NYT Critics' Pick
This movie has been designated a Critic's Pick by the film reviewers of The Times.
More Than Rock ’n’ Roll: U2 on Tour in 3-D Images
By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ
The New York Times
Published: January 23, 2008
C. Taylor Crothers/3ality Digital
U2 performing in a scene from the 3-D documentary “U2 3D,” which uses images from three concerts in South America.
The musical documentary “U2 3D,” which stitches together three performances by this Irish rock band during a recent tour of South America, is not merely a technical landmark — shot entirely in digital 3D — but also an aesthetic one, in that it’s the first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.
The person most responsible for the film’s vision, Catherine Owens — one of the movie’s two directors, who is also in charge of production design for the band’s live shows — has brazenly ignored the usual stipulations about making a 3-D film. She favors quick edits and slow dissolves rather than long takes and hard cuts. Throughout, she layers the screen with multiple planes of information: long shots and medium shots of the musicians, images of the crowd, close-up details of graphics from the big screen that the band performs in front of that make the designs abstract and merge them with the performers.
The result is not a confusing mishmash of images but a musical/experimental work that visually simulates the sensation of thinking. The very idea of self-contained screen geography is thrillingly reconceived.
The style of the film dovetails with the international, humanistic vision that U2 has presented in songs and public statements for more than 20 years. When the band performs its hit “One,” the lyrics take on new meaning.
U2 3D
Opens on Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles.
Directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington; director of photography, Tom Krueger, director of 3-D photography, Peter Anderson; edited by Olivier Wicki; music by U2 (Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.); 3-D and digital image producer, Steve Schklair; produced by Jon Shapiro, Peter Shapiro, John Modell and Ms. Owens; released by National Geographic Entertainment and 3ality Digital. In Manhattan at the Loew’s Imax Theater at Lincoln Square, 1998 Broadway, at 68th Street. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. This film is rated G.
U2 band members, from left, Adam Clayton, Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullen Jr. arrive at the premiere of their film 'U2 3D' at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) (Amy Sancetta - AP)
MOVIE REVIEW
'U2 3D'
In an Imax concert film, the band gets to enlarge its message of rock and liberalism.
By Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 23, 2008
Some people just won't stop believing in the romance of rock. Hip-hop and dance pop are more innovative; country has a more loyal audience; Josh Groban makes way more money. But being a rock fan is just like getting seduced: You have to believe that your partner is the most potent lover out there. So people still pump their fists for middling talents like Nickelback and keep swooning for the great ones, like U2, years after their sell date should have expired.
Given rock's erotic pull, it's fair to compare "U2 3D," U2's foray into 3-D digital film technology, to a shot of Viagra. And guess what? The potency drug does its job: 85 beautifully paced minutes of crystal clear, artfully lit shots of Bono and his mates doing their inspirational thing for an arena crowd whose joy surges forth like a tiger in an Imax nature presentation is enough to renew the spark with longtime fans and draw in kids who otherwise might not go for older men.
But it's a strange ravishment. U2 has based its phenomenally successful career on the other kind of Romanticism: the belief that intensely wrought personal expression can unite people and change the world. In "U2 3D," this message comes across through shots of band members on catwalks that immerse them in the crowd -- they stand alone, supreme individuals, supported by a mass of loving bodies. "We're one, but we're not the same," sings Bono in "One," expressing the philosophy of both classic rock and liberalism. "We've got to carry each other, carry each other."
Physical experience drives home this message. Screen images, even ones that lunge out at you, can't replace the sweat and din of thousands of fellow fans turned toward those anointed figures channeling all that energy onstage.
"U2 3D" comes very close, though, thanks as much to Olivier Wicki's editing as to those lunging 3-D effects. Co-directors Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington, whose work on U2's 1992 ZooTV tour redefined multimedia-driven arena rock, use the trickery of 3-D digital technology tastefully, rarely going beyond what "the best seat in the house" would actually offer. Wicki skillfully weaves together footage filmed during several dates of a Latin American tour, though a hawk-eyed viewer will notice Bono's myriad unexplained jacket changes.
The occasional stabbing guitar neck or close-up of Bono's noble forehead aside, "U2 3D" mostly relies on the music itself to captivate the viewer. A hits-heavy set list builds excitement as one sweeping anthem merges with another, and the filmmakers wisely focus on the two elements that make every U2 show huge: the band's precision as it moves through its roomy songs, and Bono's reenactment of the hero's journey from regular mate to magic man.
Taken in increments, Bono's theatrics -- stumbling around with a blindfold on, embracing his bandmates like a footballer who's just won the World Cup, falling back as if struck by God or reaching forward to throw imaginary loaves and fishes -- are plain silly. But within the arc of a U2 show, they become convincing. The music simultaneously contains and elevates Bono's enthusiasm; the staging makes it seem modern.
Structuring the arena experience this way through its tours since the early 1980s, U2 made it relevant for its own somewhat cynical generation. "U2 3D" is the next step toward engaging the "iGeneration" (as Bono and others have called it) by proving that what happens in the flesh can feel as potent in a virtual context.
The next wave of concertgoing may indeed be virtual. There's been an explosion of music-related videos and films, from documentaries to screen versions of "one time only" concert events. For this longtime U2 fan, the "U2 3D" experience wasn't quite sensual enough, but to quote another Bono lyric, others may find it "even better than the real thing."
It will depend on the crowds in theaters; if they're willing to cheer and raise the occasional illuminated cellphone (as they did at Sundance), they'll feel connected to each other, not just the images bursting forth from the screen. That connection is U2's paradigm. Only the audience can judge whether "U2 3D" sustains it.
ann.powers@latimes.com
"U2 3D." MPAA rating: G. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes. In limited release.
U2 gets even bigger than life
By David Menconi, Staff Writer
Raleigh News & Observer
Given the band's obvious megalomania, it's impossible to consider U2 without asking: Could any group of people possibly take themselves any more seriously? And the self-consciously arty beginning of "U2 3D," U2's new 3-D concert movie, bears that out. Indistinct voices repeatedly murmur the word "everyone" as murky lights appear, finally turning into washed-out shots of people rushing about.
But then the band finally appears and goes rampaging through the aptly named show-owner "Vertigo," and the four pretty much run roughshod over whatever level of snark you've managed to work up. "Overwhelming" doesn't begin to do this movie justice.
Even if you've seen "Rattle and Hum" or "U2 Go Home" -- even if you've been on the front row of a U2 concert -- you've never experienced anything quite like this, which is the "Lawrence of Arabia" of concert movies. The massive sonic grandeur comes at you in a rush, wave after wave of it, which is remarkable when you consider that this ginormous sound comes from just four guys playing.
"U2 3D" was shot at four stadium shows in South America, where U2 played for adoring and beautiful throngs in 2006 at the end of its "Vertigo" tour. But the project's wild card is a performance the band gave for just the cameras, to add close-ups that make you feel as if you're standing onstage with the band.
U2's recent period accounts for much of the 13-song set list, including "Beautiful Day," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" and "Love and Peace or Else." Of course, there's lots and lots of evangelizing. The latter reaches a peak of heavy-handedness with "Miss Sarajevo," which concludes with a partial recitation of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in heavily accented English.
But just as your eyes are about to glaze over, the Martin Luther King Jr. tribute "Pride (In the Name of Love)" kicks in and the day is saved. Also hitting majestic notes are "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "New Year's Day," especially the latter with The Edge doubling on piano and guitar -- and peeling off a guitar solo that is still among the most perfect in the classic-rock canon. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton also get plenty of close-up time.
Still, this is ultimately Bono's show. He'd be the first to admit he has a rather severe messiah complex. But he takes such obvious delight in whipping up the crowd that you can't help getting caught up in his rush. By the end of "Pride," he's practically cackling with glee at the delirium he and his mates have wrought. Rock 'n' roll truly saved Bono's life, because you simply can't imagine the guy doing anything else. If nothing else, it's inspirational to see someone who has embraced his life and times and calling in fulfilling his destiny.
david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or (919) 829-4759
U2 3D ***1/2
Cast: Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Adam Clayton and a cast of thousands
Directors: Catherine Owens, Mark Pellington
Length: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Web site: www.U23Dmovie.com
Theater: IMAX at Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh (through April 24)
Rating: G
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