Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) - November 16, 2018

[rwc]

Originally Posted by Schwartzy

Did anyone see this in 3D? Worth it? I liked the movie and it was 2D showing.

Just got back from the IMAX 3D showing. I was absolutely blown away, completely took me by surprise, even though I’d rewatched the first film last night in 3D to remind myself.

There were so many genuine 3D pop-outs I stopped counting, far more than the first film. As expected, ‘fantastic beasts’ are often the stars of the pop-outs.

There were even more “extra-frame” pop-outs and expansions (that could work in 2D IMAX but are made for 3D), where all manner of things made use of the black-bar space - this occurred so often (literally every minute or two) that I couldn’t have counted if I’d tried, although I definitely noted the varied ways that the expansion was used - whether it was something like a necklace briefly ‘hanging down’ over the bottom black bar, something of a large scale (a wall of exploding water) expanding to full-frame suddenly, or something popping/flying out over the upper or lower black bar (a niffler flying in slow-mo on a champagne cork wins my prize for favourite pop-out of the year).

A very original use of the expanded ratio (strengthened by 3D) is a scene where we see Credence’s head from the side in full zoom, but translucent (as a magical hologram floating high in a room), in full frame; while the physically real scene, with Grindelwald standing centre screen looking up towards the camera (technically he’s gazing at the translucent image of Credence’s head that lies between us and him) is in regular wide frame. It’s a subtle and surprisingly artistic use of expanded ratio that most people wouldn’t notice as it’s gradually immersive.

There are no full scenes that are expanded, possibly because the black bars are invaded by visual effects more than live action elements. The “flirting” with expanded ratio was a regular feature and frankly felt necessary for the effectiveness (and fun) of many shots and even sequences - to the point that I’m already worrying that they may not include it on the physical release. Even more vital seems the 3D. Like the first film, David Yates has clearly designed the film with 3D in mind, as many of the shots without great depth/pop-out action are at least 3D-enhanced with outer-frame foreground context, and/or closer-to-the-ground upward camera angles.

Right up there with my favourite 3D films of the year, and I totally wasn’t expecting it to be. Glad that the UK 3D edition is already up for preorder on Amazon UK. Here’s hoping expanded ratio is included (so much visual effects work went into it, surely it will be...).