Nature Fares Better Than Humans in New Imax Films

Today is the day the big screen gets bigger in Southern California.

The Imax format, featuring monster screens that seem to cover the Earth, already has a local foothold via the facility at the California Museum of Science and Industry. Now a new theater, only the second in this country to show films in what is elaborately called Imax 3-D with PSE sound, opens at the Edwards 21 Cinemas at the Irvine Spectrum in Orange County.

Viewers will have a choice of two featurettes in this format, the 40-minute “Wings of Courage” and the 35-minute “Into the Deep.” The question they raise is not whether people are ready for what this new technology displays but whether this new technology is ready to display people.

Anyone remembering the flimsy, disposable 3-D glasses of decades past will be impressed by the sturdy gray plastic goggles with the look of a crash-resistant scuba mask this system employs. Each set has a liquid crystal lens that is synchronized to the projector, as well as small individual speakers (PSE stands, conveniently enough, for Personal Sound Environment) that makes for a more intimate and enveloping aural experience.

The most ballyhooed of the two 3-D films on display is “Wings of Courage,” trumpeted as “the first dramatic motion picture” filmed in the process. It was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (“Quest for Fire,” “The Bear”) and stars such recognizable names as Val Kilmer, Elizabeth McGovern, Tom Hulce and Craig Sheffer.

Unfortunately, the word “dramatic” belongs in quotes for any number of reasons. Though the difficulties of working with the unwieldly Imax 3-D camera undoubtedly contributed to its weaknesses, this film is so hampered by feeble writing (by Alain Godard and Annaud), inexpressive acting and lackluster direction that the pedestrian result could more fittingly be called “Feet of Courage.”

Set in South America in 1930, “Wings” deals with the heroic aviators who flew the mail across the Andes from Argentina to Chile for a small airline managed by writer Antoine de St. Exupery (Hulce). French daredevil Jean Mermoz (Kilmer) is leaving the company and his place is taken by Henri Guillaumet (Sheffer), happily married to the devoted Noelle (McGovern).

Clobbered by a spot of bad weather, Henri is no sooner on board than he crashes into the mountains and, with Mermoz’s taunt that “the Andes don’t give anyone back” ringing in our PSE-influenced ears, decides to walk his way out of danger. Maybe “Feet of Courage” isn’t such an inappropriate title after all.

“Wings” is at its best when it’s offering spectacular mountain views (shot in the Canadian Rockies, not the Andes) that are impressively realistic and vertiginous. The actors, who burst from the screen like out-of-control animatronic mannequins, paradoxically end up seeming less realistic than they would in a less dimensional format.

With nothing in front of the camera except sea animals, “Into the Deep” has none of these human problems to deal with. Photographed off the Channel Islands, Catalina and La Jolla between 30 and 70 feet below the surface, this impressive piece of work showcases all the benefits of 3-D photography with not a drawback in sight.

Directed by Howard Hall and shot by Noel Archambault, “Into the Deep” is a magical experience that only the overused term “virtual reality” seems to fit. The undersea environment comes so uncannily alive your mind doesn’t quite understand why getting soaking wet isn’t part of the deal.

Among the sights to be seen are frolicky sea lions, delicate jellyfish and sullen bat rays looking like refugees from another planet, a seething horde of opalescent squid and a totally bizarre creature called the sarcastic fringe head that completely lives up to its name.

While there are vivid moments in “Wings of Courage,” in truth its use of humans makes 3-D seem more gimmicky than otherwise. “Into the Deep,” on the other hand, is enthralling. If you have to choose between the two, it’s not even close. Even Val Kilmer will understand.

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‘Wings of Courage’

Craig Sheffer: Henri Guillaumet

Elizabeth McGovern: Noelle Guillaumet

Tom Hulce: St. Exupery

Val Kilmer: Jean Mermoz

Ken Pogue: Pierre Deley

Ron Sauve: Jean-Rene Lefebvre

Released by Sony Pictures Classics. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud. Producer Jean-Jacques Annaud. Executive producers Antoine Compin, Charis Horton. Screenplay Alain Godard and Jean-Jacques Annaud. Cinematographer Robert Fraisse. Editor Louise Rubacky. Costumes Aggie Rodgers. Production design Ian Thomas. Running time: 40 minutes.

‘Into the Deep’

Director Howard Hall. Producer Graeme Ferguson. Executive producers Susumu Sakane, Jonathan Barker. Narrated by Kate Nelligan. Cinematographer Noel Archambault. Editor Barbara Kerr. Music Micky Erbe, Maribeth Solomon. Supervising sound editor, Peter Thillaye. Running time: 35 minutes.

* Exclusively at Edwards 21 Cinemas, Irvine Spectrum, 65 Fortune, Irvine.

* Both films are unrated by the MPAA. Times guidelines: acceptable for families.