Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) Director: Edgar Wright (are you surprised to hear I love this movie?) Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Jason Schwartzman, and lots of other people Genres: All of them IMDb Synopsis: "Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes in order to win her heart." |
I swear, I really appreciate this movie more every time I see it.
I first saw the manic, nightmarishly neon masterpiece that is "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" roughly a year ago. While I remember initially just thinking the movie was good, I found that it had a way of just sticking in my head (as all Edgar Wright films inevitably do.) I've probably seen it close to a dozen times in the past year. Finally, I'm at the point where I feel almost compelled to share my thoughts on the film, regardless of how daunting a task it may seem. Plus, having not written about a movie for awhile, well . . . I really wanna get this one right. I've got three pages of notes from my latest rewatch that I'm now realizing are mostly worthless, because while I took some very detailed notes on things like lighting, story, and performances, there's so much more I want to say here than "Oh, the lighting was good." So this will only be a pseudo-review of "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World;" as such, expect a lot of non sequiturs and tangential lines of thought that I will almost certainly fail to tie together cohesively by the end of this piece. With all that aside, let's begin. (Cue epilepsy-inducing opening credits)
Also, another minor disclaimer: Expect full spoilers in this review. Like, for everything. In fact, most of what I have to say is built on the basic assumption that you have seen the movie, because there's too much to say without wasting time explaining everything about the plot. So, please, consider this an appeal from me to you. It's on Netflix. If you haven't seen this movie, just go watch it. Please. Like, as a favor to me.
Now, if you've read any of my other stuff (which really, why would you . . . it's probably a big waste of your time), you've probably heard me mention Edgar Wright a couple of times. Okay, more than a couple of times. But if you do need a refresher without having to resort to a Google search, this is the guy who brought us such masterpieces as the Cornetto Trilogy, and, more recently, "Baby Driver." (Click here for my thoughts on the latter). And I think Wright is probably the best place to start in trying to crack the enigma of "Scott Pilgrim." So that's what I'm about to do.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't take a detour to talk for an inordinate amount of time about how much I love the style of this movie. "It feels like a video game," "It feels like a comic book," "It feels like a music video . . ." it's all been said before. Whatever aspect of nerd culture you might relate to, this movie has it. And yes, I am aware the original graphic novel is a manga and this movie draws a lot of style cues from that . . . I don't care about manga, but I recognize the influences. To me, the sheer amount of visual spectacle Wright infuses this movie with is enough to make it entertaining at the very least. Whether it's the hilariously timed subtitles, the mind-bogglingly creative use of transitions, the synesthetic use of visuals to represent music and audio . . . or anything else . . . there's always something happening on screen to draw your attention in.
"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" is, in my opinion, the perfect marriage of a grounded story with heightened, surrealist style. Like I said, we've all had to overcome obstacles in relationships before. Usually those obstacles aren't death matches with a league of ex-boyfriends (exes!) out to kill us, but hey, to each his own. And aside from the wacky visual stuff, the film starts out pretty realistic. Slowly, the film becomes a little more dreamlike when Scott first meets Ramona (literally, in a dream, as it turns out). But as soon as Matthew Patel busts through the roof of the Toronto International Battle of the Bands, things just go off. And the movie is all the better for that. The heightened reality of "Scott Pilgrim," as it turns out, is perfect for conveying that giddy feeling that falling in love can give us. Everything's a little more intense. In fact, Scott even says as much pretty early on, as he and Ramona walk through a snow-covered park: "When I'm with you, things sort of seem a little brighter."
Now, I should probably at least take a moment to shout out some of the best performances in "Scott Pilgrim." Right off the bat, everyone in this movie is perfect - perfect casting, perfect delivery, everything - but obviously, there are a few standouts. As I mentioned earlier, Chris Evans steals the F#CKING SHOW for a solid 10 minutes as the delightfully douchebaggy action star Lucas Lee, before he is defeated by Scott.
Quick tangent: The whole vegan superpowers/ "Vegan Police" bit is pure comedy gold and it brings about my single favorite laugh in the entire movie, right after Scott head-butts Todd out of existence. As Scott gingerly holds his head, we see in the background the two Vegan Policemen running off in slow-mo and high-fiving.
And obviously, major shout-outs to Cera, Winstead, and Ellen Wong (a.k.a. Knives Chau) for anchoring the story of this movie. Michael Cera uses the same quirky, soft-spoken mannerisms he does in most things, but it's still really fun to watch. And Winstead especially does a great job as the enigmatic Ramona Flowers. While she isn't given the most character development, I think there's a point to this. She's supposed to be cold and emotionally distant; there's a scene just after the Katayanagi battle where Scott calls her out on this. For the film to work, we the audience need to fall in love with Ramona the way Scott does, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead really makes it happen. So good job, everybody.
Another quick tangent: This is easily one of the most quotable comedies I've seen in a long time. And I'm actually having trouble thinking of any right now, just because of the sheer volume to choose from and because it's late and I'm tired, but trust me. This movie has quotes for days.
But as much as I would like to believe otherwise, "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" isn't flawless. The pacing starts to drag ever so slightly in the back half of the second act, after the Roxy fight. This all leads up to the somewhat lackluster "Amp vs. Amp" battle with the Katayanagi Twins, easily the most uninteresting of the evil exes. The showdown between bands is undeniably visually spectacular, but mostly inconsequential to the rest of the story. Although, it does give us that awesome exchange between Steven & Scott as Scott reaches for an extra life token - "What are you doing?/Getting a life."
And that brings me quite nicely to the finale of the film, the showdown with Gideon "G-Man" Graves in the aptly named Chaos Theatre. Here, we finally see Scott exhibit some kind of character development as he maybe, just maybe learns a lesson or two. For the first time in an hour and a half of runtime, he actually shows some agency as he storms the Theatre & demands a fight with Gideon. There's another great moment between Scott & Steven, where Steven urges Scott to leave and not give Gideon the satisfaction of Scott's humiliation, with Scott replying "What if I want the satisfaction?" (Again, hinting at a theme, maybe . . .?)
Then, of course, Scott declares his love for Ramona and unlocks the mythical "Power of Love," represented by a badass, hot pink katana that he proceeds to dice up a room full of faceless ninjas with. Cool stuff, for sure. But after a four-way showdown with Gideon, Ramona, and a bitter Knives, Scott is killed and finds himself left despondent in a desolate wasteland afterlife.
Sidenote: "Desolate Wasteland Afterlife" is a decent name for a punk band. I call dibs.
Another sidenote: This may be the first and only time we see Kim even half crack a smile in the entire movie, and it's just beautiful.
"You want to fight me . . . for her?"
"No, I wanna fight you for me."
Okay, but crushingly deep thematic meanings aside, this movie is honestly just so goddamn relatable. I truly think that any young adult whose ever gotten that sense that Maybe life is really just heading nowhere . . . can find something to identify with here, and let's be honest, that description is pretty true to your typical college student in this wonderful time we call 2018.
So let's try to tie things up as concisely as possible here. At first glance, "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" might seem like little more than a really quirky romantic comedy about a group of millennial hipsters. But once you start peeling back its myriad of thematic layers, a really powerful story about growing up, finding a purpose, and loving yourself and others emerges. So cue that overly sappy Beck soundtrack and let's fade to black on this bloated behemoth of a movie analysis. I'm so sorry, everyone. I just really love this film.
More Great Scott Pilgrim Stuff:
"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) - Movies with Mikey" - FilmJoy
"How Edgar Wright Saved My Filmmaking Career" - Patrick (H) Willems
"Honest Trailers - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" - Screen Junkies
Other Sources/Photo Credits:
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Scott Pilgrim IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/?ref_=nv_sr_2
Scott Pilgrim Title Card image: assets.rbl.ms/18854813/980x.jpg
Edgar Wright image: insessionfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/download-585x321.jpg
Doorway image: assets.rbl.ms/18854843/980x.jpg
Scott should break up with his fake high school girlfriend: assets.rbl.ms/18854854/980x.jpg
Dweebus Cera image: assets.rbl.ms/18854865/980x.jpg
Todd's vegan: assets.rbl.ms/18854874/980x.jpg
"DO NOT SIT" image: assets.rbl.ms/18854884/980x.jpg
"That's actually hilarious" GIF (pronounced with a hard G): assets.rbl.ms/18854904/980x.gif
Vegan police clip: youtu.be/CgEmxGL1JvQ
Getting a life clip: youtu.be/cW5Pai7e4lo
Power of Love: assets.rbl.ms/18854929/980x.png
Power of Self-Respect: assets.rbl.ms/18854940/980x.jpg
Goodbye GIF (pronounced with a soft G . . . we aim to please everyone here):
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