U2 3D

I've been a U2 Fan for 25 years. Unfortunately, I've never seen them live. Until now. And boy was it worth the wait. U23D sets you front row to one of the greatest bands of all time. You feel their presence as though they are playing just for you. The 3D was astonishing, but even without it it stands as one of the greatest concert films I've seen. The lighting, camera work and music make the 85 min running time seem like 20 minutes, I personally wished it was twice as long. This world is filled with atrocities and war, But the one shining star on this planet is Bono. He is a great entertainer and one of the greatest humanitarians on this planet, and for that I praise him and for all that U2 stands for. As a planet we could learn a lot from him. But do yourself a favor, even if you are not a fan, go see this show. You will not be disappointed.

While the 3D is fun and the graphic enhancements terrific (editors and CGI now have a third dimension to work their magic), it's the performance and the music that make this worth seeing. With no fuss or delay, the concert jump starts and it's an amazing non-stop ride even throughout the closing credits.

A special cheer to Peter Anderson and Tom Krueger's cinematography which revels in the epic size of the crowds, and places the band members in beautiful--if formal--juxtaposition to the mass of humanity that's writhing in time to the music. It's all just a little terrifying when you consider four people step out on a stage in front of these cheering numbers (I've one question: Is everyone in Argentina beautiful? I've never seen a more handsome crowd.)

Olivier Wicki eschews fancy editing and uses the impressive set piece that toured with the band and creates beautiful dissolves that include wonderful use of that new third dimension. His restraint is spectacular to watch.

Not since Demme's "Stop Making Sense" has there been such an infusion of unabashed joy on the screen for a rock concert. The song set from the Vertigo tour includes:

"Vertigo" "New Year's Day" "Beautiful Day" "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" "Love and Peace" "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "Bullet the Blue Sky" "Miss Sarajevo" "Pride (In the Name of Love)" "Where the Streets Have No Name" "One" "The Fly" "With or Without You" and, over the closing credits "Yahweh"

You really need to see this in the Imax format if at all possible, but even if forced to watch in an analog television, you'll be thrilled and touched by U2's famed skill and their social conscience.

I will start by saying that I am a little biased in this review because I am a HUGE U2 fan. I have seen this band live and up close many times. They are incredible live, no band grabs a hold of an audience the way U2 does.

The new 3D film comes as close as possible to showing the viewer what it FEELS like to be at U2 concert. When this film was announced, I was afraid that the film would be a hi tech 3D thrill ride, while it might be cool to look at, the band would be obscured by the 3D theatrics. I was totally wrong!!! The way that the effect is used take nothing away from the performance. It doesn't feel gimmicky in any way. There are a couple of moments where there are some nice animated 3D graphics but they are used sparingly, but to great effect. The important element of the film of course is the band. U2 is still as passionate as ever, and even thought some critics have turned on them for being TOO BIG, they are as relevant as ever, This band's music has always been wide eyed and bigger than life.

This film capture's exactly that!!!! My only wish is that so many great songs were left out of the film.

U2 is the reason to see this film, not the 3D!!!

Grade: A

So I went to see this movie being the true U2 fan that I am and I have to say that I wasn't as impressed with this concert as I have been with other concert DVDs such as U2 Go Home: Live at Slane Castle, or Rattle and Hum. The set list was close to what I remember from when I saw them live for the Vertigo tour however some of the more obscure stuff had been edited out. The most obscure song they perform in this version is "Miss Sarajevo". From the new album they play "Vertigo", "Love and Peace", and "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own", with an acoustic version of "Yahweh" during the credits. None of these could be considered my favorite songs from this album unfortunately and the live versions were slightly annoying in my opinion. Other than that you can hear pretty much all the rest of the songs by listening to the radio on any given day. Not that that's a bad thing. I understand the audience is geared towards a very broad and general group and I understand that I am probably in a small percentile of that group who would rather hear some different songs than these. So based on set list I can't rate this much higher than I have. As for the 3D experience, well let me just say it was amazing. I have no doubt that casual and non fans would enjoy this a lot more than I did. As for me, I'm going to watch U2: Go Home again.

First off, I'm not a huge fan, but really love their early 80s stuff such as Sunday, Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, etc. My husband is a huge fan and likes the newer music. This blended both and although he wished a few more obscure songs such as "Exit" overall it was great! You can't have everything! I've seen Harry Potter in IMAX 3D and had the reaching out experience and thought I'd be so cool about it, but I did want to reach out and touch Bono/The Edge on several occasions. I also wanted to join in singing/dancing, but it wasn't to be, but my head did bob in time with the music. The camera work was incredible and seeing the monstrous stadium mad me appreciate the smaller ones here in the States! Bono was a little preachy, but that's sort of to be expected Every group needs a 3D movie! I can think of a few to start...