The movie opens with a rather slow paced introduction to Scott Pilgrim and friends. Well i say its slow paced, it makes 'Fear and Loathing' look like your granny on weed trying to dodge a steam roller climbing Everest driven by a dead Bison. By slow paced I am referring to the pace of the story when compared to the fast cutting hard edge editing style that could only be achieved by an editor and director both suffering a serious case of Attention Deficit Disorder. Still this slightly lengthy introduction is pretty much warranted in order to set up the actual story which kicks off around fifteen minutes in, when the picture sets off like a marathon runner in the hundred meter sprint leaving the audience scrambling to keep up as if they were an asthmatic obese wheelchair user with bread rolls for arms.
Yes its true, Scott Pilgrim moves pretty damn quickly. One second your watching a typical romantic scene then suddenly its a battle of epic proportions as an evil 'ex' bursts through the rooftop without so much as a "hey look over there!". This sounds horrifically annoying but trust me it kinda works, the story never gets bogged down by the typical character development scenes and instead glances briefly at them giving you the gist and moves on to the next big set piece safe in the knowledge that you can fill in the rest for yourself, which you can, if you cant then go watch Piranha 3D which will be more at your level.
The films visual style is very striking also. OK so this is a comic book movie in case you didn't know and its approach is to quite literally copy and paste typical comic book frames and insert them into the film in a totally original way. Now before you say "Watchmen already did it", no it didn't. What Watchmen did was to take the frames from the comic book and copy and paste the entire frame and call it being faithful when really it was just a cover up for a lack of creativity. What Scott Pilgrim does is take elements such as written sound effects (SWOOSH, THWAP) and display them on screen, for example when a character bangs his head against a lamp post not only do you hear an audible 'thud' but you also see the words THUD dance across the screen in big bold comic book fashion text making you feel like your in the same comic book world as the characters. I am glad that this doesn't happen in real life though, just imagine how off putting sex would become when you are mid coitus and surrounded by SQUELCH! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
On the negative side there are a few characters (well ok, most of them really) that lack any depth or believability. I found the character of Scott's chinese ex girlfriend to be pretty annoying, always popping up when not necessary like an erection at the dinner table. The film also has a rather important 'rock band' element which I find makes me cringe in any movie that tries to pull it off, at least this time the actors look like they know how to play the instruments their supposed to be playing thus avoiding what I have come to know as the "Bill and Ted" factor.
I think its pretty clear at this point that I quite like Scott Pilgrim VS. The World. I'm not going to say its the best film I've ever seen, nor even the best of this year, but it was entertaining and engrossing enough for me not to notice how harsh the Oxford Odeon seating is on my sweet, Sweet arse. The acting was good enough, the direction fine and the writing a perfect mixture of good and cheesy. Its not may favorite movie ever by any means, nor is it really in my top three of the year but is well worth a poke.
Scott Pilgrim VS. The World gets...
3 out of 5
I love the thumbs up idea. I'd give it five stars but that is cos I am me and you are not. Although the ending comes close to knocking down to a four.
ReplyDeleteI had to go with the Buddy Christ! Its within theme and its from a Kevin Smith movie. Very me!
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