couldn't of pulled this off.
This also creates sort of a fantasy world, kinda like with the show's "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" and the underrated "Community" or even the video games "Earthbound" and the "Persona" series. It's a world that is one foot in reality but also just one foot away, everyone acts as though what is going on is all a part of everyday life. I love those kinds of fantasy worlds because their more accessible and feel as though anything to even a random everyday person is possible. The music is also great most to all of the songs are memorable, two of my favorites are the theme song and Threshold. But what really gives this movie power is in it's dialog and characters.
The dialog and humor is just hilarious, this film is one of those rare movies where sometimes by re watching you can uncover something new, sometimes I find a joke that might of went over my head, that just makes the film all the more funnier. There is also a great amount of reference jokes much like in "Futurerama" and "South Park", from video games like "Street Fighter", "Double Dragon", movies like "The Warriors", you name it it's there.
Characters even the minor ones are all great and I felt cast just right. Even though for the record I'm not a fan of the actor, Michael Cera I thought did very well as the character, I really felt like he was Scott Pilgrum. What I love about Scott is just how relatable he is, Scott is a bit like myself in real life; he's shy, insecure, ill confidant but not short of courage, loves video games, and trying to find himself. I also love the fact that Scott looks like any other everyday person, he's not some stereotypical pretty boy, this helped in the relatablity.
Mary Elesebeth Winstead is perfect in the role of Ramona Flowers, I've always imagined that actress's voice when I read the series, so her playing Ramona is a dream come true. She is hotter than hell (in my book anyway)and capable actress to boot. Ramona is feisty, fiery, spontaneous, rebellious, bitchy (I mean that in a good way) despite these things she's capable of warmth and mature, and like Scott is also trying to find herself (heck her changing hair color reflects that).
I love the chemistry between the two it's one of those rare examples of a romance when done the right way, because it feels true to what I've been though with my significant other. Like the moment both first met in an awkward conversation, that's happened to me because what do you say to a girl you've just met, it's not like there are guidelines. The conversations they have with one another and the time they spend together, it just feels right you know both are right for one another and you want them together.
Like the minor character Knives Chaou played by Ellen Wong whom is also hotter than hell and a capable actress hoping she gets more in the future. Knives is 17 (though in reality the actress is 25) she's young, full of energy, sweet, has some fire in her which we see in the final fight, a bit immature though I don't mind. The way the film handled her I could of gone either way (though on a side note I like Ramona even more but that's just me) but we know who the right one is so it makes sense who Scott chooses in the end.
The villains are all colorful, just like in a "Street Fighter" video game each have different abilities to do serious damage. However all of them are unlikeable, their just all dirt bags with a capital D, their the kind of people that have pushed me around in my middle school, man did I hate them; all the more reason we want Scott to win.
The film has multiple themes, in a way the film is a bit like a Howard Hawks film as the situation progresses Scott becomes more of a man and Ramona becomes more of a woman. For Scott it's doing things for yourself as well being more than what you are if you want things to get better, Scott's life has always been on hold because he wasn't doing what he should be doing, but once he stepped up to plate that's when life got better. Ramona it's finding what she needed as opposed to what she thinks she wants. All of her evil exes had one thing in common they didn't give her what she really needed, Scott was able to give her what she needed which is kindness, warmth, and understanding. All the more reason why he's right for her.
Well that's all I have to say, Scott Pilgrim is an epic, well sort of.
Rating: 4 stars