G. Brown—July 7, 2017
By now, many reviews have been written on this product. A number of reviewers who have criticized it (albeit in a very minor way) for not being a "complete" concert, or for not having the option of viewing/listening to the live show straight through (i.e., without any of the vignettes of Roger on the road), are, (with all due respect), missing the point. This is NOT just another concert. It is much more than a band getting up on stage and playing a set or two of music. This is musical theater in its grandest form. The portions of the show filmed outside of the stadium are an integral part of the production. Importantly, they do not take up very much time, but they do contribute significantly to the whole. If this were a recording of four guys playing on a small stage in a club, and the camera continually drifted away from the players to show trippy visuals or landscapes (like too many concert videos have done), I'd say thumbs down all the way, but that is NOT what this is. This production was MAMMOTH in size and scope; simply filming the band singing and playing the songs the whole time would have miserably failed to capture its essence. One reviewer who had attended the show in the tenth row and again in the middle of the stadium, (I should have been so lucky to have attended it just once, anywhere in the venue!), wrote that the film did not succeed in replicating the experience of the show and all that it had to offer, because it kept moving from the stage, to the POV of Roger looking out at the crowd, to a vignette on the road, etc., instead of staying in the middle of the stadium focused on the stage. (S/he opined that the middle of the venue was a better spot to be than up close.) Not having seen the show, I won't argue the point. The film did, in my opinion, give the viewer/listener a means of experiencing the production about as well as any film possibly could have done! One might criticize this film (and the live show) as pretentious, over-the-top, depressing, or any number of other things, but it is undeniably a HUGE artistic production and accomplishment. If you enjoy(ed) the album (i.e., Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'), then I highly recommend this film. You not only get to hear the music performed nearly flawlessly by its principal creator and a hand-picked bunch of cracking musicians, but you get to view a spectacle of truly epic proportions to boot. This necessarily means that you don't get to watch the musicians the whole time (like you would on most great concert video recordings... remember that this is NOT just a concert). In my opinion, this is NOT a flaw of the film, but rather an asset. While watching players play is usually the "raison de etre", this is not the case here... the players become more and more hidden by the wall being built as the show progresses, and this is a major part of the production. No stage production of this magnitude exists anywhere else, and it literally has to be seen to be believed! In this case (and perhaps only in this case), the "show" eclipses the players (intentionally and very successfully). The size and scale of the show is absolutely enormous, and for this reason, among others, the production (including the shots on the road and elsewhere) is worthy of a film (hence the film). Last but not least, the quality of everything is superb... the video production, the editing, the sound, the mixing, the musicianship, the stage production... everything. The content is a little dark, (to say the least, hence the R rating), but if you are not put off by it (most fans of The Wall clearly are not), then it's well worth the ride. Read more
Kevin Holmes—June 11, 2016
When Roger Waters announced he was going to do a massive tour of The Wall I was instantly very interested... When Ticket sales started I was disappointed because of how expensive the Tickets were... I never got to see the concert and was hoping for a dvd to be released... Roger Waters did a one night one showing in theaters The tickets were $18 so I bought 2... When I got to the theater and saw his movie it was better than expected... I was thinking it would be a video of the tour... What I got to see was an amazing beautiful eye candy spectacular event... My eyes didn't look away once... The movie I watched was a so good... The movie was the concert along with some deeply moving moments in Waters' life... The concert was more beautiful than I expected... It was so good the only way to improve the show was if the rest of the band were there to play... I went home and pre-ordered the Deluxe edition Blu-ray.... it was exactly the same as what I saw in the theater and I was thrilled with my purchase... I still watch it once a week at least... The only disappointment was that I was hoping to watch just the concert as an extra... the interruptions of Waters' story were great but I was hoping to be able to watch the concert from beginning to end as an option... I also wished there would be a 3D version as it would be even better... I highly recommend the purchase of this product, the sound is fantastic, the concert was more stunning than I expected, The visuals during the concert were amazing and much better than awesome... buy this product you will not be disappointed... you will be awestruck and left with your jaw dropping.... maybe Waters will release a concert only disk and I hope there would also be a 3D version... I can hope... Read more
Glenn Sherwood—December 30, 2022
The media could not be loaded. My credentials I graduated high school 1982 I've listened to the album dozens upon dozens of times, I've listened to the live bootleg recordings of the original tour dozens upon dozens of times. I saw the movie dozens upon dozens of times. I saw this tour twice. First I must criticize one criticism from another reviewer, the reviewer is dissatisfied that the continuity of the concert is disrupted though I agree to a certain extent, and I do agree with another reviewer that there should have been an alternative menu option where you can watch the concert uninterrupted. If you really don't want to see The Unwanted Parts just use the time to get another drink or something. The artist presented his work in many different versions of the wall, this particular DVD is one such version and should be viewed and critically appreciated for what it is. There are other options to view this tour via Pro Shot Video available on various different Avenues formats or platforms or what have you. No need to discuss the wall as far as interpretating analyzing or explaining one could do their own research. The audio and visual is very good. I didn't say anything about the extras so maybe I will in the future if I'm able to update usually the extras aren't good sometimes the extras are better I'll find out soon and will report. By the way on the director's cut of Pompeii there is a second video option to play would I believe is the original at the very least it doesn't have the space stuff in it. But don't think that space stuff is irrelevant because it's continuity and relationships to the space program and the album and of course there's interweaving themes that go through all the albums all the way up through and including the wall and beyond. But that's beyond the scope of this review.... big brother is watching Read more
