Movie Review - 'U2 3D'

U2 3D

Featuring U2
Directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington
Rated G

As great a band as U2 is, and as many memorable albums as the Irish quartet has cranked out over its illustrious Hall of Fame career, their live shows have always been their true hallmark. Their previous film, Rattle & Hum, which is aging quite nicely, is a concert film more about the experience of being on the road. U2 3D simply documents some of the band's biggest hits over the course of several shows.

The draw is, of course, that you get to see U2 on the enormous IMAX screen, and you get to see what is likely the very first concert ever captured in 3D, certainly in IMAX's high-end version of the technology. In fact, this film marks the most 3D cameras ever used on a single project.

Unfortunately, the draw is the drawback. The 3D is a bit disorienting and doesn't put you in the frame of mind of a concertgoer at all. Instead, you find yourself focusing on the technology, not the songs, and not the performances. If you can step back from the omnipresent awareness that you're harnessed with big 3D glasses, the concert footage is pretty spectacular.

And that's where the heart of U2 3D is. Of course, this band is so finely tuned after playing "New Year's Day" for over 25 years, that there are no new revolutions in the music, either. But it is something to see them perform, especially if it's your first experience.

I think the approach for this project is probably the right one: A band this big could benefit from such a gargantuan scope for their music, both visually and aurally. They could benefit, they just don't a lot of the time.

U2 3D is a pretty static concert movie with a new technological twist, but I'd prefer something a little more poetic for Bono, one of music's most intriguing personalities, and the band that gives his lyrics so much room to breathe.