U2 3D

This movie is so good. Nothing I write here can prepare you for how good it is. I though it was crazy that people were paying more to see this at sundance than they would pay to see the show live, but this is 100x better than being there live. We are Lucky to be able to see this show for $10 when it hits theaters this week.

An independent film using 3-D is a phenomenon that we will start seeing more and more of. This movie makes me want to have 3d in my living room. Can't wait for the new 3d player to hit the home The director is a genius. She had every type of 3-d Camera available to her.

You will be hearing a lot about this film coming up.

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

The peculiar thing about this report is that I am not a rock fan, not by a long shot. Of course, I could not be allowed to live in San Francisco without some appreciation for the Grateful Dead, but that's about it.

When it comes to U2, I know far more about Bono's commendable social activities than of the band's performances.

A labored preamble is necessary to put this in context: "U2 3D" has simply knocked me - a passionate fan of opera and classical music - on my limited-crossover backside. It is a spectacular, musically and visually superb experience, certain to enchant any classical-music fan... if only the fan is not too fanatic to stay away. Watching it, I kept wishing for the "Ring" to be produced with this kind of passion, commitment, hanging ten every moment, and the creation of such stunning images. An important added bonus: unlike other rock films, this one is not deafening, not even in the IMAX setting.

For over a quarter-century, says the PR release, U2 has been recognized not only for their musical innovation, but for their incomparable gift for reaching millions of fans through new technologies. "U2 3D" - the first digital 3-D, multi-camera, real-time production - reflects the band's longstanding embrace of technology and its belief that "U2 3D" has the potential to revolutionize digital 3D technology. Marrying advanced digital 3-D imagery and 5.1 Surround Sound with the unique excitement of a live U2 concert, "U2 3D" takes viewers on an extraordinary cinematic journey, a quantum leap beyond traditional concert films.

Directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington, "U2 3D" is a production of 3ality Digital Entertainment starring Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.

I would detail my rapture about the screening of this most stunning of concert films, but I was pre-empted: read Eliot Van Buskirk's Wired report -

"With 3-D glasses trained on the Imax screen at the Luxor Casino in Las Vegas, I felt I was experiencing more of the U2 concert from my theater chair than I would have in person. Chalk it up to the impossible camera angles, the breathtaking close-ups and panoramas, or the convincing nature of the latest 3-D technology, but I was really there: watching guitarist-keyboardist The Edge play a Fender Rhodes from a vantage point 4 feet above his head, seeing lead singer Bono's hand reach out to the crowd, and flying through a massive stadium lit up by thousands of cellphones waving in unison like a school of glowing sea creatures.

"The capacity crowds filling these South American soccer stadiums go absolutely mad for the music of U2. Their hands wave to the beat just a few feet in front of you. Their enthusiasm is wildly infectious.

"Every development in the history of cinema has always been about making the experience more realistic, whether going from silent to talkies, or black-and-white to color," said John Rodell, the producer I spoke with outside the theater. "We see the world in 3-D, so this is a natural progression, now that the technological limitations have been conquered."

"The 3-D format goes a long way toward making the movie great, but the film would not have been nearly as powerful with the cameras pointed at most other bands. U2's musicians are masterful performers, and the epic nature of their songs and stage act lends itself perfectly to larger-than-life treatment.

"Still, watching a movie is a passive experience; to keep viewers fully engaged for more than an hour, Sassoon Film Design added a smattering of clever visual effects somewhat reminiscent of the square that Uma Thurman's character draws in the air in 'Pulp Fiction'. Post-production staffers also added animated versions of U2's backdrop videos - most notably a series of icons suggesting that the world's major religions are one. To capture multiple band members in the same frame, the filmmakers added as many as five 3-D layers to the final cut.

"Other than that, U2 3D includes little visual or audio trickery. The band insisted that no audio overdubs be included; every note in the film was played live (although for on-stage close-ups, U2 agreed to be filmed playing one show to an empty stadium). "I could make my cat sound like a good singer with Pro Tools," said Rodell, "but we didn't use any of that. What you see there are those guys, playing that night, in front of 90,000 people."

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.

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.