Batman on Bigger Screen

Jargon, jargon..

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Almost everything I read on the web these days are either about Obama, Anwar, the iPhone and The Dark Knight. A few days back I read one article about how 40 minutes of the movie is shot in the IMAX's 70mm format while the rest of it was shot in the standard 35mm film. This sole fact got me excited about the movie. Honest.

Personally, I am not a comic book buff. I don't read Dragon Ball, I tak layan anime. I'm also not much of a Batman fan these days. I didn't even watch the last Batman movie, Batman Begins. On the other hand, I love movies. That is what I study in college, that is what I aim as my future line of work. So to quote Marshall McLuhan I guess in my case, my sudden enthusiasm of the movie is not because of the content but the medium. The medium is the message.

So what is IMAX and what is so great about it. An IMAX movie is a movie shot on 70mm films compared to the normal 35mm films. Remember those films you used to put in your camera? Those are 35mm. An 70mm is about thrice as long and twice as wide thus capable of capturing and projecting better detail. It is something like how you compare the quality of a photo taken with your mobile phone to that of a Nikon D3 DSLR. It's not to say that 35mm is no good; they are very good but 70mm is better. It's like comparing DVDs to Blu-Rays. Good, better.



I was rather excited a few days back when I was at the Times Square. There on the ground floor was a ticketing counter for The Dark Knight at the IMAX Theater upstairs and for RM11, it is super cheap! I've always wanted to go watch something there but I couldn't justify spending RM40 to watch dinosaurs and sharks. This is a great opportunity. Nonetheless, all me enthusiasm was rather shattered when yesterday I read the fine print of the IMAX ad in the papers. Apparently what they are screening is not the 70mm print of the movie but rather the normal 35mm print, projected on the 5 stories high IMAX screen. What's the difference? Go ahead and try shoot a video on your phone and then play it on your 19-inch LCD. It's irritating to know about all this isn't it? It happen to me all the time. I get annoyed when the projector is not fully focussed, I get annoyed when I see a rough changeover.. I guess it's true what they say, ignorance is bliss.

On the other hand, I am disappointed that despite having the capability to project an IMAX movie in IMAX, the Times Square IMAX Theater opted for the normal print. I guess it is all business. Not many people knew about what IMAX is and its capabilities and through disinformation, it is labelled as the documentary cinema and I don't think many people like the idea of going to the cinema to watch documentaries. 

I am personally very fussy about the quality of the stuff I consume be it music or movies. I really truly hope that legal means of downloads such as the iTunes Store would be available (legally) in Malaysia. I'm kindof tired of downloading sub par materials. RM3 for a good quality content is very reasonable considering the price of everything else these days. And of course, there is that little issue about karma. Heh..

So anyway, I'll probably go see the movie in a normal cinema soon, though I do plan on taking a chance to see it in IMAX just for comparison sake. I would really like to suggest my friends abroad to go see the movie in IMAX if your city happen to have one.

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Published:
Saturday, July 19, 2008
by amerhadiazmi