After visiting the Bradford Media Museum website (as i so frequently do), I stumbled across a link to get tickets for a 23 minute preview of the new Tron Legacy film showing in 3D in the IMAX screen. Knowing how much my boyfriend Graham is anticipating this film, due to his love of the original (though with this brings an air of interpretation and hope that the legacy, ahem of the film will not be tarnished) and the bonus that Daft Punk are scoring the movie, I duly followed the instructions to get my hands on these coveted items.
And so, with ticket print out in our feverish mitts, we journeyed to the Media Museum in Bradford on a cold Thursday night to an eerily quiet Museum save for a collective of admittedly nerdy fanboys. We were told we could go up the IMAX, though once we went up the stairs, we had to join an already impressive queue (we ourselves were 30 + minutes early, see what i mean about fanboys). I have never been to something like this before and despite my fairly subdued interest in the film, compared to Graham's (and the fanboys) nervous excitement, I did find myself getting giddy with the prospect of being first to see the footage.
Once the doors were open, we took our seats as central as possible, to maximise enjoyment and donned our 3D specs, that were reminiscent to scuba goggles. As we waited we were surrounded by various conversations of film and learnt that if you had not seen The Dark Knight, you had not lived...apparently. And as the lights went down, we were greeted with a message, revealed in a typed online message style, slightly cheesy but nevertheless fun and reinforced the message that we were part of a select few to see the scenes first.The preview began and we were shown a few chapters, noting the scene numbers, of the movie, starting with a set up of the narrative to establish the cause and effect to come. Sam Flynn is told that his father may still be alive, having previously been lead to believe he had died years ago. He visits his fathers old Arcade and is transported into the Grid, this leading us up to a couple of snippets of the action sequences that surely must be the selling point of the film. And this is where the scenes came alive. Personally I am not a huge advocate of 3D, I believe that if it is done correctly then it can enhance and enrich a film, however I do not agree with the notion of recent times, that sees many films jumping the 3D band wagon as it is so hot right now. However if any film could prove the point of using 3D, I feel this may just be your movie. The 'Disc Wars' scene (which of course produced seat jerking excitement for the fanboys :) yes Graham including you) showcased the level of spectacle and depth that 3D can offer and the subsequent light cycles footage, had me fully caught up in the world of Tron and was simply like nothing I had even seen before, yet managing to retain the Neon/Dark aesthetics of the original.
When the film is released in December, it remains to be seen whether Tron Legacy will live up the hype and promise of the early footage. Yet if this is a case of style over substance, the viewers are surely in for one hell of a stylish treat. I feel that this will be truly maximised by seeing on the biggest loudest screen possible, if you are lucky to be near an IMAX, that should help. And for someone like myself, who is more a fan of intimate, restrained narratives, Tron Legacy will be a nice change and a chance to enjoy the pure spectacle of cinema.
