Yes, “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” is a film that we’ve been talking about pretty much incessantly since its earliest stages, but as fans of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic and Edgar Wright’s films, there was no way we could dampen our enthusiasm for the film. That said, as the release date continues to grow closer and the hype, at least from the geek set, continues to grow louder, our Wariness Meters began going off. Drew Morton, our correspondent at Comic-Con caught the film when it unspooled there and gave it a very positive review. Yet, with none of the Playlist crew having a chance to see it for ourselves, we still kept our guard up. Well, we needn’t have worried as we finally caught the film at Fantasia, and if the crowd was any indication, fans are going to be thrilled by what Wright and co. have cooked up and yes, we can confirm, it is that good.
Fantasia audiences are known for being very, very vocal (in a good way). There is really no better audience to sit through a genre film with than the crowds that come to Fantasia because they will cheer on the hero, applaud a zippy one liner and roar with approval at well-executed sequences (and yes, if something is lame, they will definitely boo). And while it would irritate the hell out of us in any other sitting, there is something about the convivial spirit at Fantasia that makes it okay. So, despite the screening starting 45 minutes late, anticipation remained high, and after the 8-bit Universal logo and song opened the film to hearty cheers, there was no turning back.
In short, the Fantasia crowd loved the film. We’ve been attending for a few years now, and we honestly can’t recall the last screening that was this loud and appreciative. ‘Scott Pilgrim’ pretty much tore the roof off the place. While the more obvious, action-packed moments got some of the biggest cheers, the audience reserved a special place for Kieran Culkin (who plays Scott Pilgrim’s gay best friend Wallace Wells) who, as another movie site (sorry, we forget which one) accurately said, is the Robert Downey Jr. of the film. He walks away with entire scenes under his arm in a performance that should break him out into bigger roles. One particular scene had the audience laughing and cheering so hard, we missed the next two lines by Michael Cera. With this turn, don’t be surprised to find Culkin getting slotted and sought for ensemble comedy projects.
But the reception certainly wouldn’t have been as loud if the setpieces weren’t so finely executed. As we noted in our review, the duels that propel Scott Pilgrim through the film find Wright deftly handling shifting aspect ratios, musical numbers, CGI, animation and cartoonish violence with it rarely feeling too busy or overstuffed. This is a highly accomplished piece of pop art that does the rare thing of not just touching upon its cultural reference points (of which there are many), but finding that intangible aspect about them that makes them so special and important to the characters involved. If you are a video game nerd or were a gawky ’90s indie rocker (or better yet, both) this film is for you (and we mean that sincerely).
But, it remains to be seen how the film will play outside of its core audience which it’s pretty much who it has played to exclusively so far. One the one hand, the love story is universal enough that even those who haven’t read the comics or are familiar with the world Wright drops his audience into, should be able to find something relatable in the film. But, we could also see the video game structure/execution that makes up much of the film to be alienating to less adventurous crowds.
Well, we’ll have to wait to see what happens on August 13th. But regardless of how the ticket sales add up on opening weekend, Wright has certainly made the film he set out to without compromise, and has delivered the movie that will undoubtedly make the long wait fans have endured so far, worth it.
