“SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD”
Based upon the graphic novel series written and illustrated by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Screenplay Written by Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright
Directed by Edgar Wright
**** (four stars)
I have to piggyback upon the comments written by Rolling Stone magazine’s film critic Peter Travers when I say that “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” the latest film from Director Edgar Wright (2004's “Shaun Of The Dead” and 2007's “Hot Fuzz”), is a game changer. What a supersonic, orgiastic, phantasmagorical, stupendous blast this film is as it stands almost alone at the summer box office as one of the most original films of the year. Additionally, for my money, it is also one of the very best. I will concede right up front that this film may not suit everyone’s tastes, especially since then entire proceedings are pitched at an audiovisual hyper kinetic frequency. However, for me, somehow, someway, it enthusiastically grabbed my attention from the very first image and never let me go. Like this year’s extraordinary “Inception,” I am already extremely anxious to plunk in another proverbial quarter and experience this one of a kind film all over again.
The plot of “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” is actually quite simple but the road it takes in the presentation is the jaw dropper. 22 year old Toronto native Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a jobless, overly sensitive video game obsessive. He lives with his “Cool Gay Roomate” Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), is a bassist for the garage rock trio Sex Bob-Omb, featuring guitarist Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and long suffering drummer Kim Pine (a terrifically petulant Alison Pill) and is also currently and chastely dating the adoring 17 year old high school student Knives Chau (a wonderful Ellen Wong). One night at a local party, Scott literally meets the girl of his dreams, the raven-haired American transplant Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Scott instantly falls in love with Ramona and desperately wants to date her but, there is a catch and a highly perilous one at that. Scott must fully defeat all of Ramona’s “seven evil exes” (which include the likes of Chris Evans, Brandon Routh and Jason Schwartzman) who are now hunting him down to kill him, in order to completely win her heart.
From the opening image of the Universal pictures logo to the final ending credit, the film is an amalgam of comic book mythology, melancholy love stories, video game pyrotechnics, quicksilver martial arts battles, and sufficient burst of indie rock music (featuring songs written especially for the film by Beck). It is a combination that should prove maniacally disastrous but in the hands of Wright, it is movie magic to the highest degree. It contains a knowing playfulness is aggressively inviting and its endless visual invention often leaves you with an effect that is nothing short of head spinning. Pink heartbeats flutter and float across the screen during the more tender moments while fight sequences are augmented with visual expressions of “POW!” and “KA-BAM!” and “K.O.!!!” just like in the 1960s “Batman” television series. Telephones visually “RING,” guitars plunk out animated “D” notes which throb seductively, rock concert sonic waves visually wash over enraptured audiences and vanquished villains disintegrate into a shower of coins. With one eye-popping effect after another, “Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World” is one of the few films in our CGI saturated times where the special effects completely serve the story at hand and always set out to enthrall.
Most importantly, and unlike the irresponsibly repugnant “Kick-Ass,” that ever elusive element of tone, which is decidedly heightened to say the least, is established immediately and in complete control throughout. The combination of special effects, music, performances, fight choreography, and set design are all in masterfully creative lockstep. If one element failed, the whole movie would unravel and I marveled over and over at just how Wright was able to keep all of these seemingly disparate elements wrapped together so firmly.
Most of all, “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” is a film with supreme confidence. It is a film willing to stand up in the crowded multiplexes across the country and announce itself as something to behold. It speeds forward with the pace of lightning, hurling one image after another at us, almost daring us to keep up and yet, it is never frustratingly frenetic. It is a film unlike anything else currently playing and for me, it rests very comfortably and honorably amongst a league of films, like Tom Tykwer’s “Run Lola Run” (1998), David Fincher’s “Fight Club” (1999), Baz Luhrman’s “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” (2003/2004) and also, one of my favorite films of all time, Ken Russell’s “Tommy” (1975). It is the type of film that shows up every once in a while, commands your attention and demands you exit with an equally extreme response, either positive or negative. There is no middleground with a film like “Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.” You will either go with it or you will not and man, did I go with it!
Again, I will concede that for all of the technical razzle dazzle, there are those who may find this film emotionally cold. For that, I would urge you to look a tad deeper as I think it is much more emotional than it lets on. Yes, of course, there is the love story at its core. But, beyond that, I really think it is a film about a series of love stories all centered around a collective of media saturated, emotionally guarded youths who utilize their ironic poses and media saturated jadedness as shield to protect their hearts from being hurt. Nearly all of the characters are falling in and out of love or suffering some form of heartbreak and through the experiences of their first profound hurts, the baggage that results have made them all wayward of new relationships. And for Scott Pilgrim in particular, he wants to avoid adult level emotional responsibilities all together which leads the film into even deeper conceptual territory.
The character of Scott Pilgrim is simultaneously confounding and compelling. He is wholly immature, cripplingly insecure, and self-involved to the point of solipsism as his immediate needs are the only ones he is willing to serve and protect. As the story is told entirely from his point of view and deep within the recesses of his media melted mind, he is also a completely unreliable narrator. He is a 21st century Romeo, a young man who is quite possibly in love with the idea of being in love more than he claims to desperately love Ramona. As in Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” (2004) and even Marc Webb’s “(500) Days Of Summer” (2009), we may not even be seeing Ramona, or any other character in the film, realistically at all, and solely as what he perceives them to be.
What is “The World” to Scott Pilgrim but a place where tender hearts like his are wounded and broken every day? So, why not fight it to the death and refuse the adult responsibility that comes with building and maintaining adult relationships. Scott Pilgrim is an emotional infant and his desire to remain a child is desperate—perhaps that is why he is dating a high school girl in the first place. Ramona Flowers is only a prize to win. For Scott, it is profoundly easier to see life as an endless video game because there are no one else’s feelings to consider because the world, as he knows it, is not a real one. “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” ultimately, is a film about growing up and discovering a newfound, adult emotional maturity. It is the evolution from unfeeling avatar to compassionate human being.
What saves the character of Scott Pilgrim from being so monumentally insufferable that one would exit the movie theater in a disgusted huff is the engaging, empathetic and hilarious performance by Michael Cera. Through his quivering voice, underfed body, and unkempt shaggy hair, Cera’s Scott Pilgrim is a sad sack and romantically wounded puppy in a Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt who can somehow find enough gumption to terminate one enemy after another. While this character is yet another in a long line of Cera’s geeks filtered through his masterful deadpan, he always finds the beating heart and deeper layers inside of this cartoon world. And he is expertly aided by the entire cast (which includes the amazing Anna Kendrick as Pilgrim sassy younger sister), who are all up to Cera’s level.
Every screening of every movie is a cinematic roll of the dice. Even from the masters of the game, there is always the possibility that, at times, they will creatively stumble and fall. This year has seen more than its fair share of major releases that have under whelmed but Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” was a knockout! I really hope you go out and try this film and even if your response is violently negative, it would be impossible to not acknowledge that this film tries in ways that most current movies have long forgotten. It unapologetically reaches for the sky, swings for the fences and runs many extra miles in order to deliver a movie going experience that is unique and unforgettable.
And hey! It’s about time a major motion picture featured a leading character adorned with my name for a change!!
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