This is an adaptation of the graphic novel series by Bryan O'Malley, of which I have read half of the issues so far, deciding to start before I watched the film. Edgar Wright ("Spaced", Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) directs this astounding adaptation, which has a visual flair beyond anything else this year, and a script that is just good enough to keep up.
The film stars Michael Cera as the title character, who we first see dating 17-year-old high schooler Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), though they haven't even held hands yet. Scott Pilgrim also has a band, Sex Bob-bomb, which has two friends of his, Stephen Stills ("The Talent", played by Mark Webber), and Kim Pine (Alison Pill), who Scott used to date. The band also plays at Young Neil's (Johnny Simmons) house. Scott's house is one he lives in with gay roomate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), and sleeps in the same bed as Wallace, though nothing is going on.
This is Scott's life before he has a dream, where he sees a mysterious girl. He then sees that girl at a store, before meeting her at a party, where he tries and fails to pick her up. His desperation knows no bounds however, and he succeeds in picking her up the second time.
The description sounds pretty normal so far, but things take a somewhat drastic shift here. After Scott starts dating this girl, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), it turns out he must defeat her seven evil exes to continue dating her.
The plot summary is amazingly straight-forward, but the plot really isn't the most important part of this movie. The visual design replicates the comic-book feel amazingly, with transitions that look like panels side-by-side, and onomatopoeic sounds that pop up on the screen to show a phone ringing, and generally energise the movie.
Edgar Wright is an incredibly talented director, and a large part of that is in recruiting the best talent he can find to help bring his vison to life. His DP Bill Pope (Army of Darkness, The Matrix, and Spiderman 2, among other films) is able to create an amazing visual style, by far the best of a movie released so far this year (including Inception), that is incredibly good at replicating the video-games that the comic and movie seem to be inspired by (fighting games, early Nintendo). Wright also recruited Jackie Chan's fight choreographers, and it shows in the amazing fight scenes. The fight sequences are shot in such a way that, though it may cut incredibly fast, you actually get a sense of spatial awareness in the fights because they shoot in a way that is a little bit reminiscent of Hong Kong action movies.
The plot may be simple, but the performances are amazingly strong, with Chris Evans and Brandon Routh stealing their scenes as evil ex two and three respectively, not to mention Jason Schwartzman as big bad Gideon Graves, and the dialogue is great, with words such as "Hasbian" used to describe bi-sexuals. Michael Cera is able to finally show that his comedic style doesn't have to be annoying, with the possible exception of Arrested Development, in this movie. He delivers the lines in a brilliantly deadpan way that plays against type a little bit, with Scott being a bit dumber than the average Michael Cera character, but works quite effectively.
The references, as you would expect in a Wright movie, come thick and fast, but often aren't the centre of the jokes, which is something that people seem to forget these days. The only joke I can think of where the reference took a primary role was the "Seinfeld" gag, which was a hilarious parody. The visuals are full of sight gags, such as Scott's shirt, which has, by my count, Astro Boy, the Fantastic Four and Rock Band references. There are also moments where he turns convention on it's head, such as Nega Scott, who turned out to be a really nice guy instead of evil Scott the way you would expect in a video game.
Overall the film plays much more like a $60 million version of Spaced, though the subtle British comedy isn't quite as present. Not that there's anything wrong with that. This is a fine entry in Edgar Wright's body of work, and hopefully it will allow him to continue to do what he does best with the money it makes.
5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment