Last Tuesday was the first time I went to the Mall of Asia and it was the first time I watched a movie in IMAX format, well at least some of it. I’ve actually seen Superman Returns the weekend prior to that day but I still opted to join our office team building just out of curiosity on this IMAX thingy.
Well let me just say that IMAX is a step higher to enjoying movies. The movie theatre basically covers two floors of the mall and the screen is huge. They make you wear these specialized shades that make you look like a dragonfly so that you can experience watching something in three-dimensional format. And 3D it was! The characters and places literally pop out of the screen and gives you this initial overwhelming ‘wow!’ feeling. It also didn’t matter where one is seated because the person watching becomes the central audience of the movie. It was like the movie is being played for you and that you are seated at the center of the theater. OK, so that was the experience on the trailers of soon-to-be-shown movies shot entirely in IMAX format. Hehe.
For the movie Superman Returns… well… it was ‘OK.’ The thing about it is that the trailers were so great that the IMAX part in the actual movie seemed mediocre. The 3D wasn’t that great but it wasn’t that bad. I guess that we have to understand that Superman Returns wasn’t shot in IMAX. It was just converted for IMAX theatres. It was also quite distracting that there are times that you had to wear the shades then remove it again then wear it again. Our signal for wearing them was the blinking green lights at the bottom of the screen. If you ask me, I think it lessens the total effect of the movie. Good thing I was able to see it before trying this experience. The only thing I got from watching Superman Returns in IMAX is a better understanding of the movie because there are dialogues that I didn’t hear quite clearly before or didn’t make sense on first screening. But then again, that probably was not because the movie is in IMAX; is it? Hehe.
I think IMAX theaters will be great on movies that are shot entirely on IMAX format and their themes are usually just light. These are movies that are usually created for visual appeal. IMAX makes no sense on those movies that tackle emotional issues like Oscar nominated films or those cheezy love stories. IMAX is also quite wasted on those movies that are partially converted because the shades may prove to be too distracting to wear and remove.
For a P350-payment, IMAX should be great on certain movies but for the most part I think I would still stick to my 2D silver screen.
