Reel Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

So, I finally got to see my number one film for the summer, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and I am so incredibly happy to be able to review it now. As almost anyone who has read my blog before will know, I have been waiting all summer for this film and am a big fan of the comics as well as Edgar Wright’s directing. Now I don’t think I let either of those things sway me, just like I tried with The Last Airbender, that film just sucked, and my feelings about this film are all about how I felt it told its story and was made in general.

So first off, Edgar Wright did a stellar job with his directing of this film as could be seen from just watching it, and also with the extra knowledge I gained beforehand on his little hidden gems that add more. Honestly, his fluid style of keeping scenes flowing even when heavy on dialogue and its also great at making the action scenes feel even more creative and amazing then the greatly choreographed scene they are. I know this sounds like bias praise, but honestly if you liked any of his previous films, his humor is still here and amazing and his truly personal directing style continues to define his work and entertain.

Now as for the cast we get Michael Cera as our title character, Scott Pilgrim, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as his love interest, Ramona Flowers. Scott lives with his gay roommate Wallis Wells, played by Kieran Culkin, and he is in a band with Kim Pine(Alison Pill) and Stephen Stills(Mark Webber) who’s roommate Young Neil(Johnny Simmons) is there biggest fan and a wannabe member of the band. The rest of the cast is made up of Scott’s sister Stacey(Anna Kendrick) Stephen Stills’ on and off again (bitch) girlfriend Julie Powers(Aubrey Powers) and the Chinese teenager Scott dates at the start of the film Knives Chau(Ellen Wong). As a fan of the comic I feel safe in saying that all the casting in this film was great and it made me incredibly happy to see all of these parts played so well. Not all of them were exactly how I saw them, but they all embodied their characters and made them brought me much joy. I feel in the end I feel the best cast characters were Kieran Culkin as Wallis, Anna Kendrick as Stacey and Ellen Wong’s spot on crazy Knives Chau. Ramona’s evil exes are Matthew Patel(Satya Bhabha), Lucas Lee(Chris Evens), Todd Ingram(Brandon Routh), RoxyRicther(Mae Whitman), Ken Katayanagi(Shota Saito), Kyle Katayanagi(Keita Saitou) and Gideon Graves(Jason Schwartzman).

The film follows the same path as the Scott Pilgrim comic series: Scott is a slacker in a band who starts dating high-schooler Knives Chau until he see Ramona Flowers in a dream, and then at the library(where he realizes he is real) and falls head over heals for her. Through the course of the 6 volumes of the comic, and the 2 hour film, Scott must face Ramona’s 7 Evil Exes to win Ramona to himself. If you are thinking to yourself that 6 books would be hard to translate well in to film, then you are feeling the same worry I had going in, but I had such hope thanks to Edgar Wright’s track record and the quality of the books’ writing. That faith wasn’t misplaced at all as in the film all the characters get to be their truly quirky/zany selves that we love in the books, and every evil ex gets their fair and enjoyable screen time, even if many of the fights are changed and expanded on from the books.

Honestly I can’t say enough about the quality of the fights which were just over the top action. Even when changed, they held the heart of the fights in the books and then continued to make the flow and energy their own. The fights are like a beautiful and epic dance that will make you go “Woah!” quite a few times and will truly enamor you like few scenes in other films have of late. The only difference is that this is done in every fight. Better yet, the great humor of the books is never lost, not even during these fight scenes. Many of the best lines from the books are kept in the film and a few jokes even expand on those from the books and make them better.

There are a few minor quarrels that I can bring up, just so none of you can claim it is all bias. The first like 15 minutes, while great, is a little bit fast as they try to get a lot in but while it goes quick its not at a pace that gets you lost or can cause you to miss things. Another slight issue is how the Katayanagi twins don’t get to talk at all and their fight is only just the fight which is less then the other exes, but their fight is still one of the better. These are really minute issues in the end and I really would like nothing more then to see this movie again and get others to see it too.

Rating: 5/5

Reelization:

I’m not saying its perfect, but its everything I could hope for as a fan and I feel even if I was someone who didn’t know the books it would be great too. Honestly, you should see this film, you won’t feel let down at all.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD WINS THE CINEMA!