Truly Dreadful Film

Excellent but underrated film

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I got a box of 20 IMAX movies at a Christmas gift exchange and this was the one with the least amount of appeal to me. I've never been interested in sports or cars. In watching cars race, there's no thought required, no deep meaning. You're just supposed to be impressed by shiny fast things. This is a movie about racing cars so it will be of little interest to me.A lot of it is talk, or the movie focuses on the mechanics of making the cars. All of this might appeal to people interested in mechanics, but not me. Some of it talks about the fan base. I heard these people say NASCAR is great, but I still don't see why. There are only a couple interesting facts of science sprinkled into the film, only a couple of attention-grabbing crashes. Nothing to get too excited about.

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??

As a die hard NASCAR fan, this movie was unbelievable! The images look so crystal clear, you could almost feel the the texture of the asphalt as you ride along. Great 3D effect, though towards the end I had a slight headache due to eye strain. The sound was the most authentic reproduction of a NASCAR race I've ever heard. The engines roar as loud and beefy as being at the track. Certainly a must see. Even the non-NASCAR fans will enjoy it and perhaps become interested in the greatest sport in the world. Only one thing that bothered me about the film was the fact that there are certain things that you wanted to see in focus... that weren't (hence the eye strain headache). If you can get a seat in the back of the theater...perhaps the eye strain would be less. Other than that... it's the best IMAX movie out there now. A must see, and I'm buying a copy when it hits the shelves on DVD. Not just 2 thumbs up... all ten digits up!

The lights went down, and the IMAX presentation started. We activated our goggles, and the guard rails came down. It felt a little strange at first, the weight of the goggles, the feeling of being strapped in by the bar, more like a roller coaster than a movie... Then the movie started, and what a ride! A documentary like no other, "NASCAR: 3D" captured race history to raceday in a method so akin to natural storytelling, that my jaw was permanently dropped. Placing the viewer behind the driver at 230+ miles per hour, in the grandstand, in the pits, and behind the scenes makes you feel like you are more than just there, it makes you feel like you are in the race and part of the history. See this movie. It's a true movie experience.