Hubble 3D Simply Out of This World
In May of 2009 NASA launched the Space Shuttle Atlantis on a repair and upgrade mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. A perilous enterprise, the astronauts would proceed to engage in five death-defying spacewalks all while traveling around the Earth at a whopping 17,500 mph.
Astronauts work inside the Hubble Space Telescope in Warner Bros' Hubble 3D
Armed with an IMAX 3D camera, the team was able to film their mission for posterity, the fruits of which can be found in the new documentary Hubble 3D. While at its heart a standard PBS-style documentary, the film ends up being an extraordinary standout achievement when viewed in a state of the art IMAX theatre. Taking viewers to places in the universe they’ve never even dreamt of, this is as immersive a cinematic enterprise as any I have ever had the pleasure to see, and walking out of my screening all I could do was shake my head in exuberant disbelief at what I’d just had the pleasure to witness.
I loved Avatar in 3D. I maybe even enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon in the format even more. Be that as it may, as much as I thought they used the technology to their utmost advantage I’m perfectly happy if I never see either film that way again. Both will work just splendidly in 2D, and for all the current hoopla and hysteria around the medium I’ve yet to see a 3D narrative production out of Hollywood that would make spending up to $20 for a ticket a worthwhile proposition.
But Hubble 3D is a totally different animal altogether. Put plainly, I have never seen anything like it, the way IMAX is able to use its massive scale and its pristine 3D technology to take people places they’ve never been before (and forgive me for saying this) simply out of this world. I was literally inside a nebula, could feel the rush of stars as they flew past, my mouth agape in awe as I sat quietly in fascinated wonderment.
I’m not sure what I liked better. The way filmmaker Toni Meyers is able to whiz literally inside the Hubble Space Telescope’s photographs is downright sensational, but the scenes of astronauts working on the monstrous machine itself – whether reaching out with the shuttle’s mechanical arm or freely floating in space trying to remove tiny screws one at a time without ripping their spacesuits – is equally so. It was like I was right up there with them, and the moment they’re finally able to remove a damaged circuit board without its ragged edges cutting into their suit had me letting out an audible sigh of relief.
For my money, however, it is the liftoff of Atlantis itself that had me most on the edge of my seat. There was something about the way that IMAX sound surrounds you and the site of the shuttle shooting off into the atmosphere on that six-story screen that totally blew my mind. I could feel the Goosebumps rise across my arm as the booster rockets detached and fell back towards the Earth, and the triumphant applause of the crowd watching the launching was nearly enough to make me yelp in elation right along with them.
This will not play nearly as well at home. On DVD and Blu-ray this film will be nothing more than another outer space NASA documentary with comforting narration (here delivered by an almost overly stoic Leonardo DiCaprio). Viewers will learn something, yes, but I doubt they’ll be inspired, and I can’t imagine youngsters sitting in their living room watching it wanting to someday grow up to become an astronaut.
But at the IMAX (and I’m talking real IMAX, not that faux multiplex variety that dilutes the experience to virtual nothingness) and in crystal clear 3D the experience is like nothing else out there. Meyers’ documentary is a master class on how to use this technology to its fullest, and I could hear kids of varying ages uttering exclamations of awe all the way through. Seen in the way it is intended, this is a movie that inspires like nothing else this year, and for those ready to have their imaginations expanded and their lust for adventure satiated Hubble 3D gets the job done on all accounts marvelously.
Film Rating: êêê1/2 (out of 4)
