You've been waiting for it for years, and now Spider-Man: Homecoming is ready to dance up and down at your local movie theater! No, not the emo Peter Parker dancing from Spider-Man 3, but some serious, teen awkwardness and action adventure dancing. But while the film looks pretty spectacular, you may be wondering if it actually deserves a special big screen experience. Which means it's time to ask that burning question: to 3D, or not to 3D?
While we won't be reviewing the content of the film, as we've already covered that here, we will be going into the finer points of Spider-Man: Homecoming's IMAX 3D presentation. No spoilers, no speculation, just pure 3D evaluation. So if you're ready, web up and swing into our run-down of the large format 3D version of Peter Parker's first solo adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With both the high-flying and the street level action that Peter Parker engages in, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fantastic film to conceptually put into the 3D format. The reality certainly doesn't disappoint, as a lot of the more larger-than-life aspects of Jon Watts' first blockbuster have the opportunity to pop with the added depth and engagement that the experience provided. A lot of Spider-Man as a character relies on a balance between personal drama and big time amazement, and both are in full force here and look great in 3D.
In this modern age of blockbuster entertainment, it's rare that a big movie isn't planned with a 3D release in mind, and Spider-Man: Homecoming is certainly built for the format. There are plenty of shots of debris-filled action and web slinging that are orchestrated clearly with the 3D in mind. The film wasn't shot with stereoscopic cameras, but converted by the fine folks at Stereo-D. With the only sore spots being the brightness factor, and a bit of the motion effects, the 3D conversion for Spidey's latest big screen thrill ride hold up extremely well.
Web slinging. Web slinging. WEB SLINGING! If you don't have a 3D Spider-Man film that shoots webs out at the audience, it hurts the film just a little bit more than any average 3D experience. While there isn't as much web shooting out at the audience as one might hope, there's quite a bit of the fluid being flung at objects and persons in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The best part is, there are some scenes that can make the audience flinch with the way they fling debris, and characters, at the audience. Watch out for those Vulture wings in the third act!
While eye-popping visuals are the usual sort of jazz you'd expect from Spider-Man: Homecoming, there's also an expectation when it comes to the world beyond the window. The depths exhibited in this film's picture are quite spectacular, with sharp contrasts defined between characters and their backgrounds as well as specific objects in the foreground of a typical wide shot. Also deserving special mention are the sequences of Spider-Man and The Vulture doing battle in the air, which showcase this field very well.
There are a lot of scenes in Spider-Man: Homecoming that take place in darkness. Even a good portion of the third act's climactic battle is in a very dim setting, as it's on the hull of a stealth airplane in the middle of a cloudy New York night. Strangely enough, this movie looked darker in a previous 2D screening than it did in the IMAX 3D screening used for this evaluation, as the night time scenes are only sightly darker with the glasses on. This is a good time to remind you all that your mileage may vary depending on the theater at which you see Spider-Man: Homecoming, as some venues don't calibrate their rigs properly between 2D and 3D presentations.
Taking off your glasses during any 3D film will show a picture that's quite blurry and out of focus. Usually, the more blur that's involved in a 3D presentation, the better the depth in the picture tends to be given that it reveals the layers of depth. With Spider-Man: Homecoming, there's a healthy dose of image blurring, with a lot of the backgrounds doing the heavy lifting. There are some wide shots that don't really blur the screen, and there's a good degree of close-up shots that only subtly blur, so as to anchor the scene with a crisp division of spatial reasoning. But overall, there's enough blur to draw a beautiful picture.
Spider-Man has always been known for fast paced, high flying action. So naturally, there's a lot of fast movements, sharp turns, and just generally active imagery throughout Spider-Man: Homecoming. With great action, sometimes, comes great eye-strain, and thankfully that strain is minimal in this movie. For the most part, your vision and stomach will be perfectly fine, though your eyes will definitely feel more worn out than your lunch will.
Conclusion: Spider-Man: Homecoming is a damned fine IMAX 3D film to behold. With some minor dings to the film's overall 3D rating, the sum total of this film's parts is a pretty strong effort on the part of those involved. If you're looking to take in a larger than life encounter with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, don't be afraid to spring for the extra webbing.
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