Saturday, August 14, 2010

Quick Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World



If you love gaming or indie music, then more than likely you will love the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The movie is a geek's dream come true with cool fight scenes, inside references galore, and brilliant special effects. The movie is based off a graphic novel which I never read so I can't make any comparisons to the book. However I can offer my kind words as a gamer and film buff.

The movie stars Michael Cera as the geeky bass player, Scott Pilgrim. He hasn't had a real girlfriend in over a year, so he takes up dating an underage Asian girl named Knives to boast his ego. He quickly finds her dull after seeing Ramona Flowers, a hot indie girl with an attitude. Eventually Scott wins her heart (much to the other girl's chagrin) and believes life will be good from then on. However, things take a turn for the worst, when an evil ex of Ramona crashes Scott's battle of the bands performance. The evil ex tells Scott he must defeat all seven evil exes to stay with Ramona, so like any fool in love would do, Scott begins whooping each of their asses when they appear to keep her affection.

The fights look fantastic, easily on par with the latest superhero flicks. Each fight seems like something out of an anime or a retro video game. Some effects seem a little cheesey at first, but for the most part this is done to make the viewer laugh. Any action fan will love these scenes.

Many game references appear through out the film. The movie even opens with the Legend of Zelda theme from Link to the Past. In a key scene, Scott tries to win Ramona's heart with a lame re-telling of the history of Pac-Man's name (with hilarious results.) Also for a really obscure reference, one band is named Clash at Demonhead...that's fuckin' hardcore.



The acting was terrific. Michael Cera was awkard (as usual) but also he some how pulls of being a badass at just the right time. The skilled actor, Jason Schwartzman, effortlessly plays a very cool and arrogant ex-boyfriend. The performance that really impressed me was from the unknown, Ellen Wong. She played the adorable Knives, the girl Scott puts on the back-burner for Ramona. She comes off as geeky and comical, which plays as a nice foil for the calm and collected Ramona.

The movie is funny as well. One portion parodies Seinfeld, which is a little lame, but for the most part the one-liners are hilarious and Scott's aloofness make for a fun viewing experience. Another thing that makes this movie so great is the soundtrack. I literally left the movie and went to Best Buy to buy the soundtrack. It is that good.

Go see this film! I read it is underperforming this weekend due to being released against the Expendables, Sly Stallone's new film. I would hate to see this movie bomb, because I fear we will never see anything like it again if that happens.

One last thing: Check out the game on PSN. It is a love letter to old school beat-em ups like River City Ransom and Double Dragon.

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