Reviews by Matt

I will fully admit that I am a geek. I have my obsessions—movies, television, all things Whedon. There has been a big geek movement in the past few years where fans are allowed to be obsessed and be proud of it. With all this geek love out there, it is a great time to be a geek. Earlier this year the geek friendly “Kick Ass” was released. Now we have another movie that targets the geek set, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”

The movie, based on the graphic novels by Brain Lee O’Malley, is about Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is an unemployed twenty-something. His life is pretty standard and plain. One day he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and falls in love with her. The only problem is that Ramona comes with baggage—seven evil ex-boyfriends. If Scott wishes to be with her, he must defeat the League of Evil Exs.

I tend to find Michael Cera very, very annoying. As Scott Pilgrim, not so much. Scott is kind of a wuss, but has plenty of moments where he has a backbone. So despite my worries, Cera did not ruin this movie for me.

I started out this review talking about being a geek because this is a very geeky movie. It is in essence, a video game. When Scott fights the evil exs, it is set up like a fight from any number of fighting games. When the ex is defeated, they turn into coins. The world is one where all this is completely normal. Everyone apparently have fighting abilities and to see a battle break out is not unusual.

What I love most about this movie is the care that went into making this movie. Director Edgar Wright is a geek. Movies like his zombie film, “Shaun of the Dead,” action movie “Hot Fuzz,” and television show “Spaced” showed that he loves what he does and takes care to pay tribute to all he loves. I have not finished reading the graphic novels, but he kept the spirit of O’Malley’s vision and the quirk of the Scott Pilgrim series. It takes filmmakers like this to make truly great works of art.

This movie is not for everyone. It has been targeted to the geek demographic and that is whom it will appeal the most to. I wish I could say that it everyone can find enjoyment in the movie, but that is not true. It is very geeky and there are references and homages to the 8-bit video games of the past. If more people would embrace their inner geek, maybe this movie would be the box office success it should be.

9/10
Rated PG-13 for stylized violence, sexual content, language and drug references
112 min