Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

<i>Scott Pilgrim vs The World</i>. Photo / Supplied

Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: The best martial arts videogame rock 'n' roll rom-com to come along in a while.

Having retooled and neatly anglicised the zombie movie on Shaun of the Dead and the cop thriller in Hot Fuzz, director Edgar Wright finally has the Hollywood budget his imagination so richly deserves.

But he's not done with his genre-splicing yet.

In fact, Scott Pilgrim vs The World is quite the mash-up, a post-adolescent romantic comedy combined with a videogame fantasy and shot through with indie-rock cool and all sorts of editing sleight-of-hand.

Its closest cinematic cousin is this year's Kick-Ass, another Brit-directed geek empowerment fantasy coming, as this does, from a left-field graphic novel - Canadian Bryan Lee O'Malley's manga-influenced series about 22-year-old Toronto slacker-bassist Scott and the pursuit of the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers.

Here Wright has compressed that six-part series into one mad fireworks display of a movie. One which runs on videogame logic, breaking out into high-flying chop socky - complete with points and power-ups - at every possible opportunity.

It also references everything from 90s sitcoms to 60s supergroups (there are characters called Stephen Stills and "Young Neil"), plus superhero movies - Chris Evans of the Fantastic Four turns up looking like Wolverine while Brandon Routh, the last big screen Superman, is now possessed of vegetarian superpowers.

And it's set in snowy Toronto. Though you'll only hear Scott say "Ay?" once.

So it doesn't lack for style, energy or - even with its magpie tendencies - originality.

Underneath all the flash, its story is an old one: Boy has to fight for the girl of his dreams.

Only Scott must fight Ramona's "seven evil exes" Mortal Kombat-style. They come in all shapes and sizes - fortunately, for running times' sake, two of them are twins.

Good thing he's put his time in at the arcade with Knives Chau, his teenage girlfriend who is about to have her heart broken by this lethargic lothario, even if she is the number one fan of his pop-punk band Sex Bob-Omb which is aiming at the big record deal at an upcoming contest.

That battle of the bands finale scene is something. The opposing groups' music becomes transformed into giant game monsters which fight for supremacy.

All of which might say something about how the joystick generation has displaced music from the centre of pop culture. Though this isn't exactly striving for deeper meaning, just flashy geeky cool and yet more of those fight scenes which leave the defeated decimated into a pile of coins.

Yes it does become wearying along the way and there are one or two evil exes too many. And despite Michael Cera employing his much-practised dweebish charm as Scott, he's more convincing as a virtual fighter than a lover. Mary Elizabeth Winstead certainly makes Ramona feisty and alluring. But while little cartoon hearts flutter from the pair's embraces, there's just not enough to make you care about whether they end up together.

The film certainly kicks bottom and stays amusing as Scott progresses through the levels.

But you do wind up wishing it delivered the occasional thump to the heart along the way too.

Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong
Director: Edgar Wright
Rating: M (violence, sexual references and offensive language)
Running time: 112 mins

-TimeOut