For those of us who don’t live near a soccer (football for any non-statesiders) team of repute or just can’t afford weekly tickets to matches, the prospect of soccer in 3D on a flatscreen holds appeal. The idea that you could recreate a live sporting event in a way similar to the actual experience has been the biggest obstacle between broadcast and live games. This opportunity becomes even more intriguing when the matches in question are those of the World Cup, the end all be all of worldwide sporting events (sorry, Olympics). Every part of me would love to enjoy this event from the comfort of my home in a way that still feels like I’m watching it from a box seat at the stadium, but that’s simply not possible – so the 3D Blu-ray release of the competition is the compromise.
Keep in mind that it’s not every game of the competition in 3D, but rather highlights filmed with 3D viewing technology specifically in mind. So, as much as I’d love to watch every game of the competition in 3D (and yes, I know how long that would take and how many discs it would fill), this option of highlights and field footage mixed with a few choice (though often comparatively dull) interviews creates a memorable and overall enjoyable recap of South Africa’s World Cup. The reason you and I are even considering this title is for the game footage, so really everything else is just icing on the cake. So how does the cake taste?
You can neither argue with the game footage quality nor with how it was shot. The studio behind this film did well in their placement of the 3D cameras and the finished product offers more than a few instances where the viewer is thrust into the middle of the match. It can look sublime at its best (possibly even better than being there considering how close you get to the action), and even in the lesser moments the footage is like watching a superbly made 3D video game – you just can’t control the game. While I sternly argue against 3D as the future of filmmaking, when it comes to sports, I think the technology and the spectacle are a perfect match. For the presentation, you can’t argue with 3D as the best way to watch World Cup clips, and they even manage to make shots of the stadium look incredible; it’s in the content chosen that most fans will find fault.
Maybe they didn’t have the presence of mind to film every game in 3D or maybe the unused footage they did get just didn’t make as great use of the visual power of 3D as what made it into the final product. All that’s clear is that the film doesn’t boast some of the key moments from the World Cup that I was anxious to see from a 3D perspective. Again, maybe they just didn’t come out well and to be fair it’s impossible to know which games are going to be the ones people are talking about for years to come, but with the dust settled, the film is missing some of the great moments from some of the World Cup’s best matches. What we do get is some of the great mixed with ho hum moments cut between interviews which even the most enthusiastic fans are going to find tiring after the first 3 or 4.
Through it all, the film keeps it all in a chronological order leading up to the final face off between Spain and the Netherlands. You can’t blame the film too much for failing to create a lot of tension, because as someone who followed the entire event closely, even the actual thing sort of sputtered out save for the diehard fans of Spain and Netherlands. The match-up just wasn’t one of those climactic pairings that gets people excited, especially when compared to the high-energy Italy and France game from the prior World Cup. The filmmakers made a decent presentation with the material they gleaned from the World Cup, but it’s fair to say the final product really needs the 3D to help make it worthwhile—and even then the best footage a World Cup enthusiast could hope for doesn’t make it into the film.
As for narration, in this case Ian Darke’s seasoned commentary skills don’t bring anything special to the table, and you almost wish they’d found a way to do it without a disembodied voice pointing out the obvious. The only time he served any real purpose was in those few games where the player uniforms offered no easy identifiers, but beyond that it felt borderline intrusive (but then again, I hate sports commentators in general).
Blu-ray 3D Bonus Features
None.
"The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D" is on sale November 16, 2010 and is not rated. Documentary, Sports. Directed by Johnson McKelvy. Starring Ian Darke.
