“U2 3D” x 4
So I saw “U2 3D” for the fourth time this weekend. And I have to say, No. 4 was just as good. I still found myself grinning and bouncing in my seat from the first “Everyone.”
My excuse for yet another viewing was that my friend and sister wanted to see it. But let’s face it: I don’t need an excuse; I’d take a stranger to see it.
My friend Kate saw U2 with me in Chicago on the third leg of the Vertigo tour, so I knew she’d like the movie. (And she did; she said she even got tears in her eyes at one point.) I wasn’t sure what my sister would think, though. Laura grew up listening to U2, not because she wanted to but because her big sister was always blaring it from her bedroom. I’ve heard a lot of people say that’s how they were turned on to U2, but it never grabbed Laura for whatever reason. Of course she was only 9 when I went to college, so maybe I left too soon for the music to sink in.
But now, for the first time in the nearly 19 years since I moved out of the house, I got Laura to a U2 event. She went for the 3D because she had heard so much about it (it wasn’t just from me, I swear). And she had a great time. She sang me the lyrics to let me know when she recognized a song. She got a kick out of my chair dancing. And best of all: Laura now wants to see a U2 concert.
Now that will be worth writing about.
Last 4 posts by SisterMoon
- Celebrating 40 With “Bullet the Blue Sky” - January 31st, 2011
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For ... literally - May 31st, 2009
- (RED) Mini, with mini donation - May 21st, 2009
- That didn't take long - March 10th, 2009
Laura here. U2 3D was AMAZING!! And not just the 3D. As Michelle said, I was never as big a fan as she is. I liked some of their songs but after seeing what their concerts are like, I am hooked and now I have to go to a concert. Thanks Michelle! Not only does U2 have great music, a great message, and band members who actively try to make this world a better place, they now have given two sisters something else they can enjoy together.
I saw it 3 times, once with my husband, once with my 22 year old son who also grew up listening to his mom blasting U2 all through the house, and the last time with a friend who I’ve turned on to U2. I wanted to see it a 4th time but it is no longer playing in my city. :\
i gotta be honest, i was unbelievably excited for U23D. And it let me down big time.
-the audio was WAY too heavy on the snare drum slapback. Maybe it was my theatre, but it seemed strange that they’d take direct feeds from vocals, guitar,k bass, and then mix the drums between a direct feed and back of the stadium echoback. Really irritating, made New Year’s Day sound awful.
-the 3D was very cool when it was just the band, like the band in 3d. What wasn’t cool was how often they overlaid effects. I love the light show during the fly too - and i would love to see how it looked on that freaking massive screen. silohuettes of bandmembers placed into a scene where they aren’t playing didn’t do anything for me, and it was a little annoying.
-I’m probably going to be in a minority here, but out of all of U2′s comrades, Catherine Owens is the one that I think is the most pretentious and the least worth the praise. The video for Original of the Species is completely vacuous, easy, and really quite boring. The angles, the editing, the everything of this movie was exceptionally plain and hum drum. I thought miss sarejevo was well shot, it was awesome to see bono go into the opera bit looking out over the crowd. But that said, I miss the dude who did u2 in boston and chicago. he turned two less than shows into more than shows. Looks like Owens took a super pumped show and made it really plain.
-the setlist. what. the. f&%$. who decided along the way to edit out all the excitement? After like the 4th downtempo song, the person who came with me, hoping to be coverted to U2, said “well, not much of a rock show, is it?” The tour needed “elevation” to get off the ground, especially when starting with Vertigo, especially the lackluster version that starts out this show. Bullet the Blue Sky was good, but after Edge’s solo (why don’t you give the lead guitarist a bit more face t ime on his blues solo, instead of Bono lighting a flare? pointlessly? I love U2′s theatrics, but that was a bit too irrelevant - we got it, the headband, the blindfold, the giant fighter plane, all set bono), i realized how different this concert was from the show I saw in Boston, where U2 played like 25 songs or whathaveyou. Bono SANG in my concert. He didn’t mumble his way through new years day, he didn’t cut off his notes in “streets,” he belted it out. Once again, the person i was with: “i was surprised by how beautiful of a voice bono has, and how well he can sing, and how little he actually does.”
I got nothing from this movie. the 3D didn’t add much, it wasn’t a particularly unique or thrilling show, it seemed like another opportunity for U2 to get paid offa us. straight up: U2 the profit machine is not okay with me.
the yahweh at the end was pretty, but how do you expect an audience who’s sat through downtempo after downtempo to be jacked about another, after the credits. I do have to say, that lightshow in yahweh knocks me on my ass. THAT artwork is the best thing out of all the bits they sampled on vertigo tour.
i have never heard the band more tired. i’m really sad.
Well dang, Jon, that’s the worst review of the movie I’ve read….by far. Maybe you were just having a bad day?
The sound at the IMAX theater where I saw it was fantastic, better than being there for real at most venues.
I thought the extra 3-D effects were just enough….only overboard for The Fly, and I forgive them that because that “Fly”-word effect was just too perfect for 3-D. “Elevation” would have been great, I agree it needed more uptempo songs, and it cried out for “Even Better Than the Real Thing”.
Shooting in 3-D limits a lot of the possible shots, that’s one reason for the lengthy shots and the fades from one cut to another. I liked the way Boston and Slane were shot, too, but using 3-D limits the possibilities.
This project was not part of the U2 money machine if you ask me (now all the re-releases coming out, that’s another matter). I think they did the movie because they’re pretty much tech geeks, and the new technology is light years ahead of the old-style 3-D movies. Like the iPod ad, U2 is in on the coolest tech thing out there, just as it’s getting hot.
Odds are this movie won’t make them much money (since there will/can be no DVD to sell for this….box office receipts is all the $$. I could be wrong).
Would I have changed some things? Yes! But that doesn’t mean it sucked. Didn’t the new-style 3-D do anything for you? How did you like being on stage with U2? Undulating with the crowd? Hovering over Larry’s drum kit? I wanna go again!
i hear you watts4, i do, and i wanted it to be a better experience, but it wasn’t for me. there weren’t that many moments - you know, the moments at a U2 show when the roof comes off. The crowd was killing, and miss sarejevo got really close to ripping it down, but other than that physical movie was trying to convey excitement a bit too much, and it just came off as a alright band with a ton of money to film in 3D.
The camera work was sterile, you know? The added effects weren’t much to write home about. it seemed like a novel idea, but I really don’t think the actual show, or at least what we got of it, was worth it. we know U2 is sitting on some incredible live recordings and videotapes, because that’s what they do. It saddens me that the publicized document I have of an incredible tour is a.) a “eh” chicago show and a b.) sorta blah 3D movie that i could have easily done without.
Did you feel a lot of those moments during the show? those earth-shattering, awe inspiting moments? because let’s take that chicago DVD - we’ve got the electric Co, 40, streets, running to stand still, miracle drug - plenty of moments. It played more like a greatest hits show, and one without a lot of emotion. Maybe I can lay the blame with the sound, but I’m pretty sure that was fine.
I’m not trying to rain on the parade, but given that U2 now considers online music transactions criminal, now that it’s become strongly aligned with a corporate presence, now that they’ve scrapped beautiful songs for staying in the same place for 8 years in a row (I might be the only one, but the unreleased and rare bits from itunes, the rough mixes of yahweh, all because of you, xanax and wine, those really freaking excite me. I wish that feel had ended up being the album), and now that they’ve released a concert film which aside from being shot in 3D doesn’t have much else going for it, I just don’t know what to think about U2. Tell me the moments you saw in the movie that raised it above the “my favorite band in 3D” mark. Because I stayed for the whole thing, and I’ve seen U2 3 times, and I saw none of the moments in U23D that define U2 for me - heartstopping moments of awe, musicality, and power.
I’m not against seeing it again. I just don’t know that I’d be able to sit through such a low point again.
and i’m onstage with U2 in most of their films. I did like the straight, non-overlaid shots of the band, it was cool. But aside from the crowd (which I’ve said in both posts, were beyond fantastic), I’ve seen Larry’s drums above and upclose - it’s maybe 15% of all the shots in the Chicago show - but I don’t go to the concert film to be virtual inches away from the band - I go to see an excellent U2 concert. Being able to flick Bono’s nose should be a bonus, not the attraction, and that might be my issue.
I have always been impressed by Hamish’s camera work - right now i’m thinking of U2 go home, the until the end of the world duel between bono and the edge - those are some incredible shots, some incredible moments, moments that pack far more of a punch than Bono setting off a flare or overlaying a fighter jet onto the 3D screen and distracting from edge’s guitar solo.
That duel makes me feel like i’m Edge, like I’m some other member of the band, actively involved and excited by the music. If I’m not excited about the music, and I can’t see U2 being excited about it either, then what’s going on?
Can’t wait for them to release a new record. Support it by voting on this poll
http://www.toluna.com/polls/61398/Looking_Forward_To_The_New_U2_Album?