The IMAX Experience...

I remember watching the first rushes of The Dark Knight Rises last fall, and telling a couple of friends how we should watch in an IMAX. They felt likewise, and the initial excitement(of constructing a hopeless pipe-dream!) was just palpable. A mega event, in our case, which was having to block a weekend, to travel 600 kms to the city of Hyderabad, to watch this epic end to a classic, classic trilogy. (More on the movie later)

Fast forward to the month of June, and with the TDKR almost upon us, it was time to put some perspective,and act! Thanks to the ingenious concept of pre-booking on bookmyshow.com, which i chanced upon scrolling on an usual, mundane afternoon at work, our plan had a push. And trust me, it needed it! The feeling of desertion was pretty strong, with failed attempts at charting out travel plans in the past as proof. Anyway, we booked our movie ticks for July 20th, 2012(officially a Batman Day for the 3 of us, from this year hence). The hardest part with the wait, was not the wait, but avoiding speculation and plot details that come with a big movie. Rohit was the only one, who was strong willed, and avoided watching any trailers and behind-the-scenes. Kudos to him, on that front. I seriously wonder how he managed to do that!

All three of us, escaped from work early on that friday and headed to the city station. The awkward moment, arrived on the train when a fellow passenger, asked us if we were visiting on a sightseeing trip. We stated the real purpose, and his expression was priceless! 

"You guys are going all the way to watch a movie?!?!?!?!!?" Jackass. We've heard that before, and we avoided the wasteful, pointless explanation of the IMAX viewing experience amongst a hundred other reasons. I'll reserve the other event-filled details on a separate blog. 

Walking an hour early, to the theatre on a wet morning, was evidence of the excitement that had  propelled all along right from the early pipe-dream that was built months before. Watching the trailers god knows how many times, i imagined my jaw-dropping,popcorn-flinging moment to be the introduction of  'The Bat', with Batman explaining quite categorically to Catwoman - "This isn't a caar!". But in reality, my jaws dropped when i stepped foot into the IMAX Coliseum.

I cannot put to words, how freaking large the screen was! Srikanth was right when he said, "Dude, we're gonna be a watching a tennis match today!" Hell, we spent the run-up to the movie surveying the place like 7 year olds, who made their first trip to Chinnaswamy stadium, to watch an India vs Bangladesh Test Match and wondering where to bloody wave for the cameraman!

The announcement that preceded the movie was classic: Welcome to the IMAX experience..... <Some blah in between and then>.... During this time. you may experience dizzyness. If you do, please close your eyes for a few seconds and your eyes will re-adjust to the screen..! DIZZYNESS he said! I know!

All this just made me wish I had enough adrenaline in the tank to last me for the duration of the movie. The initial scene of Bane kidnapping Dr Pavel in mid-air just blew my mind to another level! The viewing experience on that particular scene, with the aerial shots of the planes across the valley summed up the IMAX experience for me. It's on a different level. 3D just does not compare. Seriously. 

Of all the rubbish over the past year that released in 3D, for which I had to put on a set of glasses, and enjoy a few scenes of being-in-the-moment, this one scene trumps it completely! The sound was also optimum, not too loud, not too soft. This movie really did justice to the IMAX viewing experience, with a large amount of footage shot in IMAX, and an engaging, surreal soundtrack from Hans Zimmer.

Some experience it was. Motion picture is never the same without an IMAX. Watching the movie back in Bangalore was so disappointing. It's no wonder there are only 300 odd IMAXes around the world, since the technology and installation behind it is very precise. 

I'll talk in detail about the movie in my next post. :)