Review - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and today, I'm taking a look at easily the best comic book movie of the year 2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Based on the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim was directed by Edgar Wright, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Bacall, and stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Mark Webber, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Ellen Wong, and Alison Pill, and also stars Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Mae Whitman, Shota and Keita Saito, and Jason Schwartzman as the League of Evil Exes. 

       The movie introduces us to Scott Pilgrim, a 22 year old Canadian slacker, who is bass guitarist for an underground indie rock band called Sex Bob-omb along with lead guitarist Stephen Stills and drummer Kim Pine, who dated Scott in high school. This particular day sees Scott's bandmates meeting his current girlfriend: 17 year old high schooler Knives Chau. Yeah, they make a more than a few jokes about it during the movie. Anyway, Knives watches the band play one of their signature songs, and is enamored by their performance. After Knives leaves, Stephen and Kim continue giving Scott a hard time over Knives, and Scott heads back home sometime later, where his roommate, Wallace Wells, texts Scott's sister Stacey about the whole situation, and she gives him a hard time about it as well. 

        The next day, Scott introduces Knives to Wallace (whom Scott refers to as his "cool gay roommate," and yes, Wallace is gay), and Scott and Knives spend the afternoon getting pizza, playing arcade games, and checking out a music store where a girl named Julie Powers is employed. That night, Scott dreams about a different girl, one with pink hair, whom he sees the next day while he's at the library with Knives. As the day goes on, he's distracted by the mystery of who this girl is, and it's at a party that he learns her name: Ramona Flowers. He tries talking to her, but flounders miserably, and later learns she moved from the U.S. to Toronto after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend Gideon, and is currently working as a delivery girl for Amazon. 

         At home, Scott tells Wallace about Ramona, and he sleep texts Stacey, who tells him he should break up with Knives if he wants Ramona. The next morning, Scott orders a package from Amazon, with the hope that Ramona will deliver it so he can ask her out. Scott also skims over an E-mail from a guy named Matthew Patel over an impending fight between the two. As the days pass, Ramona finally delivers the package, and Scott formally asks her out. The two hit it off pretty well, and the next morning he invites her to Sex Bob-omb's upcoming performance at the Rockit for a Battle of the Bands. Their first opponents are a band called Crash and the Boys, who do really well, causing Stephen to flip his lid. Scott snaps him out of it after seeing Stacey, her new boyfriend Jimmy, Ramona, Wallace, and Knives all up in the balcony having a chat. So, Sex Bob-omb plays a song they call "Garbage Truck," but they're soon interrupted by Matthew Patel, who comes flying in to fight Scott, who holds his own really well. Matthew reveals that he's Ramona's first Evil Ex-boyfriend, and she confirms that the two went out for a couple of weeks back in Seventh Grade, as he was the only boy in school that took interest in her that wasn't a jock. Matthew then unleashes his fireball powers, but is dispatched by Scott, who defeats him. Later, Scott and Ramona take a bus and she confirms that he may have to fight and defeat her seven Evil Exes so the two can be together. 

          The next morning, Wallace forces Scott to break up with Knives, which he does after she invites him to dinner to meet her parents. So, Scott and Knives are broken up, and he can now have a proper relationship with Ramona. After a not-so-solid night at his place, Scott and Ramona head to Casa Loma, where skateboarder turned actor Lucas Lee is filming a new movie. Ramona recognizes him, having dated him in highschool, confirming he's another of the Evil Exes. Lucas then proceeds to beat the crap out of Scott, with help from his stunt team. Scott, after a pretty decent fight where Lucas reveals the existence of the League of Evil Exes. Scott tricks him into a dangerous grind down a flight of stairs, which he does, meeting his demise in the process. 

        Some days later, Scott is confronted by a mysterious blonde girl, who attacks him and bails out. At the coffee shop where Stacy works, as does Julie apparently, Scott meets back up with Ramona, where she meets one of his own exes: Envy Adams, lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead. Envy invites Scott to a live performance that her band is having, but he refuses. Stephen later reveals that Sex Bob-omb was invited to open for The Clash at Demonhead that night, which after thinking about it, Scott agrees, and the band plays opening for them at Lee's Palace. When The Clash at Demonhead takes the stage, their bass guitarist Todd Ingram is revealed to be another of Ramona's Evil Exes. At a backstage hangout, things are pretty tense, and things get worse when Todd decks Knives so hard the blue highlights in her hair are knocked out, and it's later revealed that Todd has super powers because he's vegan (and yes, I've made the Vegan Vegeta jokes myself). Scott had a Bass Battle with Todd, but despite his best efforts, Todd still owns Scott at bass guitar. Scott then tricks Todd into drinking a coffee with half-and-half, leading to two officers of the Vegan Police to drain him of his vegan powers, giving Scott the opportunity to finish him. 

        Later on at a rave club hosting the after party for The Clash at Demonhead, Scott is confronted by the girl from before, whose name is Roxy Richter. Despite Scott having no clue what is going on, he finally put two and two together: Ramona and Roxy were together, making Roxy an Evil Ex. Ramona and Roxy end up fighting it out, but because it's League rules, Scott has to fight Roxy. Ramona reveals Roxy's one weak spot, which he exploits and causes her to burst. After making a scene after a couple of gin and tonics, Ramona decides to leave Scott, giving him the names of the remaining three Evil Exes. Two of them, the Katayanagi Twins, are Sex Bob-omb's next opponents in the Battle of the Bands. Brothers Kyle and Ken Katayanagi are Japanese EDM prodigies, and the two are set to face Sex Bob-omb in an "Amp vs. Amp" face-off, which Sex Bob-omb luckily wins, winning over Gideon Graves, who immediately decides to sign them to his label. Scott refuses, and Young Neil ends up taking his slot in the band. 

         After sulking for a while, Scott gets a call from Gideon, who invites him to the grand opening at the new Chaos Theatre in Toronto, which Scott goes to to have a face-off against Gideon. Scott and Gideon have their fight, after revealing that he's in love with Ramona, who is forced to fight Knives, who is still not over Scott. After both fights go off, Scott finally reveals the truth to Knives and Ramona: he cheated on Knives with Ramona, and essentially cheated on them both. Gideon stabs Scott in the back, killing him. In a mysterious desert, Ramona reveals the full story of her and Gideon. It turned out that she was passionate about him, but he payed her no mind until she decided to leave. It's also revealed that she has a chip on the back of her neck that allows Gideon to influence her. Man, that's messed up. Using an extra life he won earlier, Scott takes his second chance to finish off Gideon, and he does even better the second go around. Scott reveals that the band is better without him, and he finally apologizes to Kim for everything. Scott then confronts Gideon, but this time for himself, earning a much stronger power: self-respect. Scott stands a much better chance against Gideon, and knocks him out pretty quickly. Knives shows up again, and he reveals the truth immediately and apologizes to both Knives and Ramona. Gideon returns and powers up to Final Boss level, and Scott and Knives double team to take him down. Scott finishes him off, and ultimately has to now face off against Nega-Scott. Hilariously, though, the two end up becoming friends instead of fighting, as Nega-Scott is a nice guy, apparently. Scott gives his goodbyes to Knives and he and Ramona go off to give their relationship another shot. 

          NOW, I do need to mention that there was an alternate version of this movie, where in the desert, Scott realizes how deeply devoted Knives is to him, having fought hard in his name. And, after defeating Gideon and befriending Nega-Scott, Scott decides to get back together with Knives, while Ramona leaves for parts unknown, and the movie ends with Scott and Knives at the arcade, happily playing their favorite arcade game together. Now, it's been a debate online over which ending the movie should have gone with, as many feel that Scott and Knives were a better match than Scott and Ramona. And these last thirteen years have seen debate after debate over the subject, and I've finally taken a side. Which side am I on? Well, I'm on the side of the fans who wanted to see Scott and Knives end up together by the end, because yes, they were just too adorable together throughout the first third of the movie. Now, obviously, we can't go back and change the movie, but I do prefer the alternate ending over the theatrical ending. 

          Regardless of the preference for the alternate ending, I still love this movie. It has a style and look all of its own, and as far as comic book adaptations go, it's one of the most entertaining ones I've seen. The video game pop-ups and visual gags are genuinely a lot of fun, and pretty hysterical at times, especially seeing a the ones in Scott's head, which are pretty funny. 

       The songs in this movie, which were written and recorded by bands like Beck and Metric, was really good. Plus, it was fantastic having the actors actually singing the songs for the movie (although, it wasn't until more recently that Metric officially released the recording of the song "Black Sheep" with Brie Larson on vocals). The soundtrack is a lot of fun, and it's definitely worth giving a listen to. 

          While I am not necessarily a fan of Michael Cera as an actor, I do think he was the perfect fit for the character of Scott Pilgrim, and definitely did well in the role. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who I had seen prior to this movie in films like Grindhouse and Live Free or Die Hard, was a really great choice for Ramona, and gives her an attitude of "I do care, but I don't think I care," which is a perfect fit for the character. I also enjoyed both Brie Larson and Aubrey Plaza as Envy and Julie, the latter of whom's deadpan attitude is the source of a ton of laughs throughout the movie. Anna Kendrick, who was easily one of the better cast members of the Twilight series, is really bubbly and fun as Scott's sister Stacey, and apparently she actually got the name tag Stacey wears in the movie from the IRL Stacey Pilgrim, who is the sister of series creator Bryan Lee O'Malley. And, of course, I thoroughly enjoyed both Kieran Culkin as Wallace and Ellen Wong as Knives, the latter of whom was just adorable throughout the whole movie with her energy and positive vibes. 

       As for the League of Evil Exes, my favorites are easily Chris Evans as Lucas, Brandon Routh as Todd, and Mae Whitman as Roxy. Each has a look that's unique, and their personalities and attitudes truly make each one stand out. I especially love Chris's delivery of the line "Prepare to feel the wrath of the League of Evil Exes." Satya Bhabha was also entertaining as Matthew, with his performance of the song "Slick" being a highlight for me. The only weak ones were Shota and Keita Saito as the Katayanagi Twins. Not that they were terrible, but only being there to perform EDM in an Amp vs Amp face-off against Scott and his band didn't give the two much in terms of character. However, Jason Schwartzman as Gideon was great as the main villain. Easily the best villains are the ones whose presence looks over the movie without the audience having to see them on camera. It worked for Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, and it works here with Gideon.  

         Now, while the movie unfortunately underperformed at the box office in 2010, Edgar Wright made a really fun actions comedy that can be enjoyed even by those who aren't fans of his other movies like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. And thanks to strong home video and streaming numbers, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World earned a well deserved cult following, and I can't deny just how much I love this movie. In the year 2010, there were a lot of disappointing releases at the box office amongst the major releases, with films like Iron Man 2, The Last Airbender, The A-Team, and so on being decent, but not entertaining. There were some stand outs like Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, The Expendables, Tron: Legacy, and Tangled, but Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is easily one of my favorites of that particular year. I'm giving the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World a rating of 5/5. If you can find it on disc, streaming, or digital, definitely check it out, it's worth the time. 

        Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll be back on Friday with my review of the 1940 Disney classic Fantasia.