Scott Pilgrim vs. The Culture: A Hero for the 21st Century?

Anyone who knows me knows that I really enjoy heroes, comic books, and video-games.  Now if someone

 can successfully turn that into a movie, I am all in.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is all this and more.  Scott

Pilgrim vs. the World is based on the six volume comic book saga of the same name, volume six having just

recently released in the last month.  In truth, I have not read the comic books yet, so I do not know how well

it follows the source material.

In the film, Scott Pilgrim (played perfectly by Michael Cera) is a 22 year old bass player in a band with some friends from high school. The band's desire is to make it big, to sign with a producer everyone calls “G-man” and Scoot is dating Knives Chow a high school senior. Enter Ramona Flowers, a roller-blading punk girl with wild hair colors that Scott really wants to date. The audience soon learns that in order to date Ramona Flower, Scott Pilgrim has to fight and defeat Ramoa's seven evil exes (a.k.a. The League of Evil Exes). It's riot to watch Scott Pilgrim go one-on one with with Lucas Lee (played by Chris Evans - Fantastic Four's Human Torch and soon to play Captian America) and Todd the Bass Player (played by Brandon Routh; Superman in Superman Returns). I particularly enjoyed the “Bass Battle”.

Some are going to see this as romantic-comedy-esque, because yes, romance is one of it's main themes, and

it's a very funny movie.  As someone who doesn't like romantic comedies all that much, I actually like this

(battling a League of Evil Exes who all have superpowers to win the heart of a girl while; who doesn't?). 

This movie is that, but it's so much more.  This is a movie that is a complete ode to a generation that's grown

up loving video-games and comic books.  One of the wonderful aspects of the films is the use of music and

sound effects from the classic video-game franchise The Legend of Zelda (a Nintendo series which happens

to be my all-time favorite gaming saga).  From using the history of Pac-Man as a pickup line; learning the

bass line to Final Fantasy II; many nods to classic arcade fighters like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter;

Thor's Hammer – Mjollnir; and a final duel influenced as much by role-playing games as it was by Star Wars;

this is a movie that a gamer/superhero fan will love.  In many ways this is the movie that was made for the

“Nintendo generation”.  There are nods to many other cultural icons like Bruce Campbell/Evil Dead,

The Seven Samurai, and the late John Huges.



The whole idea of seeing Scott Pilgrim (while surely flawed) as a hero goes beyond honing skills, winning

fights, scoring points, and collecting change in the process – it's the idea that he's willing to fight and defeat

seven evil villains so he can date a girl, not so he can take over the world.  He's willing to risk life and limb

because of a girl (and to protect his friends).  Most films don't execute this all that well, but Scott Pilgrim

does so in a way that's humorous and nostalgic.  It's nice to see the geek hero triumph and see a character

actually learn something worth learning.  Pilgrim is a much better hero than many of the anti-heroes who are

popular today, such as Wolverine, Punisher, Blade, and Spawn.  There is an innocence to his heroism that is

akin to Link in the Legend of Zelda games –Scott Pilgrim didn't seek to become a hero, the circumstances

found him.  I think this is a film that will define this generation long after it leaves theaters.  Children of the

Eighties have The Goonies, and this  generation has Scott Pilgrim – just beware the Nega-Ninja.