Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Year: 2010
Running time: 112 minutes
Certificate: 12
Language: English
Screenplay: Michael Bacall, Edgar Wight
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Satya Bhabha, Keita Saitou, Shôta Saitô, Brandon Routh, Chris Evans, Mae Whitman, Jason Schwartzman, Alison Pill, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Brie Larson

Ramona doesn't look exactly impressed with Scott to start with.

Scott Pilgrim was a box office disappointment for Edgar Wright, but it has since found a devoted (and deserved) following, including one of the UK's foremost film critics Mark Kermode. It's the filmic equivalent of espresso. Based on the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, it is steeped in the energy of modern popular culture, practically leaping off the screen in an explosion of colour, frantic pacing and snark. That description is meant to be a positive one, although I can see for some it might not sound like it. A shot of manic energy it may be, but it's a really well assembled shot of manic energy, with heart to spare underneath the visuals.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a flighty kid who is shallow and (let's face it, like a lot of kids) frequently discarding what he has to chase the next shiny thing while doing his best to avoid the consequences of his actions. He's in a band with his ex, Kim Pine (Alison Pill) on drums who quite clearly resents him for the way he treated her but still stays close, yearning for some kind of, if not apology, then at least acknowledgment from Scott.

Scott quickly becomes infatuated with new girl Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and so begins to try to work his way into her affections, hoping that his current girlfriend Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) will just get the picture and go away if he ignores and avoids her for long enough without going through the trouble of breaking up with her. Unsurprisingly, this backfires on Scott before the end of the movie.

Scott comes of age. And is rewarded with a flaming sword.

Scott soon realises he has bigger problems as in turns out winning Ramona's heart includes defeating her 'seven evil exes'. Wright clearly has a ton of fun creating set pieces for each confrontation, inspired by both the graphic novels and, basically everything in contemporary popular culture, but most obviously, video games. Each ex is essentially a 'boss' for Scott to defeat, leading to the ultimate evil ex Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman), where Scott gets power ups for discovering the power of love and of self respect. The fights are visually really quite unique, highlights including pre-Captain America Chris Evans as spoilt movie megastar Lucas Lee and Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh) using vegan-powered telekinesis to smash Scott through a wall. If all this sounds very silly, well, it is, but that doesn't stop it being visually arresting and a lot of fun.

Worth it for the uniqueness alone (I've never really seen anything like it before or since), this is an energetic blast from start to finish.

Score: 8/10

Although it failed to rake in the box office, it seems to have been a bit of a critical hit - see these reviews from Helen at Empire and Peter at the Guardian (who shock horror, I actually agree with on this).