BrockTalk

If you are a visitor to this site, then you already know that I am an avid fan of video games, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a movie love-letter to video game nerds everywhere. Written and directed by Edgar Wright of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame, Scott Pilgrim is a coming of age love story set in a world whose rules and laws are based on that of a comic book or video game. Physics and gravity don't really seem to have much relevance in this world, evil ex-boyfriends and girlfriends have super powers, and if you die a pile of coins is all that will remain of your existence. In fact, the movie wastes no time sucking you into its' 8-bit nostalgia, as the opening scene instantly looks, feels, and sounds like that of a load-up screen on a game you may have played back in the 80's on your Nintendo Entertainment System. I have to say, this immediately brought a smile to my face. Ahhh.........the smell of sweet nostalgia.

The video game nods don't stop there however, as a majority of the movie's soundtrack is video game based, the characters talk about and play video games, and the visual style of the entire movie screams video game. This is all well and good, but I can't help but feel that in the end the style ends up outweighing the substance. This isn't to say that the movie has a bad story and poor character development, as I felt very invested in both; the script is quick and breezy, as well as very funny, frequently providing laugh-out-loud moments. The problem is that it pushes its' unique style so much that it quickly becomes repetitive and exhausting causing it to lose its' initial appeal. If you have seen the trailers for this movie, then you know that the basic gist of the plot is that Pilgrim must defeat his new-found love interest's seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart forever. I quickly began to loathe these confrontation scenes, as several of them are so cheese-tastic and cringe-worthy that I became very uncomfortable watching them. It didn't help that the first battle is by far the worst, instantly leaving a bad taste in your mouth for future encounters. Have you ever seen a music video from India? The first evil-ex is of Indian decent, and his special power is to summon back-up spirits/dancers (I couldn't really tell you which), resulting in them breaking out into a Indian music video dance routine. Too much, too soon. Also, these scenes are heavily influenced by the Japanese fighting game genre, of which I've never been a big fan , and is probably another major factor in why they didn't sit well with me.

With all of that said, I still thoroughly enjoyed many things about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but in the words of video game journalist Jeff Kanata of Shacknews, "I love loving stuff", and I really wanted to love Scott Pilgrim, but I just didn't come away loving it like I thought I would, which is always a disappointing occurrence. Still, if you are a child of the 8-bit era, are a fan of comic books or video games in general,  or enjoy movies of the hip-indie genre, Scott Pilgrim is worth your time. Who knows? You may love it, or maybe even eventually love loving it.