Entering this film I'll admit, that whilst being thoroughly excited I was also a little worried... several questions were buzzing around my mind, ones like; How loyal an adaption will this be? Can Michael Cera break the chains of bumbling, awkward nice-guy? Will the characters look and act like they should? Will this popcorn last the entire movie? In due course, they were all answered, and the results were more or less all positive, minus the popcorn.
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Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Scott and Ramona
Image Courtesy of Screened.com |
I had a few initial shakes before the movie started, people seemed to find the Orange advert starring wild-eyed 'funny' man Jack Black far too hilarious... were they going to truly appreciate the subtleties and cult jokes in the movie they were about to see? But in time I discovered that this is one of the great aspects of the movie, there's enough in there to suffice your average movie goer, your retro-loving geek and your hardcore comic book fan. There was laughter across the room throughout, at both the all-rounders and the in-jokes, it was great to know I wasn't the only one who went into the movie already a fan of its comic book history, a huge relief after the fanservice overkill that was
Watchmen.
Aesthetically, the film was perfect. Locations were spot on to their original designs, the colours and special effects were vivid and fantastic, costumes were superb.
Edgar Wright and the team on board have created an excellent homage to
Brian Lee O'Malley's comic, putting to shame some of the big budget Marvel movies
*cough* The Fantastic Four *cough*. Sure at times the ordering of events wasn't exact, some of the lines were plucked from their frames and applied to other scenes and there were a few little segments that I wanted to see in there but didn't, but on the whole the conversion was brilliant, it wasn't ever going to be a perfect clone but what we've been given is a solid accompaniment and homage.
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Alison Pill as Kim Pine
Original image courtesy of rioyanez.com |
For me personally, the best quality about Scott Pilgrim was without a doubt the characters. The cast played out the roles exactly how I imagined them after my numerous readings of the books, Michael Cera was born to be Scott Pilgrim, he had a subtle swagger and great presence, his bumbling side only slipping through every so often. And there were some notably great performances from
Kieran Culkin (Wallace Wells),
Anna Kendrick (Stacey Pilgrim) and
Jason Shwartzman (Gideon Graves). Undoubtedly though, the girls on screen stole the limelight.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ramona Flowers) has stuck another fantastic title to her ever growing résumé and
Brie Larson as sexy, sultry, superbitch rockstar Envy Adams was just fantastic but my personal favourite of all the girls in Scott's life was
Alison Pill (right) as the bitter-ex and official new found love of my life (sorry Sarah), Kim Pine. Though she had little screen time, she was fantastic in the role, crabby, frowning and perfect at cueing in the Sex Bob-omb songs. I look forward to seeing some more of her and the rest of the brilliant cast in any deleted scenes later in the ever inevitable DVD and BluRay release.
The Verdict
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is without a doubt one of my favourite films of the year and I simply cannot do it justice with a simple review, if you haven't already seen it then get out there and do so, and if you get a chance then give the comics a go too. With geeks, games, girls, great music and seminal visuals, Scott Pilgrim is a cultural treat for the 'indie' generation
8/10.
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