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Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Spoiler: the audience wins)

If you like video games, you're going to love Scott Pilgrim.

If you like comic books, you're going to love Scott Pilgrim.

If you're a child of the 80's, you're going to love Scott Pilgrim.

And in all of those cases, you're probably going to look at your own life through a bittersweet lens after the credits roll. This review doesn't have any big spoilers, but it looks deep into the movie's themes, so buckle up.

On the surface, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (based on graphic novel series of the same name) is an action-comedy-romance with heavy use of video game references and effects. Imagine if Kevin Smith (at least, Kevin Smith in the 90's) teamed up with Suda 51 to make a romantic comedy. You probably caught the gist of the film through the commercials and the trailer: Toronto resident and career slacker Scott Pilgrim has to fight seven evil exes to be able to date the girl he's fallen in love with. That's pretty much the concept.

The fights are the spectacular centerpieces to the film, loaded with insane special effects that evoke tons of video games. Each fight is framed like a boss battle, with points, coins, and special moves. Every scene references a handful of video games, including River City Ransom, Street Fighter, and Zelda, down to using classic riffs from Zelda and a constant stream of 8-bit graphical flourishes to evoke the feel of classic gaming. Even the movie's bands, like Scott's own band Sex Bob-Omb and rival band Crash and the Boys, are named for video games.  They're visually amazing, with choreography and special effects that rival any action film I've seen in the last few years. If the movie was just about the fights, it would be a great sci-fi Kung Fu action flick.

Besides the video game-themed action, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is packed full of funny. The wit and comedic timing is up there with Kevin Smith, the Coen Brothers, or Joss Whedon. Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are main characters Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers, and they both offer a solid performance. Cera manages to crawl out of his shy nerd comfort zone to present a surprisingly layered Scott, and Winstead is just cool and aloof enough to be enigmatic without being smarmy. However, Ellen Wong and Keiran Culkin (yes, Macaulay Culkin's brother) steal the show as Knives Chau and Wallace Wells, respectively bringing hyper-energetic enthusiasm and deadpan snarkery to the picture. Even the evil exes, played by surprising choices like Jason Schartzmann, Brandon Routh, and Chris Evans, have plenty of hilarious lines. If the movie was just about the jokes, it would be a great character-driven comedy.

Already, that's a pretty damn entertaining film. It's fun to watch and keeps you excited. However, that glosses over a very important part of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Under the jokes and the fights, it addresses personal growth and how difficult it can be to move on from heartbreak and out of your comfort zone. Scott Pilgrim isn't just some generic, cocky kid. He's actually kind of a dick, still reeling from past issues and afraid to look toward the future. In fact, that's the problem with nearly every main character in the film, and how they all deal with that fear and hesitation is the underlying theme.

Scott's not perfect, and he has to overcome his flaws before he can really find any sort of closure in his life. However, unlike so many films where the main character has to "grow up," he's not alone. That's what really pushes Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World over the top. While it frames everything in over-the-top, video game-themed action and hilarious quips and gags, it still addresses concerns we've all had about life and love. Everyone deals with the scars of the past, whether by becoming willfully flaky to avoid looking back at your mistakes or becoming violently obsessive to find some purpose, all while refusing to get past what it is that holds you back. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World explores this idea while not hitting you over the head with it, interweaving fantastic and obscure video game references, side-splitting humor, and genuinely impressive fight scenes into the mix as it does so.

If you're the type of person who reads Aggrogate, you need to see Scott Pilgrim. It has great dialog, great acting, great fighting, great special effects, and will go down as one of the best video game-related films of all time. Okay, that last bit isn't exactly a very high bar to jump over, but still, go see it. Now.