U2-3D...Who has seen it?

I've seen it twice...simply amazing. The only downside is that it's only little more than 1/2 of U2 concert.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

I saw it on Saturday. The 3D effect is nicely rendered, although I thought the PQ was a little soft. It would be nice if they could perfect the 3D technology so we could retain the usual vibrancy and sharpness of old-fashioned 2D IMAX.

Funny thing is, the dude next to me in the theater seemed to think he was at a real U2 concert as he rocked out in his seat from the first song; he even broke the armrest and kept hitting a mickey through the show. Weird.

A must-see for any fan of the band.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

I had a similar experience when I caught the flick last Friday. I noticed a lot of people really getting into the show, a good number even held up their cell phones at one point.

Pretty neat flick all in all, don't wait for the DVD on this one.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

Years ago I went to see Neil Young's "Rust Never Sleeps" at a theater. Some women sitting a few rows in front of me kept standing up to take flash photos of the screen.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

I saw it last Friday and had a blast. I could quibble over a couple things, I mean, it definitely could have been longer... but for a 90 minute 3-D concert movie, they did a good job of presenting the "core" part of the show. The "Vertigo" tour setlist evolved throughout from March 2005 through the end of the tour in December 2006, but the songs in the movie were featured at most shows, so I get what they were going for. The film was definitely at its best when it allowed the band to just play... there were a few times they went for some gimmicky 3-D stuff that didn't fit in as well, but certainly nothing that detracted from the experience as a whole.

Really the only thing I'd complain about was the treatment they gave "Yahweh" at the end. Would it have killed them to run the end credits to the sides of the band members, above the band members, really anywhere but superimposed over the band members? It seems with the giant IMAX screen, there was probably a better compromise that would have left the band more visible, and it would have been nice if the theater hadn't turned on the house lights and started ushering us out while it was playing.

I was really blown away by Adam Clayton in this film, as I was on the tour... of the four people in U2, he's arguably grown the most as a musician. He used to be pretty laid back, content to hide in the shadows of Larry's drum kit, but on this tour and in this movie, he's all over the place, bouncing around the stage, really getting into it. As a long-time fan, that was a nice thing to see.

If you're a U2 fan, you really owe it to yourself to check this out. If you're a casual fan or just a fan of good music and large format filmmaking, it's still a must see. They've really raised the bar for IMAX-type concert films, and that's a good thing.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

Indeed, from what I've read, there won't be a DVD. This was experimental and they don't plan any release in 2D or on home video.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

In the theater I went to on Saturday, the theater made an announcement during "Yahweh" (as the lights came up!) to please place your 3D glasses in the bins in the lobby. I yelled "Unless you play the rest of the song, I'm going to smash these 3D glasses!"

Geeez. After paying $33 ($16.50 x 2) to see a goddamn 90 minute movie, the least the theater can do is let me see the whole movie uninterrupted.

As IMAX screens go, this one (Nyack, NY) kinda sucks. Not a big auditorium, lots of seats way too close to the screen, and a railing in front that remains visible against the bottom of the screen the whole time.

Re: U2-3D...Who has seen it?

Was finally able to check out U23D in IMAX3D last weekend, and must agree- It was pretty darn good. The audio was clean, well mixed and had an active surround presence. The dialog was often directional, which is not common in standard concert features, so I'll be curious if the Digital Real-D audio mix is the same. The 3-D comes off very well and didn't cause any eye strain. On the stadium sized IMAX screen the shots from the crowd on occasion made me flinch, as the 3D effect made it seem as if you in the crowd. An excellent effect that I'll be very curious to see if it works as well on a standard 35mm ..errr strike that- I mean standard digital Real-D cinema screen. 3ality was not afraid to use hyper stereo for the wide shots, which also worked out really well. As for the 3-D editing, it is easily the best I've seen so far. The band seems to getting more "preachy" in their age, but that very minor quibble aside, I really enjoyed the IMAX 3-D presentation and thought it was top notch.