Relax, relax, quit yourself from the euphoria of “Skyfall”. Let’s get things less seriously, shall we? Well, a couple of days ago I watched “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” for the second time after first-viewing it a year ago, and I realized that I haven’t made a review on it. And I felt like I must review it! Why? That’s because, as one of the major works of Edgar Wright, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” is really attracting, at least for me.

The film story was quite a mess, if I could say. Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera) was a young man, member of a band named Sex Bob-Omb, who dated a hipster 17-year-old high-schooler named Knives Chau (played by Ellen Wong). For the record, he dated Chau just to get rid of his broken heart after being split by his ex, Envy Adams (played by Brie Larson). Then, in a party of a friend, he met Ramona Flowers (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and fell in love with her. Unfortunately, to get Ramona on his arms, Scott had to defeat Ramona’s seven exes who were teaming up in The League of Evil Exes.

“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” was set in a surrealistic world, duplicating a computer video game. That’s why, you’ll be presented with so many unique animations and visual effects just like in a video game. Moreover, the Universal Studio “globe” logo at the beginning was transformed into a pixelated format, with a background song compressed into mono sound, just like in Nintendo or Sega. All video-gamers will be surprised by how this film could imitate any activities in a video game into real life. For example, when Scott successfully defeated one of Ramona’s exes, the ex would be destroyed and transform into a bunch of coins that Scott could collect. Video game fantasies were really coming out to life.

Meanwhile, don’t take the plot seriously. Don’t even bother asking why Scott could still survive, without any serious injuries, after being thrown through some brick walls. Don’t even try to figure out what makes Scott so charming that all girls found him attracting. As a comedy, these fictions were actually the main bullets to make us viewers entertained. The power of this film is on how Wright executed it: how it was edited super neatly, how the dialog was presented so hilariously, and how the video-game-y visual effect went so smoothly. Another thing, like the acting of—let’s say—Michael Cera as the main cast, was plain. Nothing is special from all the actors and actresses. I don’t get a good ensemble of them all.

But, screw that! I love this film and I favorite Edgar Wright as the mastermind! Well, beside “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”, I have only watched two other Wright’s movies: “Shaun of The Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”. Both were awesomely presented. Maybe, compared to “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”, those two films are a little bit better (because they have, at least, acceptable plots :D). I still appreciate how Wright turned out this super-cliché, crappy plot into a different, stylish, and notable presentation. I see an outstanding idealism here, and I really appreciate that. It’s a one-of-a-kind, interesting film you’ll enjoy so much.

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 ▼  The plot was just a crap

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SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD | COUNTRY USA YEAR 2010 RATING Rated PG-13 for stylized violence, sexual content, language and drug references GENRE Action, Comedy, Fantasy RUNTIME 112 min CAST Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Mark Webber, Kieran Culkin WRITER Michael Bacall (screenplay), Edgar Wright (screenplay), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press graphic novel) DIRECTOR Edgar Wright IMDB RATING 7.6/10 METACRITIC 69/100 (Generally Acceptable Reviews) ROTTEN TOMATOES 81% (Certified Fresh) MORE INFO