Through the Never
Went to see it tonight, in IMAX 3D. I love IMAX. 3D, not so much - aside from the general headache the experience tends to give me, wearing the damn glasses over top of my own glasses is particularly heinous. It leaves me with sore eyelids from blinking against my lenses because the 3D glasses force mine too close to my face, and a sore nose from the extra weight and awkward positioning of the 3D glasses. So I really just don't do 3D very often.
Nonetheless! I enjoyed it. The film is effectively a concert with some extra special effects interspersed with a tangential story following a young roadie/assistant named Trip. The story itself is interesting and has a definite horror bent to it (hi Kirk's influence!) - it is genuinely creepy as fuck in some spots. And Trip is well-named, because he is having one hell of a weird/bad night. The segues between the stage footage and the Trip footage are very well done and it's clear that the story was carefully built around the music.
The concert bits were fantastic. This is one of the few times I've ever felt that the 3D was actually enhancing my viewing rather than getting in the way (OotP Ministry of Magic fight, I am looking at you). It really captured the Metallica concert experience - except with a lot more close-ups than I'm accustomed to getting.
That accuracy is actually where the film kind of fell down for me, because I kept wanting to follow whichever part of the narrative was currently showing. I wanted a complete horror story, OR a complete concert immersion, and I kept getting dragged back and forth between the two. Now, I'm aware that this is quite specific to me; I have kind of a running joke that I am not ADD enough for the modern world. Most people will shift back and forth happily, and as I said, the transitions were great. But it meant that overall, it left me a bit dissatisfied with the film, instead of in the blissful post-concert state. Which the little mindfuck part at the very end didn't help!
However. My main recurring thought? Maaan, I just wanna lick James Hetfield... :D
(LJ is refusing to show me my damn icons so I can't change from the default, grr. Just imagine this one instead.)
Nonetheless! I enjoyed it. The film is effectively a concert with some extra special effects interspersed with a tangential story following a young roadie/assistant named Trip. The story itself is interesting and has a definite horror bent to it (hi Kirk's influence!) - it is genuinely creepy as fuck in some spots. And Trip is well-named, because he is having one hell of a weird/bad night. The segues between the stage footage and the Trip footage are very well done and it's clear that the story was carefully built around the music.
The concert bits were fantastic. This is one of the few times I've ever felt that the 3D was actually enhancing my viewing rather than getting in the way (OotP Ministry of Magic fight, I am looking at you). It really captured the Metallica concert experience - except with a lot more close-ups than I'm accustomed to getting.
That accuracy is actually where the film kind of fell down for me, because I kept wanting to follow whichever part of the narrative was currently showing. I wanted a complete horror story, OR a complete concert immersion, and I kept getting dragged back and forth between the two. Now, I'm aware that this is quite specific to me; I have kind of a running joke that I am not ADD enough for the modern world. Most people will shift back and forth happily, and as I said, the transitions were great. But it meant that overall, it left me a bit dissatisfied with the film, instead of in the blissful post-concert state. Which the little mindfuck part at the very end didn't help!
However. My main recurring thought? Maaan, I just wanna lick James Hetfield... :D
(LJ is refusing to show me my damn icons so I can't change from the default, grr. Just imagine this one instead.)