Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope’s launch Saturday, along comes “Hubble 3D” for Imax, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and starring the astronauts of space shuttle Atlantis (including mission commander Scott Altman, an Illinois native, and Chicagoan mission specialist John Grunsfeld). Much of the film’s 40 minutes or so were shot in training for and during a May 2009 Atlantis mission, STS-125, the final planned mission to upgrade Hubble before the impending end of the shuttle program.
One of the best moments of the film is the spacecraft’s launch, and surprisingly it’s not for the visuals. Switching between angles above and below the launch pad, main engine ignitions followed seconds later by solid rocket boosters lighting off is an interesting sight with billowing smoke in 3-D, but where Imax really serves the viewer is through its powerful sound system. It’s not that it’s loud — no earplugs required — rather the timbre of all that rocket power rattles the theater and everyone in it: an acoustic earthquake.
Interspersed with Imax-shot scenes of the mission (particularly specialists Michael Massimino and Michael Good risking their lives on spacewalks, wrestling with stuck Hubble parts, when a small spacesuit tear could kill them) are images recorded by Hubble into which 3-D technology immerses viewers. Often it’s like being pulled into a “star field” screen saver, until you realize that the individual “stars” you’re zooming past are entire galaxies with billions of stars made visible by Hubble.
A ride across the universe includes a visit to the star nursery of the Orion nebula (the middle “star” of the constellation Orion’s sword) where newly formed planets are surrounded by fuzzy doughnuts of matter that may one day become planets. Further explorations look back through time, viewing light that left far-off galaxies before Earth even formed.
The subject pretty much decides whether a viewer will like it. Space fans probably will love it. The 3-D effects are nice, but not a “wow” experience. But if you cringed at Carl Sagan discussing “star stuff,” skip it, because this film shows that NASA, Hubble and astronauts are all about reaching those stars.
MPAA rating:
G
Featuring:
Narration by Leonardo DiCaprio and appearances by astronauts Scott D. Altman, Gregory C. Johnson, John M. Grunsfeld, Michael J. Massimino, K. Megan McArthur, Andrew J. Feustel, Michael T. Good
Credits:
Written, directed and produced by Toni Myers. A Warner Bros. release. Plays in commercial Imax theaters. Running time: 43 minutes
