Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars as the girl of Scott's dreams, Ramona Flowers, in the amazing story of one romantic slacker's quest to power up with love in the action-comedy, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." (Kerry Hayes/Courtesy Universal Pictures/MCT)
At times, one can start to believe that the current reservoir of film ideas tops out somewhere between the magic of comic book superheroes and the gritty reality of their second cousin, the graphic novel. And you would not be viewed as strange for thinking so.
The problem with the massive invasion of this one style is that it leads to redundancy and a catastrophically watered-down product. There are more than enough poor offerings to choose from: “Daredevil,” “Catwoman,” “Ghostrider” and “Max Payne” to name just a few. But every once in a while something amazing rises above the mediocrity and rocks your world. This is that once in a while.
Michael Cera brings his boy-next-door self back to the screen in “an epic of epic epicness” known as “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.” Cera’s suburban rocker Scott Pilgrim is currently “between jobs.” His current occupation consists of being bassist for the indie rock act Sex Bob-Omb and mending a broken heart by dating 17-year-old Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). It seems Scott has dated many of the girls around town and callously handled just about every breakup. It is, however, Envy Adams (Brie Larson) that has turned Scott into the emotional walking dead by breaking up with him and achieving success with her band The Clash at Demonhead.
“Scott Pilgrim” boasts an amazing soundtrack scored by Radiohead producer Nigel Goodrich, and filled with the hippest contemporary and classic tracks, it serves as the foundation for one amazing ride. Cera takes that ride with a tad bit more of an edge than we are used to seeing, but the essence of Cera still shines through.
Scott dreams of a violet-haired young lady rollerblading. Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) then rollerblades right into Scott’s life at a house party. Completely smitten, our hero goes to great lengths in order to get Ramona to go out with him. Finally relenting, they begin a romance. Unbeknownst to Scott, Ramona has baggage — very, very heavy baggage.
The League of Evil Exes begins its assault on Scott. Created and led by Gideon (Jason Schwartzman), The League has no plan on letting Ramona move on. In order to win her heart, Scott must defeat each of these exes in combat. The brilliance of the film really shines brightest in bringing the action to the screen. Surrounded by comic-styled backgrounds and video game iconography, The League utilizes its special powers in order to thwart Scott’s burgeoning love. The allegory of dealing with another’s baggage during the dating phase has perhaps never been so creatively or poignantly brought to the screen, and it certainly has never been titled “Bass Battle.” The viewer sees how each individual is more powerful or special to Ramona based on them being not only harder to defeat, but also worth more points, which rain down as coins when that particular ex is vanquished.
Chock full of great comedic timing and one-liners, overflowing with a cast of top-notch up-and-coming actors and actresses and tasty cameos, paying not so subtle homage to their Canadian roots and stars (one character is named Young Neil), surrounded by a truly slamming soundtrack and presented as a veritable visual smorgasbord of all encompassing cinematic delights, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” does what so many others emptily promise to do: It rocks. But not only does it rock, it also grabs your heartstrings and pulls you in. We all have baggage. We all have had the pleasure of strained and strange relationships. We all just don’t have to battle in a style reminiscent of “Mortal Kombat” in order to get through to our newfound love. However, as Pilgrim and the rest of us all know, battle might just be less painful than the alternative.
Rating: W W W W
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