U2:3D - Your thoughts and reviews

Originally posted by Ali709[..]

Amazing...and it's not a question of "knowing" shine like stars...it's just...that bit is the only thing that could make this amazing song any better, and it has a great effect as it's in the last part of the song.

Originally posted by sdking91POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW.....

I agree with the above review for the most part. The film is really incredible; I saw it last night myself. I was blown away by how the film makes you feel apart of the band in many ways, but at the same time you feel a part of the audience, so it is a very dualistic means of creating an experience. There are moments when you are on stage with the band, and there are times when you are placed in the heart of the pit.

I agree with the favorites that were listed. The moment when Bono looked at the camera during Vertigo was chilling. My theater got some gasps as well. I also liked in the middle of Sunday Bloody Sunday when the song reached the "Wipe your tears away..." moment, everything got very quiet. All of the crowd noise was drowned out, and Bono steps up to the camera and all of a sudden is 5 feet from you... lifesize. And he sings "Wipe your tears away..." quietly. Then at that very moment, the band comes back in and explodes into "Sunday Bloody Sunday!" which of course transitions into Bullet. It is an amazing sequence.

Hearing "Streets" on that big of a scale was incredible. Also hearing the audience participation on "Pride" was overwhelming. Of course, "The Fly" is definitely the highlight of the show. It is very intense and in your face. It is so overwhelming, you almost don't know what to do. It's truly amazing

One last thing that I thought was interesting is that they chose to leave a few goofs in what was otherwise a perfect show (performance wise). Two that I caught were during Bullet the Blue Sky when Bono lit the flare and it explodes in his face. Also at the beginning of "The Fly" when Edge's guitar doesn't work. Bono is left asking "Where is the fly?" Very cool. The band is not perfect, but the create an experience and that is why we love them.

You feel like you are a part of the band during this show. You get a feeling for the theatrics of it and what it takes to create a show on that level. The Edge and his guitar changes are mostly seen. The placement of band members, queues, and things like that are all visible, and it is incredible. Every U2 fan needs to see this film.

Originally posted by Jcbasketsaw it yesturday....AMAZING!!!!! truly one of its kind!!!

Originally posted by sdking91 Also at the beginning of "The Fly" when Edge's guitar doesn't work. Bono is left asking "Where is the fly?" Very cool. The band is not perfect, but the create an experience and that is why we love them.

Originally posted by haytrain[..]

I forgot to mention this bit about The Fly in my review. I'm convinced that what happened was Adam and Bono were playing in one key, and Edge was starting his riff in a different one. He tries it two or three times and it sounds pretty bad (but keep in mind there's so much sound/visual stuff going on, you're not sure if it's part of the show or not!), which leads Bono to say "Where is The Fly?" and then Edge finds the right key, and the signature riff kicks in. Awesome.

Originally posted by germcevoy[..]

Bono does the 'Where Is The Fly' comment at the Sao Paulo show too. There were no cock ups though. Just 'Where Is The Fly' then riff. Awesome indeed.

Originally posted by Coen[..]

Correct me if I'm wrong but he also says that at the Munich 2005 show....anyway, those reviews realy made me look foreward to tomorrow night, U23D in New York!!!!

Originally posted by haytrain Be aware that in my review of U2 3D, I will make specific references to specific aspects of the movie that some might consider “spoilers.” If you don’t want to know about them, don’t read the review. Consider yourself warned.

I just got back from the 9:30pm show at my local IMAX theater, and I must say that I was thoroughly impressed. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, since my last 3-D movie going experience was “Captain EO” at Disneyland back in 1988. (Captain EO) I was a little disappointed to hear that they weren’t pumping U2 in the theater while we were waiting for the show to start, and even more disappointed that the theater wasn’t sold out. Once the show started, it was at about 80% capacity. I did see a few U2 t-shirts scattered in the crowd, but most people didn’t even look like your “typical U2 fan.” (Keep in mind that this is the pretentious Hollywood crowd, I even saw one girl pull out her Blackberry and send two emails during the show!)

I was actually really impressed with the opening credit sequence. It’s really a mix of 2-D and 3-D, and gives you a brief glimpse as to what you’re in store for in the next hour and twenty minutes by showing some basic 3-D titles, and ultimately ends up showing the dark arena in Buenos Aires waiting for the band to take the stage. People around me in the theater starting singing the opening notes from “Wake Up,” which helped create a great atmosphere for the show. The lights came up and we got our first real glimpse of the 3-D cameras at work. There’s this breathtaking shot of Larry sitting at his drums and there’s so much depth to the shot, it’s really amazing. Bono came out and ripped into “Vertigo” and the theater was rocking. You could hear audible gasps from everyone at the point in the song when Bono turned and faced one of the cameras, giving the appearance that he was singing the song directly to each person in the audience. This was one of my favorite parts of the entire movie.

My personal favorites from the setlist were: Vertigo, Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own, Love And Peace Or Else, Bullet The Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, and The Fly. While the other songs were fun, these 6 songs really blew me away, some with their musical performances, but mostly with their 3-D shots. You actually get used to seeing so much depth in the 3-D shots that you start to forget that there’s never been anything like this before. Some of the other cool effects that stood out to me were: splashing water in the crowd that feels like it’s going to get you wet, crowd members blocking your view so that it feels like you’re actually in the crowd, a very cool effect during LAPOE where Bono draws in the air right in front of you, and colored block-numbers cascading down the screen all around the band members during “The Fly.” (To answer Gerard’s earlier question, the movie isn’t presented as a compilation, and generally gives the impression that the whole show was shot in Buenos Aires.)

My only two complaints about the movie are incredibly minor: 1.) Most of the shots are incredibly short and what longer shots there are tend to be slow cross-dissolves, which I wasn’t really a fan of. 2.) No “Shine Like Stars” snippet on WOWY, so the song just ends right before it could have really taken off. Not really the feeling you want to leave people with on what’s really the last song of the concert. (Yahweh doesn’t count, as it’s the closing credit sequence, and shows the graphics from the giant video displays instead of additional concert footage).

All in all, I loved the movie. Sure, Bono really shows his age towards the end of the show, and it was quite a bit shorter than the average concert, but there are some truly amazing shots in the show (the ocean of people bouncing in time to WTSHNN comes to mind) and I found myself noticing things that I’ve never noticed in any of their other concert DVDs: Larry’s orange-colored drink near his drumset, the long tassels hanging off of the strap on Edge’s all-black Strat during WTSHNN, and Bono pointing to the wrong symbols on his headband during the “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed…It’s true” speech. This film really gives you a sense of what it would be like to be on stage with the band during one of the shows. I absolutely loved it, and I’ll definitely go back and see it again.