Welcome to our new regular section in which members of the HeyUGuys family discuss a variety of topics concerning all things cinema.
We’ll pick a topic inspired by what’s happening in the world of film and invite our writers to voice their opinions, an invitation we extend to you. If you want to submit your own answer, or respond to an answer from one of our writers, then please do so.
No doubt you’re all aware that George Lucas has jumped on the 3D bandwagon and has begun retrofitting the Star Wars series. Not only have the results for the new version of The Phantom Menace been rounded dismissed as below-par by many, but the majority of fan are questioning the need for such a conversion at all (do we really need to see Jar-Jar Binks get his tongue “hilariously” caught in a laser beam in all its three dimensional glory?)
With this in mind, we posed the question to our writers, were there any past films which might actually benefit from this process and be an interesting addition rather than a tired gimmick?
Lisa Keddie
Never say never to revamps, especially with new technology to hand, but what has happen with George Lucas’s 2D The Phantom Menace is nothing short of pimping up a lame dog of a storyline that was on shaky legs in the first place – and I’d blissfully forgotten how irritating Jar Jar Binks was. There is also the more troubling feeling that leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth at being charged 3D ticket prices for reliving any tedious experience once more. Granted, some fans are happy to do this, regardless.
Basically, while generally not taken with this craze of filmmakers like Lucas 3D-ing past film portfolios merely to cash in again and make studios money in times of austerity, there is one film that could truly ‘benefit’, and that’s Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It would be visual eye candy to witness the floating spacescapes and bring HAL to life. Perhaps its 2009-inspired Moon, starring Sam Rockwell, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (2007), or James Cameron’s The Abyss (1989) could be equally valid contenders, too? If we’re going to have 3D refits, let’s do it to films with stunning, otherworldly backdrops we can fully immerse ourselves in to get our ticket’s worth.
Tracy Ladd
I have to preface this with a disclaimer – I really loathe post-production 3D treatments. I see it as nothing more than a cash grab and I try to stay as far away from it as possible.
That being said, if I had to choose one film to covert to 3D, it would be The Matrix. The visual style of that film is prime fodder for 3D. Adding the third dimension to scenes like Trinity’s hang time, the bullet time scene, the lobby shoot-out and the chopper scene could, if done properly, create a whole new viewing experience. The Matrix was cutting edge when it was first released and it blew the minds of pretty much everyone who went to see it in the cinema all those year back and it still holds up pretty well. That would be one 3D treatment I would shell out some cash to see.
Kenji Lloyd
As much as I’m not a huge fan of 3D films, if I were to pick one film to re-tweak and give the third dimension, it would be The Matrix. It might seem like an obvious choice, but that doesn’t change the fact that it could be fun to see bullet time in 3D. The film is visually impressive already, and scenes like the helicopter rescue (and Neo saving Trinity), the showdown with Agent Smith in the subway station, and the final flight into the sky as Keanu Reeves hangs up the payphone at the end would no doubt lend themselves very well to the technology.
On the flip-side, one series I don’t think should ever be touched are the Nolan brothers’ Batman trilogy, and I’m really glad The Dark Knight Rises isn’t following the recent trend. We know it’s going to be a dark film, both thematically and visually, and I don’t think darkening it further with the 3D glasses in the cinema would have been beneficial for us viewers.
Adam Lowes
I’m sure fans of French cinema would cry sacrilege at this, but Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie would be a fun film to see in 3D. Imagine the already luscious kaleidoscopic imagery (which often appears to leap out from the screen anyway) given the three dimensional makeover. I’m sure the technical artists tasked with making these conversions would have a lot of fun tweaking stuff here. There’s so much to choice from.
Maybe Richard Linklater’s two animation/film hybrids, Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, would present a potentially unique make-over. Waking Life, in particular, with its float-y, dream-like aura, could be extremely effective in 3D. No doubt Linklater would be vehemently opposed to the very idea, but as far as I know, we haven’t seen the rotoscope technique meshed with this other technology before, and it may yield some interesting results.
