The 3D IMAX experience of Hubble 3D is the first time I have ever felt 3D was used in such a way that it benefit the final product. The sheer size of a true IMAX film frame makes those wimpy traditional films cower in comparison. The use of IMAX as a selling point for regular films is a joke as they don’t make full use of the screen, proving 3D is merely a gimmick until you’ve seen it on a screen five stories high and 72 feet wide. Yes, it makes a difference. I think we all remember the opening sequence of The Dark Knight. When a movie is filmed in IMAX it just doesn’t compare.
As for Hubble 3D, it lived up to my every expectation and then some. We’ve all taken notice of Orion’s belt, but it’s when Hubble 3D takes you deeper into the star clusters of the Orion Nebula and into a field of gaseous clouds to find a star nursery that we begin to realize the treat we’re in for. Not only does this film get us to these locations the 3D allows us to navigate in and around them. The true wonder is to look at an image that appears to be the utmost of clarity only to still realize it’s a mere fraction of its true size. It’s nothing short of astonishing.
You’ll travel throughout the known universe at millions of miles per second, exploring galaxies more than two and a half million light years away. But along with all of that we are taken onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a crew of astronauts head into space to make needed repairs to the telescope providing us with these phenomenal images.
The towering size of the IMAX screen, combined with the 3D technology almost makes it appear as if the screen is just an extension of the theater. It’s a comparison traditional theaters cannot replicate as our eyes focus in on the middle of the screen as the top and bottom disappear into the ceiling and the floor below.
Cameras take us underwater in the world’s largest indoor pool at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) and into the prep room as the astronauts climb into their gear in preparation for the trip to the stars and it’s almost as if we are in the room with them. The theater rumbles as the launch of the Shuttle is presented in close-up IMAX 3D and using “sacrificial microphones” that were fried in the attempt to bring you the sound of the solid rocket boosters.
Leonardo DiCaprio narrates the short feature directed by Toni Myers with all of the space sequences shot by the astronauts themselves using the IMAX camera in space. As much as studios look to cheat audiences out of true IMAX and true 3D experiences by merely showing a traditional film on IMAX screens or converting 2D films to 3D, you can rest assured this is an authentic IMAX 3D feature. The only footage not shot using the 700-pound IMAX cameras were interviews and personal interaction inside the flight deck. Everything else was shot in IMAX was and it shows.
