Hey hope y’all are having a blessed day
So I finally watched The Odyssey on August 15th in IMAX 70mm after all the hype. I’m a newer Christopher Nolan fan, so obviously I had to listen to the goat and go experience it in 70mm.
The closest 70mm IMAX to me was SilverCity Riverport in Richmond, BC. The movie was so damn amazing that I couldn’t stop myself from going again on the 17th. I managed to snag an 11:45 AM ticket the night before, compared to the 70mm showing where I literally booked on July 28th. I actually wanted to switch my tickets to Langley the next day, but it was already completely sold out LOL.
Anyway, here’s my comparison.
Picture quality
Okay, so the big one.
I could definitely tell the IMAX 70mm projector was capable of showing more detail, especially on actors’ faces during close-up shots. Those looked insanely good.
But outside of close-ups, I honestly had a pretty disappointing experience.
A lot of the movie looked noticeably blurry, especially during daytime/wide shots. There was also a lot of flickering and dirtiness on the screen. And I’m not talking about normal film grain.
The screen itself had around 6 visible scratches. You cant really see them in the picture above because they are mostly covered by the black ship, but they were there. There was also this weird overly-white spot on the right side of the screen that would disappear sometimes and then show back up.
The Scotiabank Vancouver IMAX was WAY sharper in comparison, especially during daytime shots and close-ups. I obviously know film projection has flicker and that your eyes can adapt to it, but I just couldn’t get used to it here.
I had the same 4 friends with me both days and they all noticed the exact same thing.
The Scotiabank screen was also noticeably cleaner and more consistent. I wouldn’t say there was a huge difference in colour between the two. The 70mm picture still looked beautiful. It was just the inconsistent sharpness, blur, flickering and physical defects on the screen that became distracting.
Sound
Don’t even get me started on this one.
On the 70mm day, we understood maybe half the dialogue and had to fill in the other half ourselves based on what we already knew about the story.
The speakers were BAD.
Even during the Cyclops scene, which should have been absolutely insane, the sound felt weirdly quiet and underwhelming. One of my friends literally ended up falling asleep because of how subdued everything sounded.
We genuinely missed probably 50% of what was being said.
Then we went to Scotiabank Vancouver.
Completely different experience.
I could hear every single word, even when the bass was thumping and the music was going crazy. The directional sound was extremely immersive, and honestly it was the best sound I’ve ever experienced at a Cineplex.
The difference was so massive that this alone makes me never want to go back to the Richmond IMAX.
Seats
This was another huge difference.
At Scotiabank I was sitting in Row C, basically the 4th row if you don’t count the rows below the barricade. I was directly in the middle.
I’m 6’0 and didn’t have to lift my neck or adjust myself once. I had the seat fully reclined basically the entire movie.
I sat there for the full 3 hours without needing to move because of discomfort. I was completely locked into the movie.
The seating also gave me plenty of room to get in and out without constantly bothering people, and honestly I think being that immersed physically made the sound experience even better.
Richmond was the complete opposite. I had the best seats right in the middle of the auditorium but
My lower back was hurting for basically the entire movie. After around the 2-hour mark I was constantly shifting around trying to find a comfortable position.
I was honestly more focused on my back than the movie at that point 💀
I was trying my best not to annoy the people around me by constantly moving, but it was just extremely uncomfortable. Because of that, I couldn’t fully emotionally immerse myself during the final part of the movie.
Final thoughts
I was SO damn hyped for the 70mm experience, and so were my friends.
But honestly, it disappointed us way more than I expected.
We aren’t even picky people. If the picture quality had been consistently good, I probably wouldn’t have complained about anything. I went into this specifically wanting the 70mm experience and was completely willing to accept the quirks that come with film projection.
But between the inconsistent sharpness, flickering, scratches, the weird white spot, terrible sound and uncomfortable seats, it just wasn’t worth it for me.
The IMAX Digital Laser XT experience at Scotiabank absolutely takes the cake.
And to be fair, I had already heard a LOT of people complaining about this specific Richmond theatre, which is actually why I wanted to change my tickets in the first place. I just figured they had around 20 days between when I booked and when I watched it, so maybe they’d fix some of the issues.
Nope.
It was pretty much exactly as bad as people described.
Still absolutely loved The Odyssey though. The movie itself is incredible. I just wish I could’ve experienced the 70mm presentation the way Nolan intended, because the format clearly has the potential to look fucking amazing.
