A few months back The Charger Bulletin published an article about how to judge 3D and what it takes for 3D to benefit the audience. However, in the past two weeks the topic has really come back to haunt me and I really thought its worth addressing.
Two weeks ago I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier on its opening day. Out of six showings, only two were not in 3D, and they were at the most inconvenient times (I think they were at 6 and 8 p.m.).
All the rest were in 3D, which required me to spend more money, and in addition they were specifically IMAX 3D, which means my ticket was $15. Now, try to wrap your head around $15 a ticket.
As much as I enjoyed the movie, I hated the 3D. In reference to the article from last semester, 3D was an artistic advantage in only one shot that I can remember, while I the spent the rest of the time rubbing my eyes and wishing I could just push the screen backwards about 20 feet.
So with very little specificity for 3D, why were most of the showings in 3D? Simple: Because they know so many people like me are dying to see this film and are going to see it no matter what; they want to steal every dollar they can from us. Shame on me, I did see the movie in 3D, but it’s because I’m not just a super fan, it’s my job to go and see the movie so that all of you can read my review after.
The fact that I feel as though I am being taken advantage of aggravates me. It’s clever marketing on their part so really I can’t blame them. They’re doing their job, and are doing it well; I just really don’t want to see movies in 3D.
As I am known for saying: 3D is a phenomenal tool if you know how to use it artistically to better the movie experience. Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon, The Avengers, execute the use of 3D successfully; however, throw random movies into 3D, it becomes a complete waste of money and the fans are just tricked into thinking the movie will be a greater experience in 3D.
The most prominent example of this that I can think of is The Amazing Spider-Man. I saw that movie in 3D because the first teaser was a first person web shooing sequence. You would figure Spider-Man is made for 3D: it has color, panorama, motion, everything. There was no effort put into making anything 3D in that film, which is a shame because Spider-Man is the film that would master it. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer had some actual gut wrenching turbulence in IMAX 3D, but I fear that the rest of the movie will have none of those feelings.
My point is this: studios, if you’re going to force us to buy 3D movie tickets, at least give us a few good scenes to remember it by.
