After three aborted attempts, Adam and I finally got to go to a movie to celebrate my birthday. (Yes, that’s how long it’s been since we’d been talking about going!) We finally settled on James Cameron’s new 3D IMAX flick, Ghosts of the Abyss. I was curious about it, and figured it would be cool to check it out.
We got our tickets, and then grabbed a very tasty sushi dinner at Kibuki, before going over to the theater. Wow, the 3D IMAX technology has certainly come a long way! It’s the best realistic 3D effect I’ve seen. And it uses simple polarized glasses – as opposed to the old infrared controlled shuttered goggle headsets that were used in IMAX theaters circa Across the Sea of Time.
It’s almost like a quasi-documentary, merging recreation with reality, taking advantage of the original sets down in Fox Studios Baja, and even making some new clever use of Digital Domain’s original visual effects from the film. It’s only 45 minutes, but it’s worth checking it out.
McNeely’s score is satisfying, and not in-your-face. Of course there are the allusions to Horner’s score, elegant, respectful, and at times, contemporary. Titanicmusic supervisor Randy Gerston also worked on the film, and the songs work pretty well too. And now that he’s (hopefully) gotten it out of his system, let’s hope that James Cameron moves on from this ship, and tries something new!!