Garvaos
Ok before anyone asks, no, we are not starting to do film reviews. This is just a one-off film review because lets face it, if you can get anymore video game references into Scott Pilgrim Vs The World then you would pretty much be observing someone playing a video game, and its with that opening statement I give you my Scott Pilgrim Vs The World film review.
From the get go the film doesn’t hesitate to pay tribute to the original comic book series by Brian Lee O’malley. Even though this is a film that is supposed to be based on the books, there are a lot of differences from the original comic book series, namely the end has changed and some of the middle bits have been cut out, that’s probably due to the fact that the film was being made while the comic were still being written. With that said it is a very good movie that no gaming geek should miss out on.
The story of the film revolves around a 22 year old called Scott Pilgrim. He has a basic life living with his gay roommate Wallace Wells, He is the bass player in his band call sex bob-bomb, (yes it is a gaming reference to the bob-bomb enemies in Mario) and he has just started dating a 17 year old chinese girl called Knives Chau. So all is going well for him untill he sees another girl in hs dreams. Not knowing who this girl is he just goes on with his life untill he sees her in real life, the literal girl of his dreams. He dumps Knives and starts dating this dream girl called Ramona Flowers. There is a snag with dating Ramona, Scott now has to defeat Ramona’s seven evil Ex’s in order to date her. Then the story escalates into some pretty cool fights and a true story of epic proportions.
What I love about this movie is the serious amount of game references that are in it. True the original comic book series was crammed full of gaming references, but seeing it translated to the silver screen did really put a smile on my face. Each battle against the Evil Ex’s pretty much starts with a Street Fighter Vs screen face off then they break into battle. Each Ex has their own special ability, without giving too much away my favorite battle has to be against Evil Ex number 3, Todd Ingram, as the fight does end up in a Bass guitar battle. The one movie that makes Bass Guitars awesome and I love it.
As for the cast of the movie, they pretty much have got it down to the tee. I hate to say this but Michael Cera does a mediocre job as Scott Pilgrim as Cera is pretty much Michael Cera in everything he is in, but that said he doesn’t spoil the overall movie. The other cast members do an awesome job though, not many famous faces but Chris Evans (Fantastic 4, Push) does an awesome job as the 2nd Evil Ex Lucas Lee who is a movie star/professional skate boarder. Also Kieran Culkin (Brother of Macaulay Culkin) does a brilliant job as Wallace, Scott’s gay house mate.
The style of the overall film pays homage to a lot of video games like I said earlier, but what I do like is that you can tell that this film was written and directed by a Geek. Edgar Wright, they guy behind Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz truly has paid homage to gaming geeks around the world. With every single person Scott defeats exploding into a cloud of coins and a point bonus appearing you can tell that the creators of this film really do love their video games and you also get some awesome things like Extra Lives and hit combos. It’s little things like this that truly make the film for me.
Even though this Film differs a lot from the original comic book series, as a stand alone film it was worth the wait, personally I think this is defiantly one of the films of the year. Sure Michael Cera is not the greatest guy to play Scott Pilgrim but what he lacks, the rest of the cast and the overall movie make up for.
defiantly one to catch.
- Garv
Jokesound
Having read only a tiny bit of Volume 2 when at Garvaos’, I didn’t really know what to expect from Scott Pilgrim. What I got from it was one of the most amazing cinematic experiences I have seen in a while, and this is in a year where I’ve already seen Inception, Toy Story 3, and Get Him To The Greek. A lot about Scott Pilgrim caught me by surprise; the amazing casting, the brilliantly wacky story and humour, and the incredible direction that helped make the film a definitive experience. However, there’s one major aspect of the film that I loved the most, and that’s the fact that it allows itself to be the greatest videogame-film I’ve ever seen, despite not being based off a videogame at all.
The references permeate throughout the film and become an essential part to it, from Zelda tunes being played to fight games being referenced, to the fantastic ending. It truly becomes a film that allows you to fully enjoy and embrace the videogame trappings. The trick that works most effectively though is that apart from Zelda, no other games are specifically mentioned or referenced, but tropes of games and aspects of them are integral to the film. You don’t especially need to have played any specific games to particularly enjoy Scott Pilgrim, but having a knowledge of them will help you immensely.
Otherwise, Scott Pilgrim is balls-to-the-wall action with humour at every turn. Personally, I was never bored. I didn’t find any flaws with the film at all and I loved everything about it, even without a deep knowledge of the books. If you’re a comedy fan, go see this film. If you’re an action fan, go see this film. If you want to find the best adaptation of videogames to cinema you may possibly ever see, this is the film for you.
-Jokesound
