Samuel L. Jackson Wants You to See Snakes on a Plane

Superman Returns on IMAX 3D

Last night I made the rather spontaneous decision to catch a 10:30 PM showing of Superman Returns on IMAX 3D. The movie was everything I had hoped, of course (Kevin Spacey is an incredible Lex Luthor, and really made the film what it is), but you can read about that anywhere. The IMAX 3D experience, however, is a different story.

First, one thing to make painfully clear — if you wear contact lenses, do not see an IMAX 3D movie when your eyes are tired. Superman is around two and a half hours long, and around 1 AM when the movie was wrapping up with its final 3D sequence, my eyes were ready to jump out of my skull.

As for the whole IMAX experience, I think it’s definitely worth doing at least once, just for the spectacle of the thing (this goes for any major feature that is also being shown on IMAX). For some reason, a movie can just seem that much better when it’s huge and deafening. The only thing that might disappoint with Superman is the 3D. For those who have not been to an IMAX 3D feature, IMAX uses polarized glasses as opposed to the traditional red/blue glasses, so there is no color distortion. While the 3D effect is very well done, there are only about twenty minutes worth of footage filmed in 3D split across four scenes. Two of these scenes stand out as great action sequences, one is cute, and one seemed unnecessary. On the other hand, the 3D tickets only cost an extra buck apiece, so it wasn’t a huge investment. It was certainly cool to see once and I don’t regret it, but I don’t think it would be my first choice for a repeat viewing (though I would definitely see it on IMAX a second time).