Genre: Comedy Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead,
Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon
Routh, Jason Schwartzman Director: Edgar Wright Rating: PG (Some Violence And Sexual References) Year Made: 2010
SPECIAL
FEATURES
- Deleted Scenes including an alternate ending not shown in
cinemas!
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The Outtakes
- Feature Commentaries with Cast and Crew
- Galleries
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATIONS
Languages:
English/Thai Subtitles: English/Mandarin/Cantonese/Korean/
Thai Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Running Time: 1 hr 52 mins Region Code: NTSC 3 Distributor: Berjaya HVN
SYNOPSIS:
Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim. A bass guitarist
for garage band sex Bob-omb, the 22 year old has just met
the girl of his dreams - literally. But there's one catch
to winning Ramona Flowers...he has to meet and defeat her
seven exes!
MOVIE REVIEW:
Fanboys and geeks may vehemently disagree, but this reviewer is of the opinion that Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the Bryan Lee O’ Malley’s graphic novel is a spectacularly pointless movie. Sure, you may read this as an allegory of the X-box and Playstation generation’s struggle to find real-world love while relating to the environment as if it were straight out of their video-game, but really the only logical advice I could think of for our titular character is this- get your head out of the game already!
Because the World, as Scott Pilgrim thinks it, consists of battling to the death “seven evil ex-es” in order to win the heart of one mysterious girl with constantly changing hair colours, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). These ex-es include a pompous movie star (Chris Evans of the upcoming “Captain America”), a vegan stud (Brandon Routh, the former “Superman Returns” star), and finally a showbiz agent (Jason Lee) with an apparently powerful control over Ramona’s fate.
The highlight of the movie is supposedly the video-game style battles between Scott and the ex-es. To be sure, Wright concocts a busy, colourful visual palette for each of these to keep his audience distracted, but ultimately it amounts to little more than visual trickery by the second or third battle. First it’s a battle of fists, then it’s martial arts, then it’s a skateboard competition, then it’s bellowing musical instruments- if anything, the utter arbitrariness of it all symbolizes the lack of commitment to rules and structure that’s been a criticism of the new generation. Anything goes apparently, and when the loser bursts into a pile of coins at the end, the emphasis that it is all just a game is simply juvenile.
There is also little to suggest that Scott is deserving of our empathy. After all, Scott starts off going gaga over a 17-year old schoolgirl Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), hitting it off after school with her at DDRs and bringing her over to band practice to introduce her to his bandmates of “Sex Bob-Omb”. And then he promptly dumps Knives in pursuit of Ramona once he spies her at a party- how are we supposed to feel anything for his fickle mind? No, being geeky and spouting geek-speak does nothing for that cause.
If Wright (who co-wrote the script with Michael Bacall) can’t find much purpose in Scott’s pursuit, nor his deadly battles, he does a capable job distracting us from the pointlessness of it all. Split-screens, sound words “whoosh”, “thonk” and “ding-dong” appear onscreen in tandem with the action, and emotion words like “love” displayed with the same affection- and while these visuals that hark back to arcade games fit quite nicely in the movie, their ability to amuse wears thin as the movie plods on.
So too Michael Cera’s geek appeal- thanks to his ability to portray wide-eyed innocence and guileless sincerity- that has made him Hollywood go-to guy for such movies. Cera plays Scott in the same way he does the teen characters in “Juno”, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” and “Youth In Revolt”, and his consistent geek shtick is getting monotonous and tiresome. The standout performer here is Ellen Wong, who displays spunkiness and tenderness in equal measure, and who ironically makes it hard for the audience to empathise with Scott.
It’s hard therefore to recommend a movie that is as attention-deficit and fickle as its titular character. Should we feel for a character who drops a girl he supposedly likes, and who likes him very much, like a hot potato for another mysterious dream girl? Should we care for a movie who indulges itself in seven pointless battles with evil ex-es and then dismisses it callously as no more than a game? If you do, then go right ahead and grab this movie. If not, you’re not going to like it one bit.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The unmissable extra here is the Feature Commentary with director/co-writer Edgar Wright, co-writer Michael Bacall and comic author Bryan Lee O'Malley. The trio talk about adapting the comic books for the big screen, and the mutual influence they had in crafting the final product we see. Those who love the comic books will especially appreciate the insight in the details that remain and those that have changed in the film.
The Trivia Track offers a unique way of watching the movie, as information like song titles, the similarities between the comic book and the movie and the origin of certain T-shirts and posters in the background of the film pop out as you watch the movie. There are about 22 Deleted Scenes, including an Alternate Opening, with optional commentary by Wright. Another 9 mins of Outtakes and a massive Gallery consisting of photos of Wright and the cast on set, storyboards and conceptual art of the film round up the list of extras
.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track reproduces the sound effects, soundtrack and dialogue of the movie perfectly, emphasising each in equal turns. The surround sound is especially robust, and a treat for audiophiles. Visuals are clean, sharp and crisp, with colours in rich detail.
