This review is
based on the 3D version of the film. As this is only the second film I’ve seen
in the contemporary 3D style I don’t feel I’m familiar enough with its uses and
implementations to 100% accurately judge whether it’s any good or not. However,
I have taken the liberty of commenting on my reaction to the 3D as I believe it
is the critic’s duty to report his response to a film as completely as
possible.
When I read that Martin Scorsese was going to make his
next film in 3D and it was also going to be an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s
children’s picture novel The Invention of
Hugo Cabret, my first reaction was to be simply dumbfounded. Why would the
director of so many dark and violent films that deeply explore the human
condition venture into such new territory? And why would the man who still
insists on using film stock, a man who supremely values film history, shoot in
3D? Surely this must have been some kind of total commercial sellout. Well, the
final judgment is yet to be determined as it often takes years for the critical
and audience response to render a final verdict on a piece of pop culture’s
place in the canon, but after seeing it I can say it makes a lot more sense now
that Scorsese was drawn to this particular story and this particular use of 3D
technology to make Hugo.
