Near greatness, remarkably ambitious and meticulously crafted.

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2010)

A deaf person would get as much from this film as anyone else, from first frame to the credits the screen is chock filled with colour and most sounds are spelled on the screen.
We get right into the film from the first sequence, it is band rehearsal for the Sex Bob-Ombs, as each band member appears on screen his/her vitals are listed for the audience, this happens at various times through the film, other touches include brief cutaways and written narration and segues, the intent is to always keep things moving swiftly at all times.
Scott is 22 and in that phase of not having a steady anything, no job, prospects, direction or relationship. But today he has informed the clan of his new girlfriend, a schoolgirl no-less. A Chinese schoolgirl in fact named Knives Chow. The band view this as a short lived act of desperation by Scott that can't and won't last.
Knives in doe-eyed and energetic, desperately wanting to be adult and part of the "scene", she instantly becomes the band's #1 fan. Scott and Knives don't as much date as play-date, video arcades and music stores are their haunts, and hand holding is as far as the romance goes.
All this changes when Scott glimpses a purple haired girl one day and is instantly besotted despite knowing nothing about her. A little homework later and he and Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) meet. Despite his sorta-girlfriend Scott asks Ramona out and after some awkward moments and a near first date home run they are officially on...
Complicating matters though is the continued presence of Knives, both the band and Scott's gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin) tell Scott to break it off with Knives immediately if he is serious about this new coloured hair alterna-vixen.
And he was gonna, but the battle of the bands is coming to decide which band is rockin' enough to get a record contract from the mythical producer G Man. Now it was a crazy film to this point, but halfway through the first battle of the bands it gets crazier and never lets up from there. The walls explode mid-song and a young man flies in, informs Scott that he is Matthew Patel and immediately gets Street Fighter on Scott's ass.
A mid-fight speech informs Scott that to be with Ramona he must first deal with the League of Evil Ex's, of which Patel is the first, all of whom have had dealings with Ramona in the past...
The remainder of the film deals with Scott attempting to do just that.
The evil Ex's are all quite cartoony and over the top, in fact only Ramona appears semi-normal in this film despite all the insane goings around - and largely because - of her. Winstead plays her with the impassive resignation that apparently encapsulates Gen Y and is both spunky and annoying at various times.
Each level-boss equivalent necessitates a fierce one on one battle, some of which are waged with fists and feet, others instruments and still others with dual dragons taking on a huge monkey. Upon completion of each "level" Scott gains points and coins that appear from the exploded victims... yes it is exactly that kind of film.
Every frame is packed with colour and action, there are dozens of musical cues from classic games like Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog throughout, and many more that I obviously didn't get, and in true video game fashion the defeated foes are never on screen for long as they vanish, or again explode into coins.
Michael Cera's "I'm clumsy and sorta whisper my lines almost apologetically but darn it I'm a nice guy" routine will get old fast - but it works yet again here. Ellen Wong is spunky (and jail-bait-ey) as Knives, spawning a chat-room handle for thousands of young Asian girls, Chris Evans and Satya Bhabha steal scenes as evil Ex's, but the surprise for me was Kieren Culkin as Wallace. Wry and sarcastic, he is nonetheless very loyal to Scott and always there for him, he's just not that into or involved when he doesn't really have to be. Wallace gets a lot of laughs in the film, and almost all of the sex, something the pre-teens in the screening I went to weren't capable of dealing with (none is on screen, don't panic).
I wanted to love Scott Pilgrim and at times I really did, it is breathlessly inventive and unbelievably creative, everything is filmed and edited in a way like no film I have seen before. In fact the only stylistic comparison I could come up with was Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure crossed with Crank and produced by Speed Racer, and that's still a ways off the mark. I found myself grinning throughout, the sheer audacity and creativity often makes it impossible not to be impressed... even in bits where I got a little lost or there was simply too much going on.
Scott Pilgrim Vs the World is most definitely one of a kind, just the kind that will appeal more to gamers than anyone else, but even more than that gamers of the 80s and 90s who will get most of the references continued within. It works well if viewed as just a film, but needs a basic understanding of the subject matter to be more than that.
Final Rating - 8 / 10. The beauty of Edgar Wright is that he is only in his mid 30s and has already made three excellent flicks, we hopefully have 20 years more to enjoy his output.