Scott Pilgrim was one of those movies that came out of nowhere last summer and became one of those minor cult hits. Although I missed it in theatres due to the majority of my summer being unfortunately owned by studying for the LSAT, I slowly learned of this film's origins after my interest was piqued over Facebook via buzz from my friends. Apparently, Scott Pilgrim started out as a graphic novel, seeded in anime and video game fandom. The movie does great justice at honoring the novel's "cultural heritige" and it's pretty entertaining, too.
Scott Pilgrim deals with a 22-year old wayward guitarist of the same name who falls for an enigmatic, hipster with technicolor hair named Ramona. However, in order to date her, he must battle her "seven evil exes". These spurned boyfriends (mostly) are Scott's main conflict of the film and test his moral balance between his love life and friends.
As you can see from the opening credits, the film's style is saturated in comic book/anime visuals and countless throwbacks to second-generation video games. This makes for a very entertaining and unique approach, and makes Scott Pilgrim really feel as if we're watching a living manga or casual RPG video game a la River City Ransom. The director is Edgar Wright, who also worked on Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The acting is pretty servicible for a movie of this genre, Michael Cera is still playing a pathetic loser, but at least he knows how to pull a punch, this time around.
If I had any problem with Scott Pilgrim, it's probably that it's a slight case of style over substance. The momentum of the film felt a little uneven for me; and I found myself in a position where halfway through, I was waiting for Scott's next fight scene and hoping his exhaustingly emo attitude would eventually be shoved aside. This only made things slightly predictable, but overall, the film was a fun romp. I really appreciated the time and energy the production team put into making the film as flashy and dorky as it could be; definitely a guilty pleasure.
7/10
Peace,
- Jon
(Next review: Death at a Funeral (2010))
No comments:
Post a Comment