U2 3D 2007

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: While U2 3D doesn't rank with Stop Making Sense or The Last Waltz in the realm of top-shelf concert films, it's enjoyable and a fine fat eyeful. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: It's an incredible performance captured in a medium that attains a unique aesthetic of immediacy and humanity from the powerful rock quartet. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The 3-D element is unobtrusively handled, except when it perfectly re-creates the woman who's always perched on her boyfriend's shoulders in front of you at a concert... Read more

Steven Hyden, AV Club: The problem with U2 3D is that the U2 part is rarely as thrilling as the 3D part. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The experience of seeing a concert movie, no matter how technically remarkable, will never replace the experience of being at the show. But U2 3D comes awfully close. Read more

Sarah Rodman, Boston Globe: They may not be as cool as Bono's fly shades, but the plastic yellow glasses required for viewing U23D supply an amazing fly-on-the-amp view of the Irish rockers in their natural habitat. Read more

Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times: 85 beautifully paced minutes of crystal clear, artfully lit shots of Bono and his mates doing their inspirational thing for an arena crowd whose joy surges forth like a tiger in an Imax nature presentation. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: As a testament to one of the few bands that actually warrants the 3D concert film treatment, U2 3D rattles and hums like no other. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The 3-D visuals envelop you, majestically, and that effect fuses with the band's surround-sound rapture to create a full-scale sensory high. U2 3D makes you feel stoned on movies. Read more

Stephen Becker, Dallas Morning News: A glasses-required experiment that pushes the boundaries of the concert doc yet keeps one foot planted in the conventional concrete. Rarely has a film attained such moments of exhilaration while also leaving the viewer with some level of disappointment. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: U23D only just begins to tap the potential of performance film in three dimensions, but the possibilities are thrilling to contemplate. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The concert itself is spectacularly produced, with Jumbotrons providing backdrop and long, curving runways that allow Bono and other band members to move far out into the crowd. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The 3-D effects not only make you feel that Bono and crew are within arm's reach, but also -- this is a new trick -- layer the pictures to simulate shifting your focus from foreground to background. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Transforms a great rock spectacle into something intimate, is a cultural artifact of an era when we could label a rock group 'the only band that matters' and have it mean something. Read more

Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle: Having these enormous, almost disembodied figures endlessly cascading through space is more distracting than illuminating. Read more

Chris Riemenschneider, Minneapolis Star Tribune: U2 3D doesn't make you feel like you're there in the crowd. It makes you feel like you're floating above the fans and riding their energy wave like a surfer during hurricane season. Read more

Jennifer Van Evra, Globe and Mail: Once you get past the 'Whoa, dude, that's awesome' moments -- after the first couple of songs, the 3-D isn't quite as dazzling -- what's left is a solid U2 concert film that spans the group's sprawling, quarter-century catalogue. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: I saw the Vertigo tour and U23D is more than just the next best thing to it. In many ways, it's superior to a real concert. This time, I didn't have to put up with the rowdy drunks who blocked my view. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Bono should refrain from ramming his preachy political meanderings down our throats and let the music do the talking. Even if some of that music becomes a little stultifying. Read more

Edna Gundersen, USA Today: In many ways delivers an experience that's even better than the real thing. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: U2 3D may be no more than a pint-sized concert film with a lustrous surface, but the lensing is so vibrant and the music so buoyant, even non-fans may find their eyes popping and their heads bobbing. Read more

Variety: Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: The performances, culled from seven shows on the "Vertigo" tour from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, burn with the old unforgettable fire. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: In many ways, watching the movie is better than concertgoing. Read more