Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is probably as close as we'll come to having an experimental film released in theaters nationwide. This is one of the most innovative, original movies to come out in years. It's unlike anything I'd seen before. And yes, it is good, very good. I could not stop laughing the whole time.

Onto the plot. Scott is something of a loser. He's socially awkward. He shares a mattress in a bunker-like apartment in Toronto with a sarcastic gossip king. He's in a band called the Sex Bob-Ombs, but they're really not that great. He also has a clinging, hyperactive girlfriend, "Knives" who's only 17- kind of a big deal when he's 22. All this changes when he dreams of a purple haired girl on roller blades. The very next day he finds out that she's real; that her name is Ramona flowers and she's the cool new girl in town. His first attempt to hook up fails miserably. His second attempt, although even more lamed brained, actually works, and they're soon an item. But now comes the bad news; to win her love, Scott must defeat her seven evil ex's. He also has an evil ex of his own. Plus, there's the matter of breaking up with Knives, and the battle of the bands is coming up!

That's the setup, what follows is a hilarious romantic comedy punctuated by a series of completely over-the-top video game style fight scenes. Stylistically, I'd have to call them a cross between Sin City, Street Fighter and Viewtiful Joe. Each of the ex's has their own unique fighting style and their own super powers, such as vegan-powered telekinesis or summoning an army of stunt doubles. Often you hear martial arts movies criticized because the action is obviously computer aided. Here, that's the whole point.

The movie's humor comes not only from the sheer ridiculousness of the situations, but also from the characters' reactions to them. After one of the ex's has flown in through a brick wall and battled Scott in the middle of a concert, everyone is just kind of weirded out. They don't act like nothing has happened, which would make it hard for the audience to suspend their disbelief, nor do they run screaming for the police, which would only complicate matters.

Comedic effect is also generated through the use of deadpan dialog. For instance, when Knives confesses that she's never kissed a boy before, Scott replies, with a straight face "It's okay, neither have I." Or the band's self-introduction, "We're the Sex Bob-Ombs and we're here to make you all sad and depressed and stuff.

The movie also pokes gentle fun at hipster subculture with the way that Ramona has thirty plus flavors of tea, or how Scott's roommate is always texting. There are also quirky touches like one girl who can bleep herself out, much to Scott's amazement, and a scene when the intro from Seinfeld plays after the characters enter the apartment, and canned laughter follows every line.

The editing and structure are highly non-traditional, with heavy use of dreams, daydreams, montages, animated flashbacks and asides, and chapter titles introducing segments. The visuals are impressive and very imaginative, such as the way that flashes of color accompany the playing of any musical instrument, allowing you to see the sound. Speaking of which, the sound is another high point, not only the energetic, rock fueled sound track, but also the sound effects taken from classic games like Mario and Zelda.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World succeeds in telling an offbeat story, providing interesting characters, and in producing lots of laughs. Other than a couple of too-obvious puns, I honestly can't think of anything wrong with this movie. I would highly recommend it to anyone in their teens or twenties. Four stars.

I came to this films with no preconceptions of it as a movie and I have to say I am glad. I guess I was expecting another Michael Cera movie about some dopey kid in love. And thats what it is ... but done in a unusually great way. For anyone under 25 brought up on gaming (I am 30 and not) this will be just brilliant. The style of the movie with its "end of level baddies", game-play set-up and visuals are a welcome and refreshing twist on what could have been a hum-drum movie. The music rocked, the comedy was fast, slick and laugh out loud ... I'd definitely recommend this to my friends looking for something that little bit special.

Teenager problems (find yourself, get real, etc.) might not give anything to people considering themselves mayor adults, but consider this is a movie built on arcade video gaming motifs, I don't think it concerns mayor adults at all in the first place. I for one did not necessarily long for dark moral drama in this particular movie at all, I think the story was just about right for this movie, but you decide, if this is childish watch Haneke.

Now for the rest: Surprisingly, Scott Pilgrim features the best martial arts scenes in years. Every fight is choreographed and executed in the most awesome ways and the fact that it's not Jet Lee pulling off these moves makes it even more fun to watch. And you get the fights absolutely frequently which is really, really satisfying. The editing is incredibly skillful as probably the most crucial element that makes this work. It gives the movie an incredible rhythm, reaching new levels of dynamism and the use of CGI and the visual design is plain fantastic. The amount of creativity put into this part is mind- blowing, resulting genuine and most original style. The cast is cool and I don't think anyone should look for academy material here. I liked these kids and they suit the movie.

So, all together I found Scott Pilgrim being one of the most original, exciting and fun productions I've seen in my life. As a huge fan of things like fighting games, comics, or martial arts anime I felt satisfied to a point of screaming 'awesome' out loud after 30 minutes into the movie. Though people who never played Street Fighter or kept crossing fingers for Goku and friends yelling 'kamehameha' as evil bosses get pulverized by energy beams might not really get what Scott Pilgrim is about, it's very hard to deny the originality featured and the creative and professional qualities of the way it's executed.

Fantastic! 8/10

I was lucky enough too see this film during a test preview to an audience that weren't told what we were about too see. I was honestly expecting some odd film that really needed a lot of help but i was pleasantly surprised with how great this movie was.

The movie had everyone laughing, and i mean everyone, I've been too almost every Wright film and somehow the audience wasn't as amused as i was, but this time everyone loved it. I've never heard so much laughter in one cinema.

The jokes were fast and although silly, they weren't stupid which made for quite an enjoyable film. Wright's trademark quick cuts, and simple comedy made this film, i personally think if it were directed by anyone else it wouldn't have had the same effect.

The characters were well written and performed, every individual character fitted perfectly. The film had many scenes that were quite pointless but still quite funny for example the Seinfeld scene.

Apparently its based on a comic book series? I've never heard of them before but i certainly will look out for them now. If you're a fan of Edgar Wrights films or just good silly humour you will love this film.

Great comedy, definitely the best of 2010 8/10 Morgan

I heard many good things about this movie before I went to see it. Even so, I didn't go in with too many expectations… I wasn't disappointed. This was probably the most enjoyable movie I've seen so far this year. I walked out of the cinema with a smile on my face and there was even a spring in my step as I went over the preceding 112 minutes in my mind.

Scott Pilgrim is a 22 year-old living in Toronto, Canada with his gay flatmate, Wallace Wells. Scott plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-Omb which consists of Scott (of course), Kim Pine on drums, Stephen Stills on lead vocals and guitar and Young Neil as hanger-on. The band has ambitions to be famous and so have a gig coming up at a Battle of the Bands show. At the start of the film he is dating a seventeen year old schoolgirl called Knives Chau. Things seem to be going along quite well until Scott has a vision of a girl called Ramona Flowers. He becomes besotted by her and they end up hanging out together and eventually dating. Unfortunately Scott soon learns that if he wants to date Ramona he must first defeat her seven evil exe's! Can Scott defeat these evil exe's and win Ramona? What will Knives think of his infidelity? All these questions and many more remain to be answered… until you've seen the film of course.

As I said at the beginning, this was probably the most enjoyable film I've watched so far this year. I found the quirky mix of live action with comic book elements quite refreshing and it gave the film an interesting look and feel that I liked a lot! Great performances all round, especially from Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers, Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Mark Webber as Stephen Stills, Alison Pill as Kim Pine and Ellen Wong as Knives Chau.

This will most certainly feature in my best of the year awards in December. It did start to lose me a bit towards the end, but I won't hold that against it. A really well made film which deserves the praise it has got (IMO). Well worth the entrance fee and very highly recommended.

My score: 8.3/10