We were as delighted as anyone by the sweep of victories for Claire Denis’ “35 Shots Of Rum” at last night’s MTV Movie Awards, but one of the other highlights of the night was in the pre-show, when the first clip from Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” made its debut. There has been a flurry of trailers and TV spots in the last week, and they’ve pretty much laid to rest any lingering doubts we had about the project — Michael Cera looks to have nailed the role, and it looks faithful to the books, but without a “Watchmen”-level slavishness.
The pre-show clip is our first look at footage in the context of a complete scene, and it’s pretty terrific. We’ve long thought that Chris Evans would walk away with his scene as douchebaggy skater-turned-movie-star Lucas Lee, and he seems to deliver here, with several big laughs in a sixty second clip. Kieran Culkin looks like he’ll be a scene stealer as gay best friend Wallace Wells, and the action (in a fight against Lee’s team of stunt doubles, an invention of Wright’s) is genuinely thrilling, well cut and choreographed. Is it August already?
“Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” will hit theaters on August 13, 2010.