Last night I saw a movie. It was U2 3D, it was on the giant IMAX screen at a local museum, and it was SO GREAT. I'm a huge U2 fan, so my love for U2 3D has nothing to do with the fact, which I must mention, that National Geographic is distributing it. But I don't think you have to be a rabid U2 fan (or NG employee) to rock out to U2 3D.

The film brings a whole show to life, from the fans' arrival at the stadium to the encore. Rather than feeling gimmicky, the 3D feels like a perfectly natural way to watch a concert, even when lead singer Bono reaches out of the screen right at you. And it's so realistic that once or twice I thought the woman in the seat in front of me was waving her arms - but it was a fan in the stadium. The film uses footage from several 2006 shows in Latin America, shot in 3D with side-by-side cameras. (Watch closely and you'll see fans holding flags from the different countries where the movie was recorded.)

U2 is famous for putting on rousing, stadium-pleasing shows. Their anthemic rock music fills a big venue, as fans jump up and down and sing along. No comment on whether I sang along in the theater. On the 2005-2006 Vertigo tour, the band used a huge bank of screens to project animations, live videos of the band members, and other accompaniments to the music. In the movie, the animations sometimes come off the backdrop, hovering in front of the action or surrounding the band members. U2 shows are also famous for Bono's between-song lectures about poverty and world peace and the like, which did not make the cut. The focus stays on the music, which includes old favorites like "Where the Streets Have No Name" and material from their latest album.

The film gives you a view of the concert you'd never get as one person among thousands, from the box of tissues on a table next to drummer Larry Mullen Jr. to the set list taped on the Edge's keyboard. It's also exciting to see the show the way the band sees it - when a stadium lights up with tens of thousands of cell phones, it looks cool from the audience, but even more magical from the stage.

Unlike the old 3D movies, which caused many a headache, this one uses newer technology that doesn't strain the eyes. You still have to wear glasses, but they look like sunglasses instead of those goofy red-and-blue jobs. Ok, they still look goofy, but they do it with one lens color.

U2 3D is on IMAX screens now and opens at regular theaters next month.

—Helen Fields

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