First of all I am not a fan of Nascar, I do follow the odd Formula One race, but living in Europe, Nascar is something I may happen to see playing at five in the morning on one of the sport shows, or is a sport I prefer to play on the Playstation. As a cultural phenomenon, a thrill sport, or a symbol of national prestige (as so many American sports tend to be) it goes entirely over my head.
Now Nascar IMAX was something I was looking forward to, yes I actually thought that the promise of seeing these races in 3D would make me appreciate some of the dynamics of the sport. Alas no, or at least this is not the movie that will achieve this end. The movie is slow, with very few action scenes, doesn't look that great in 3D and is heavily dependant on dialogue. These should be basic no,no's for an IMAX movie, and yet some bright spark continues to invest heavily in such banal material.
I do long for the day when IMAX equipment will be put into the hands of a true master of cinema, I remember watching Nascar thinking, "with all this technology, all this money, the best they can do is deliver a weak documentary about racing cars?". I guess IMAX could be the next frontier of cinema, and with the way cinema is heading, this can not come any sooner. Alas, Nascar IMAX is not the one that's gonna take IMAX to the edge. So I guess the IMAX gauntlet remains unraised. Any takers??
