Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Level Up! Collector's Edition (Blu-ray Review)

• Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
• Review Date: Aug 12, 2011
• Format: Blu-ray Disc
• 

Review

Scott Pilgrim, a young musician from Toronto, falls in love with the new girl in town: Ramona Flowers.  The only catch to dating her is that he must defeat her seven evil ex’s who are all out to annihilate him.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name and drawing heavily from video games and anime for its frenzied and frenetic style, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ultimately failed to make a lasting impression at the box office during its initial theatrical release.  However, that hasn’t stopped it from being successful in its aftermarket life, only further proving that the film’s core audience is made up of a legion of geeks (myself included).  This modern day Rocky Horror Picture Show is a living, breathing video game; meticulously brought to life by Edgar Wright and his team of special effects wizards.  His over-the-top approach fits just perfectly within this kind of story, making for a roller coaster ride of a movie, but be forewarned: trying to follow any sort of logic in a movie like this is a waste of time.  To be succinct, this soon-to-be cult classic will rock your socks off.

For its debut on Blu-ray, the video presentation alone is reason enough to purchase it.  I have three words for you: flat-out beautiful.  Images are crisp, grain is extremely minimal (if not non-existent) and the contrast is high without overdoing it.  The color palette is absolutely solid and even, making for one lush visual presentation.  Everything is so crystal clear and perfect that it deserves our highest of ratings.  On the audio side of things, you have a few different options: English 5.1 DTS-HD & DVS 2.0 and French & Spanish 5.1 DTS Surround tracks.  The master audio track is extremely impressive.  Enveloping the listener with a bass-thumping soundtrack while constantly being on the move helps make this a fantastic surround experience that will have your speakers bleeding pure sonic happiness (and make you want to rush out to buy the soundtrack).  In the subtitle department, there’s English SDH, French and Spanish options for those who need them.

Regarding the supplements, this has got to be one of the most overstuffed packages of recent memory.  Literally, this disc is bleeding with content.  It would take forever just to list it all and wouldn’t be very good reading anyways, so I’ll try to minimize as much as I can without skipping anything.  Kicking things off are a set of four audio commentaries: the first with Edgar Wright, co-writer Michael Bacall and graphic novel author Bryan Lee O’Malley; the second with Edgar and director of photography Bill Pope; the third with actors Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong and Brandon Routh; and finally the fourth commentary with actors Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Kieran Culkin and Mark Webber.  There’s also a Trivia Track, as well as a set of Deleted Scenes (including a bonus song that didn’t make it into the final film).  Following that are a set of outtakes entitled Scott Pilgrim vs. the Bloopers.  More deleted footage follows in the Alternative Footage section, but this only scratches the surface as the bulk of the extras can be found in all of the documentaries and featurettes.  The Documentaries section contains three featurettes, the Pre-Production Footage sub-section contains thirteen more items of interest, the Animatics sub-section contains seventeen animatics, the Rehearsal Videos sub-section contains eight featurettes and, last but not least, three sub-section featurettes closes this section out.  The Music Promos section is split into two sub-sections containing four music videos and seven OSYMYSO remixes while the Visual Effects section has three options to check out.  The next option on the list, Soundworks Collection: Sound for Film Profile, covers the massive amount of work put into the film’s soundtrack.  The Trailers section sports three theatrical trailers, eighteen TV spots and four video game trailers.  Next is the Adult Swim: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World animated segment, the Scott Pilgrim vs. the Censors: TV Safe Version featurette, a set of fifteen video blogs from Edgar Wright that originally premiered on the film’s website and, finally, a Galleries section that is broken up into twelve different areas of interest.  There are several BD-Live options, as well as the option to digitally download two bonus movies: Pitch Black and Tremors.  I have to be honest here and say that this option left me scratching my head a bit.  In my opinion, the two films for optional download should have been Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, both of which were directed by Edgar Wright AND owned by Universal.  That would have made much more sense to me than just simply picking a couple of movies at random.  On the DVD included in this set, you get four audio options: English 5.1 & DVS 2.0 and French & Spanish 5.1.  Subtitles include English SDH, French and Spanish.  The extras that carry over include all four audio commentaries, the Trivia Track, the Deleted Scenes, Bloopers and Galleries.  You also have the option to use pocketBlu with your mobile device to download the aforementioned bonus movies as well as a Digital Copy using the code from the paper insert that’s been included.  All of this material is comprehensive and endlessly informative and should cover just about anything you would want to know about the film... to say the least.

And that brings us to the end of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on Blu-ray.  Fans old and new will find nothing to complain about with this release.  It has got to be one of the most exhaustive home viewing experiences available for a single film.  There’s no stone left unturned with the bonus content and the presentation is top notch.  The additional internet and mobile phone options are a bit of a nuisance, but other than that, this is one marvelously well-put together package and well-worth your hard-earned dollars.  Highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons