. . . 'til somebody loses an eye

U23D

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Hey, you know what would be really good in digital 3D is that "I'm Fuckin' Ben Affleck" video.

Full disclosure: I like U2 OK, but I'm not a hardcore fan, which put me in a minority of about 25-2 in this crowd (the core of the friend I went with is firm, I'd say, but hardly hard). If I were hardcore, I might think this the most kickass concert film ever; as it is, I'll settle for saying that the digital effects are kickass and the concert footage is very good. But I gotta tell you, that Adam Clayton is gonna put somebody's eye out with that bass. (Yeah, Bono--the one guy whose name I already knew--named the other band members, else I wouldn't have known the bass player's name; to my generation "Adam Clayton" is 2/3 of a Harlem congressman's name.)

More interesting than the film itself was the hardcores' reaction to it--not as raucous as to an actual concert, but there was definitely some willing suspension of disbelief: applause after almost every song, and the occasional whoop. (And given that Bono's wraparounds looked a little like our 3D spex, who knows but what he was looking and listening back out at us.) The concertesque reaction was encouraged by a theater dweeb before the show, but basically that struck me as permission for the audience to follow their inclinations. You know how rational I am, and even knowing how logically silly it was, I felt the impulse to applaud once or twice myself.

Now to the sad part: theater dweeb told us we were the biggest audience the film had had in its 8 days so far--27 of us at a 14-screen shopping mall multiplex right off of I-95. Now maybe if they weren't showing the freakin' Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus show during the day in their one 3D-equipped theater, limiting U2 to 8 & after, they would have gotten some better matinee crowds. Or maybe not--I go mostly to matinees, and I'm often surprised how many people seem to find something better to do in the middle of a sunny day than go to a movie.

Anyway, if you're have any interest in rock music, Ireland, digital 3D, or peace, please see this film: it's not the best concert film ever, but it deserves better than this.