U2 3D (U.)
Directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington.
Starring Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullins jr. 85 minutes.
The concert movie is surely cinema’s toughest genre: they all come up against that basic problem that there is something inherently wrong about sitting and watching a gig in a cinema.
U2 have kept banging away at it though (Under a Blood Rock Sky, Rattle and Hum) and now they’ve gone for the gimmick of 3D. The film is presented as a narrative of a single concert in Buenos Aires but the footage was shot over many nights of a South American tour while all the scenes of the band on stage were shot especially for the movie in a just-for-the-cameras performance, that gives you a front row audience eye view AND a roadie eye view of the band interacting on stage. If only it wasn't U2 you had to watch.
Whatever happened to the innovative U2 of the Achtung Baby/ Zoo TV era? Their concerts were visually exciting then but now they play in front of an enormous imposing curved screen that seems to replicate the size and shape of the Imax screen. Occasionally a bit of film or some text will appear on it but mostly it just towers over the four band members, looking like Pink Floyd’s The Wall made out of wooden crates.
Of course, if you’re a die hard U2 fans a trip to the Imax (we are promised that U23D will Never Ever be released on DVD) is a must-do but if you’re the sort of person who sort of likes U2 be warned that those songs that sound alright played in isolation on the radio, all sound the same when played live.
Whatever your feelings about U2 there can be no doubt that this film really does capture the feel of a stadium rock gig - a packed auditorium, all sat munching popcorn in their Buggles glasses, gently tapping their feet. Dull, passive, safe and anodyne, it is the very model of the modern major label music event. So this is what happened to our Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington.
Starring Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullins jr. 85 minutes.
The concert movie is surely cinema’s toughest genre: they all come up against that basic problem that there is something inherently wrong about sitting and watching a gig in a cinema.
U2 have kept banging away at it though (Under a Blood Rock Sky, Rattle and Hum) and now they’ve gone for the gimmick of 3D. The film is presented as a narrative of a single concert in Buenos Aires but the footage was shot over many nights of a South American tour while all the scenes of the band on stage were shot especially for the movie in a just-for-the-cameras performance, that gives you a front row audience eye view AND a roadie eye view of the band interacting on stage. If only it wasn't U2 you had to watch.
Whatever happened to the innovative U2 of the Achtung Baby/ Zoo TV era? Their concerts were visually exciting then but now they play in front of an enormous imposing curved screen that seems to replicate the size and shape of the Imax screen. Occasionally a bit of film or some text will appear on it but mostly it just towers over the four band members, looking like Pink Floyd’s The Wall made out of wooden crates.
Of course, if you’re a die hard U2 fans a trip to the Imax (we are promised that U23D will Never Ever be released on DVD) is a must-do but if you’re the sort of person who sort of likes U2 be warned that those songs that sound alright played in isolation on the radio, all sound the same when played live.
Whatever your feelings about U2 there can be no doubt that this film really does capture the feel of a stadium rock gig - a packed auditorium, all sat munching popcorn in their Buggles glasses, gently tapping their feet. Dull, passive, safe and anodyne, it is the very model of the modern major label music event. So this is what happened to our Rock ‘n’ Roll.
