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U2, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.

Hollywood A-list director Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies, Arlington Road) and newcomer Catherine Owens team up to break new cinematic ground by co-helming U2 3D -- the first three-dimensional... read more read more... concert film in movie history. The effort intercuts footage culled from several U2 shows on their 2005-2006 Vertigo tour in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Argentina, with Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. performing before rapt audiences. The picture opens with several thematically light rock songs, such as "Beautiful Day" and "Vertigo," but soon segues into more politically conscious material at the hands of social-change advocate Bono and his bandmates, such as the numbers "Bullet the Blue Sky," "Love and Peace or Else," and "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; at one critical point, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is projected high above the audience. Pellington, Owens, and cinematographers Tom Krueger and Peter Anderson make frequent use of a roving camera and multi-layered 3-D effects; they also step away from the approach utilized in the band's previous concert film U2: Rattle and Hum by omitting interviews and focusing exclusively on concert footage. The full version of U2 3D runs 80 minutes; a 56-minute "preview" version ran out of competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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92% liked it

5,934 ratings

Critics

92% liked it

88 critics

G, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Catherine Owens, Mark Pellington

Release Date: January 1, 2007

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DVD Release Date: January 1, 2009

Stats: 1,518 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,518)

  • spielberg00
    September 18, 2011
    spielberg00
    Seeing U2 in IMAX 3D blew my mind. It was like seeing all of the lighting and flashing words (especially in the song "One") in a regular concert, except it all was realistically coming out at you. All the songs here were great (I was even introduced to a few that I'd never hear... read mored before), and the performance was beautiful. Therefore, U2 3D is worth seeing in IMAX if it's still there; I don't know if it was released to DVD.
  • MeetMeinMontauk
    June 30, 2010
    MeetMeinMontauk
    I do believe this is actually the closest I have ever gotten to having a religious experience. Ever. Never mind the 3D aspect, the amazing shots that these cameras captured were unique for absolutely any concert footage I have ever seen. Amazing. Amazing! I want this on DVD so fr... read moreeaking bad.
  • mumby1988
    October 16, 2009
    mumby1988
    As has recently been proved by both the success of Coraline and the relative failure of The Jonas Brothers Concert Experience, 3D usually works best when confined to animation rather than to live performances. Thus U2-3D cannot be seen as a remarkable film. Not only it is largely... read more preaching to the converted - and in particular the recently converted - but the 3D is only immersive in parts, and while the whole experience is not forgettable, it does not make you want to see it again.

    The best way to deal with this kind of concert film is to compare it to more traditional concert films, such as Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, the film of Talking Heads' 1983 tour to support the album Speaking In Tongues. Stop Making Sense may not have the eye-popping proximity to the musicians that U2-3D and others provide, but you still feel an immersive part of the experience. In part, this is due to the elaborate conceptual slants taken by Talking Heads (for instance, David Byrne's enormous suit), but mostly it is because Demme's direction takes you right to the heart of the songs. The lack of audience shots or pan shots makes it feel like the band are performing just for you, which is a great feeling.

    This film has a very different approach. Instead of making you feel like the band are performing just for you, the large number of crowd shots (in part due to the nature of the stage) makes you feel swamped by anonymous strangers. There are some very good moments, most of them involving Larry Mullen Jr., in which the band are genuinely playing at their best, but you still feel distant in the end.

    The emphasis on being part of a huge audience, which is reinforced by the opening scenes of people queuing at the turnstiles, is a double-edge sword for any concert film. When done right, like in the coverage of Live 8 two years earlier, individuals can feel united for a great event despite many thousands of miles of separation. When done wrong, as here, you feel like you're being forced to submit and go with the flow, and it's not all that pleasant a feeling at times. If Stop Making Sense is like a conversation between you and the band, then U2 3D is like a religious ceremony whereby the role of the audience is to worship the band and nothing else (which considering Bono's recent antics is more than a little appropriate).

    For all its bad points, U2 3D has a lot of plus points, most notably being the songs themselves. Being culled from some of the greatest albums ever made, of course they're going to be good pop and rock songs, but specific performances, like 'The Fly' and Bono's solo rendition of 'Miss Sarajevo', really stand out, turning what on record are average songs into something which is almost breathtaking. One sad omission is 'City Of Blinding Lights', the best song on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and whose video sets the tone for this film.

    Many people who are U2 fans will never get to see them perform live, and for that reason U2 3D is a worthwhile achievement. It makes a lot more sense to release such a film as opposed to a live album, for the simple reason that since the Zoo TV tour of the 1990s, U2 have steadily become a more visual band. It's a shame that the film itself is unremarkable, but the songs are just enough not to leave you completely cold.
  • emilebond007
    August 5, 2008
    emilebond007
    Magical.
  • FireStormStudios
    April 28, 2008
    FireStormStudios
    Great as always for a concert. U2 is constantly reinventing themselves while keeping the same great music and message they have had from the very beginning. Also, the 3D effects were extremely well done. I hope we will see a lot more of this in the film industry.
  • rayman0071
    February 8, 2008
    rayman0071
    Given the band's obvious megalomania,its impossible to consider U2 as coming close to the Beatles as one of the greatest rock groups of all time? It is a possibility and its new concert movie bears it out. If you ever seen "Rattle and Hum" or "U2 Go Home",or if you have even been... read more in the front row of a U2 concert-you've never experienced anything quite like this,which is the "Lawrence of Arabia" of concert movies with lead singer Bono in the Peter O' Toole role. 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. And seeing this in an IMAX theatre is worth the enjoyment. The best concert film I've seen this year.
  • wbgoose13
    January 28, 2008
    wbgoose13
    An uniquely immersive concert experience.
  • keith222
    January 27, 2008
    keith222
    Brilliant concert Film... I was laughing out loud at parts and realized that no one else in the theater was laughing with me...Oh well...Edge, Play the Blues!!!
  • txfilmguy1
    September 21, 2009
    txfilmguy1
    The concert performance itself is decent; nothing revolutionary for the initiated U2 fan, but it covers a good portion of their hits to appeal to the casual listener. Where this film stands out is in the artistry of the 3D medium. The multi-dimensional aspect is not used as a g... read moreimmick here, but rather becomes a new canvas that will open filmmakers up to new ideas of the possibilities this medium offers. Editing techniques that have been in use since the beginning of film are re-invented here with 3-D in mind, and they are neither distracting nor mundane... they elevate the 3-D film to a new art form in its own right. See this as a concert film or a revelation of where 3-D could go... it is a staggering piece of work.
  • tbevilacqua1034
    July 4, 2008
    tbevilacqua1034
    Though I'm highly biased, as a huge U2 fan, but it was an excellent concert film- it definitely captured the ambiance and feel of their concerts. It was excellent!

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Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman
January 30, 2008
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The 3-D visuals envelop you, majestically, and that effect fuses with the band's surround-sound rapture to create a full-scale sensory high. U2 3D makes you feel stoned on movies. Full Review

J. R. Jones
January 25, 2008
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

The 3-D element is unobtrusively handled, except when it perfectly re-creates the woman who's always perched on her boyfriend's shoulders in front of you at a concert... Full Review

Jack Mathews
January 25, 2008
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

The concert itself is spectacularly produced, with Jumbotrons providing backdrop and long, curving runways that allow Bono and other band members to move far out into the crowd. Full Review

Joel Selvin
January 24, 2008
Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle

Having these enormous, almost disembodied figures endlessly cascading through space is more distracting than illuminating. Full Review

Matt Zoller Seitz
January 23, 2008
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times

The first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.

Jan Stuart
January 23, 2008
Jan Stuart, Newsday

U23D only just begins to tap the potential of performance film in three dimensions, but the possibilities are thrilling to contemplate. Full Review

Kyle Smith
January 23, 2008
Kyle Smith, New York Post

The 3-D effects not only make you feel that Bono and crew are within arm's reach, but also -- this is a new trick -- layer the pictures to simulate shifting your focus from foreground to background. Full Review

Edna Gundersen
January 23, 2008
Edna Gundersen, USA Today

In many ways delivers an experience that's even better than the real thing. Full Review

Ann Powers
January 23, 2008
Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times

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 present... Full Review

Jim Ridley
January 23, 2008
Jim Ridley, Village Voice

The performances, culled from seven shows on the "Vertigo" tour from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, burn with the old unforgettable fire. Full Review

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