Sunday, August 22, 2010

An Epic of Epic Epicness

As a video game lover and sci-fi nut, I've often wondered what life would be like inside a video game. These are the thoughts that keep me from having a relationship with a significant other. And while I don't wish the same fate upon you, dear readers, I do invite you to entertain the thought, for a moment, of living in a video game. Where you would have energy bars to deal with, and power ups. Enemies to battle, traps to deal with, even warp tunnels to other areas of the world. It sounds like a blast, doesn't it??

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World puts on display a world exactly like that. Now, granted, these video game tropes are classic concepts now. Things relegated to the previous iterations of the 2D gaming world, but they're still imminently recognizable. Scott Pilgrim takes those ideas, and turns them on their ear giving a hilarious rendition of what life would be like inside a game. Now at the core, Scott Pilgrim is nothing more than another romantic comedy, but the details and presentation make it one of the most unique rom-coms ever filmed.

The story is fairly simple, in every relationship there's emotional baggage. Scott Pilgrim meets a new girl, and has to deal with her emotional baggage which comes in the form of 7 Evil Exes that Scott has to defeat in order to get the girl. Now, it does sound like a cheesy concept and in hearing about it, I knew there was a huge potential for disaster here. But, the key with any and all absurd comedies is that everyone in the film take every situation, no matter how absurd, completely seriously. The cast of Scott Pilgrim does this effortlessly, delivering in pitch perfect, deadpan fashion dialogue that reaches epic levels of sarcasm. A really interesting note, speaking of the cast, was the appearance of the latest Superman, Brandon Routh. In Scott Pilgrim, he reaches a level of super powered intimidation that easily eclipsed his turn as the Man Of Steel. It was actually awesome to see. Routh was more "super" here, in this soon-to-be cult classic comedy, than in a movie where he was playing the most powerful being on Earth. That is completely ironic, don't you think?

One of my favorite actors is John Cusack. The biggest reason for that is because there isn't a single film of his that is a straight up example of its genre. There's always something off-kilter. It's absolutely fantastic, and I keep an eye out for his projects. The main star in Scott Pilgrim, Michael Cera, seems to be following in his footsteps. And after watching Scott Pilgrim, I would have to say that he's earned the right to be called this generation's successor to John Cusack. Whether or not he keeps this title is another matter, but for right now, he's got it. Congratulations Mr. Cera!

For those of you who know me, you know that Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is not a movie I would normally watch. Yet for some reason, something about it called to me. And so I went to watch it. It turns out my instinct was right. This movie was really funny and if you're looking for a good quirky comedy, I would recommend Scott Pilgrim Vs The World.

No comments:

Post a Comment