Sony has thrown a lot of money at its new IMAX theater in New York, where it's trying to tear down the wall separating image and audience. The grand showplace combines a conventional movieplex and a 600-seat, 8-story-high, 3-D IMAX system. Quite an undertaking - but the results are, unfortunately, mixed.
Numerous monitors, both the video and the human variety, prepare you for experiencing the world's largest theater to show large-format film (triple the size of 70mm film) in 3-D. The lightweight, cordless headset with liquid crystal lenses (for viewing the dual-projected 3-D images) is Sony-sleek and comfortable: mine functioned flawlessly.
Directional speakers for 3-D sound are also built into the headsets. Instead of hearing approaching footsteps projected from the back or front of the theater, you hear every crunch of the gravel in front, behind, and even above and below you. The ultrarealistic effect is awesome and works to precision.
The 3-D visuals - such as the opening IMAX logo that zoomed in to meet my face - are startlingly realistic and crisp. But as you stare out at all the vast images you're presented with at a mile a minute, the edges of the 80-by-100-foot screen don't extend quite far enough to encompass your full range of view. And, consequently, the experience is less than completely immersive.
The theater's first two 35-minute "features" (The Last Buffalo and Into the Deep) are fairly bland IMAX nature-in-all-its-glory flicks. Fortunately for drama fans like me, Sony is willing to roll the dice on meatier fare: a film on aviation pioneers, directed by Oscar-winner Jean Jacques Annaud (The Bear) and starring Val Kilmer and Elizabeth McGovern, is set to début this spring.
Despite Sony IMAX's visual limitations, character-driven action is likely to pack the theater and keep the audience coming back for more.
Sony IMAX Theatre: US$9 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under, $7.50 for senior citizens. Sony Theatres Lincoln Square: +1 (212) 336 5000, fax +1 (212) 336 5013.
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