Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

So the first film I review in 2011 is one I’ve already seen last year, but there is a reason why I want this to be here. My first viewing of the film was enjoyable and I liked it quite a bit. My second? Loved it. A lot. Now I’m sure there are myriad reasons for this, expectations, the visceral shock that the film can have on first viewing, or my acceptance and understanding of how the film works. For as well as being an ode to geek culture, and an impressively deep (for what it is) exploration of relationships and growing up, the film is also a full on comic-book action film and it’s juggling of these elements is key to both what makes it stand out so strongly as a film, and my slightly tempered attitude to it first time round. You see I like the fights in the film, each one is clever and unique, and helps push the story forward. They are also excellently put together and frequently a lot of fun.

But here’s the thing; they are my least favourite aspect of the film. The mix of genre’s is unusual and as such I cannot deny that a part of me would have enjoyed the film just as much, if not slightly more, if there was less action and more of everything else. The main reason for this being, just how damn good the rest of the film is, I am a sucker for stories about young people growing up and finding themselves and Scott Pilgrim is fantastic at this. The cast is uniformly wonderful, and I think the reason I was slightly down on the fights was that they took up time that, on some level, I wanted to spend with the rest of the cast and storylines. Not that the Scott / Ramona storyline didn’t interest me, I just think it interested me more when they were talking rather than fighting.

However if my main gripe at a film is that I wanted more of it, and that I would have swapped some of the, still very enjoyably, action scenes for more dialogue, then I think it’s safe to say I liked the film a lot. In fact it is perfectly possible that as I revisit the film in the future (I can already see it becoming a staple) that these criticisms recede further, the film is so packed with detail, care and  attention that I think it already lends itself to multiple viewings.

I could talk a lot more about the film, about Edgar Wright’s brilliant direction, about Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s steady march to the top of my crush list and about how great Michael Cera is in a role that, when you look at it, is quite a departure for him and how he anchors the film brilliantly, but these things are all elements of a film whose main strength is how well it pulls disparate elements together into a coherent and enjoyable whole. Along with Kick-Ass this was the most hands-down enjoyable film of last year and one that I think stands slightly higher in the long term, make no mistake this is a light hearted and enjoyably silly film at times, but it also has a lot on its mind and a depth that you may not expect.

I realise much of this review, as it were, has been about my reaction to the film, but this is how I want this new blog system to work, I have little interest in recounting the plot or working down a checklist of elements to grade. As it is Scott Pilgrim is a fantastic film (in case you didn’t get that), a film of such passion and confidence that is fully deserved to succeed to much higher level at the box office than it did. My hope is that over time its stature will grow and that more and more people discover and share the film and grow to love it as I do.