That's actually hilarious.

Video game movies suck, yes? Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, Mortal Kombat. Yeah they pretty much all waver between God-awful and depressingly disastrous. But I went to see a movie recently that may very well defy this fact. A fact that has been written in stone ever since Bob Hoskins popped out of a green pipe and yelled ‘Mamma Mia!’.

This Movie is: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Now I know it’s not a video game, all you pedantic boffins will know it’s based on a comic book written by Bryan Lee O’Malley, but it is a video game movie! It just is! It’s so awesome! From the moment it starts you know it’s a video game movie. The Universal logo is presented to you in 16-bit format with an 8-bit version of the theme. Okay movie…you have gained your first star.

It’s directed by Edgar Wright, of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead fame. I didn’t reckon much to Shaun of the Dead but Hot Fuzz was hilarious. And this movie beats it. Easily. That’s so hard to say considering how much I love Hot Fuzz, but this is on another level.

This is the point where I’ll be nice and polite and announce a spoiler warning.  I don’t want to ruin the jokes for you so yeah, stop reading if you’re thinking of going to see this film. As it’s best enjoyed without being ruined by idiots like me on the internets.

So the movie begins and we’re introduced to our protagonist Scott Pilgrim very early on. He’s played by Michael Cera who plays the role perfectly. I loved him as George-Michael in Arrested Development and he plays a very similar character here. It’s a no-brainer for the casting team. You find out he’s dating a high school chick who I presumed was Ramona Flowers. But it isn’t, it’s a Chinese girl called Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) who he’s going out with on a rebound from his ex girlfriend Envy Adams (Brie Larson) who, when she got signed by a record label, dumped him. Brutally. I’m probably a complete noob for not knowing this but I didn’t read the graphic novel and I abstained from all trailers to avoid spoilers. The only thing I knew about this movie before I walked in was Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Ramona Flowers, evil exes, graphic novel. That’s it. There’s nothing worse than trailers ruining funny bits in movies. I’m so glad I avoided them.

The character of Ramona (Mary Winstead) comes into it fairly quickly and becomes the object of Scott’s desire instantly. Their relationship is kind of quirky and fun throughout the movie, there’s an obvious attraction but in the end it’s just two people trying to figure out what they want out of life and a life partner rather than a typical love story. A lot of guys will be able to relate to Scott, he’s been dumped by a girl he was in love with. Funnily enough a few guys might be able to relate to that. So you instantly warm to him. Well I did anyway. Even if he is a total broom handle at times. He basically two-times with Knives and Ramona and he treats Knives and fellow band-member Kim (Alison Pill) pretty badly. Kim’s another ex of his. Yeah, you may have noticed, there are a lot of exes in this movie.

As the story progresses you get a lot of in-jokes thrown in your gawping face, but you don’t need to know them to find this movie funny. And my God it is funny. So funny in fact I laughed out loud in the cinema so many times I lost count. I don’t think that’s happened since Hot Fuzz, and before that it was Anchorman. Alright so I got a lot of the in-jokes because, well, I’m a nerd, but I’m pretty sure I would have missed a hatful as well. Some of the great moments in this movie involve a constant barrage of nostalgic video game sound bytes, a shoryuken and even a scene replicating Seinfeld! It’s just great writing. Okay movie that’s another star for you.

Of course not all of the jokes perform perfect landings. Julie’s bleeped mouth borders overuse, for example. And the pee bar is a fail. But I know that was in the comic so fair enough, I’ll let that slide, and if you don’t like those jokes just deal with it! There’s so much more in this movie so chill out. I know some people would have hated the writing on the screen, but I loved it! It was genuinely funny, and I didn’t even get to read some of them because I was concentrating on something else. I need to watch this movie again.

So once Scott is dating his beloved Ramona he is randomly attacked by a dude named Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha) who crashes in through the ceiling and kicks off the movie’s first fight scene. Yeah this movie just got surreal. And it’s a good thing. Reality is finally fully disbanded and you can just sit back and enjoy the festivities. Matthew Patel reveals that he’s an ex of Ramona who wants his revenge for being dumped all those years ago in 7th grade. He then breaks into song in the most comedic Bollywood scene I’ve ever seen and is easily disposed of by Scott. Ramona then tells our hero he must defeat her seven evil exes in order for him to continue to date her. Pretty standard stuff so far, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The next evil ex is Lucas Lee, played by none other than Captain America himself, Chris Evans. Lee is a skateboarder turned cocky movie-star and is one of the best characters in the film. Scott’s room-mate Wallace (Kieran Culkin, yes Macaulay Culkin‘s brother), who is also one of the best characters in this movie, reveals Lee when he tells Scott he’s going to be stalking him. He sprays magazine cuttings of him across the table and one of them is a poster for a movie called ‘Action Doctor’ with the tagline ‘The good news is, you’re going to live. The bad news is, he’s going to kill you.’ Genius, absolute genius, I don’t know who wrote that but give him an Oscar now, two Oscars, heck just give him them all. Movie, have a star.

Once Scott defeats Lucas Lee and his army of stunt doubles. His ’big’ ex enters the movie, randomly, and invites him to her gig. Scott obviously turns it down but his band-mates decide otherwise when they are offered to support her band (The Clash at Demonhead). Poor Scott. Once at the gig we get introduced to the next ex, the psychic vegan Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh). Another fight scene ensues where Scott challenges him to a bass battle, only to lose and trick him into drinking coffee with half soy and half milk. Obviously this prompts the vegan police to burst in through a wall and take away Todd’s psychic powers. Incidentally the Punisher is in the vegan police. That alone blew my mind.

Next up it’s the bi-furious Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman, yes she was in Arrested Development too, come to think of it she played Cera‘s ex in that, I wonder if that was planned…) Scott finally realises this is an ex of Ramona’s but we’re treated to a fight scene between the two ladies rather than Scotty. He eventually has to step in but Roxy’s speed gets the better of him and he has to resort to hitting her sensual spot, revealed to him in slow motion by Ramona, behind her knee. Job done Scott well done.

The fight scenes make this movie for me. They are some of the best I’ve seen in ages. You might think as there are seven exes it would get boring. But it doesn’t. They’re all so varied and fun, they’re simply bad-ass. They easily keep you interested. I never once got bored in this movie. There’s always something going on. Whether it’s the massive summoned creatures in the battle against the Katayanagi twins or the final battle’s sword play, this movie keeps you wanting more, and more, and more. I need this on DVD. I really do. Another star for the fight scenes? Consider it done.

As for music, it’s pretty darn good. It’s very rock influenced, which you’d expect considering Scott’s in a rock band (known as Sex Bob-omb). It uses the music brilliantly and it’s used to great effect in the fight scenes, adding atmosphere and general vibrancy to the proceedings. There’s a few slower numbers thrown in there as well as the heavy stuff. But the soundtrack will be enjoyed more by rockers. Rival band ‘Crash and the boys’ produce some very short but good ones. I like the way the bands in this movie are named after Nintendo games. That’s pretty cool.

In the end Scott goes up against the final boss Gideon (Jason Schwartzman). But oh no! He loses to him and he’s left dead in a sandy purgatory! Whilst he’s here he gets to speak to Ramona and he learns a valuable lesson. Too bad he’s dead. But no, he has an extra life. I told you it was a video game! So he goes back, endures Gideon’s cut-scene (thank God Hideo Kojima didn’t direct this one) and starts the fight over, this time for himself not Ramona. This fight scene is so epic, he fights off a few guards with swords only to come up against Gideon and give him a kicking. Knives randomly jumps in to attack Ramona, as you do, and they fight for a bit until Scott finally defeats him and the final final boss! Phew.

So once all that’s done and Gideon has given his end of game boss defeated speech, Scott leaves the building to find Ramona and Knives. Ramona gives a little speech and walks off leaving Scott with Knives. But Knives tells him to go after her as they’re meant to be together or whatever. So he does. This is good and all but by the end of the movie I kind of grew fond of Knives more than I did Ramona. I wanted him to stay with Knives! She deserved it and was way more interesting than Ramona. Ellen Wong should go on to do tonnes of other stuff after this performance. I’d say it’s the best in the movie, and there are some pretty good performances here.

This really is one of the best movies of the year. But I’ve noticed it’s not doing well. It’s bob-ombing in the States and it came in at number two in the UK box office behind Grown Ups. Now, I haven’t seen Grown Ups but I can imagine that this film is several times better than that one. So go and see it! You need to! If you don’t Action Doctor will never be made! As for my final verdict, eagle-eyed readers would have counted the four stars I’ve given but no it gets 5 stars. The last star was for awesomeness. Yeah. It happens.