Michael Cera and Edgar Wright prove that love really is a battlefield with their new over-the-top Action/Romance/Comedy based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's hit graphic novels, but is this adaptation a knock-out or does this flick need a 1-up?Scott Pilgrim is 23 years old, Canadian, unemployed, living with and mooching off his best friend, stringing along an innocent little teenager and generally being a procrastinating douche about beginning his adult life.
Close to home.
At any rate, at some point during his idyllic faux-relationship with the naive little Knives Chau he manages to stumble across his (literal) dream girl, manages to stumble further into a first date, and continues to stumble into her bed, and eventually a relationship. But there's one problem, Ramona has some baggage in the form of Seven Evil Ex-Boyfriends (exes!) who all want to beat his ass. Like, hard.
But Scott's no slouch! He dispatches the first with relative ease manages to get the dirty deets out of Ramona. Now knowing what he's in for, he agrees to fight for Ramona's love and, in the process, maybe even get his shit together!
Now, if the premise for this film sounds a little out there, there's a good explanation for why: Like many films these days, it's based on a comic book, which, from my experience, often have more insane plots than most other forms of media. I mean, as much as I love comic books, let's be honest, they're kind of dumb.
-Not Pictured: The Works of Mark Millar-
So, yes, this Pilgrim's voyage is based on a comic book, but this FILM is a love-letter to video games and nerdom and all of the awesome things I endorse with the very fiber of my being. The original books were FILLED with little nods and what-have-yous to video games, but the fact that this is a film (and thus has sound and non-static visuals) just manages to take it to an absurd new level. There is always, always, ALWAYS something going on. From little touches to very iconic music playing during a dream sequence, to the villains bursting into coins upon defeat, and an announcer screaming KO, this film is a total special effects overload from beginning to end, and because of this it is a BLAST to watch. The one problem with the film's aesthetic, in fact, is that it might be just a little TOO hyper-kinetic for some, it has the potential to be exhausting for those not knowing what they're in for.
Fights are well choreographed and always interesting. Fans doubting Michael Cera's capacity to be an action star will not be disappointed. Though his performance still retains some of his typical Cera flare (or lack thereof, I suppose) he manages to pull off a convincing Scott and actually looks pretty damn cool in some scenes. The rest of the cast does a great job as well, Winstead's very sexy as Ramona (though she plays her a little flatter than I'd read her), Wallace Wells is as hilarious and gay as he should be, and the members of Scott's band Sex Bob-omb, though under-utilized, are a lot of fun, too.
Now, the books are used as a starting point for the plot, but around the time Scott fights the third Ex, things end up being changing around quite a bit. It starts off pretty small, things take place in a different order, or things are happen in a different setting, but actually culminates in an ending that is almost entirely different from that of the books. Now, typically, the comic-book nerd in me would be enraged by the prospect of a film being unfaithful to it's source material, but this movie is such a rush, so fun to watch, and so exciting to look at, I barely batted an eye. That should really tell you something.
Do yourself a favor. See this movie.
VAGUE NUMERICAL SCORE FOR LAZY READERS: 5/5
