A review of the DIGITAL projection

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2003)

I was lucky enough to see this film digitally projected (I've read that there were only 35-45 theaters in the US that are doing this.) Living in Los Angeles, you have to deal with smog, freeways, and attitudes, but at least you get digitally projected movies!
Having watched the movie projected on film the week before, I already knew what to expect from the story, so I probably wasn't as blown away as I should have been by certain sequences, especially the opening with Nightcrawler. But what I got was a perfectly crisp picture - no film scratches, no annoying reel changes with "cigarette burns" followed by an audio pop. If you don't know what a "cigarette burn" is, see "Fight Club," but I warn you - you'll always be conscious of it every you see a movie in the theater.
There were however at times, when the picture was a little too perfect. Some shots looked blurry, like they had blown up the film a little to get a closer shot. I don't know if they actually did this, but that's what it looked like. A few times when there was A LOT of action and camera movement, there was some SLIGHT blur and picture jumping. And by this I do mean SLIGHT. Unless you were looking for it, you probably wouldn't have noticed it. Also, some of the edges on objects on the screen seemed a little jagged at times, but then again, this wasn't that noticable.
Don't get me wrong, these are only minor criticisms. Do I prefer the digital projection? Definitely. This is the third digitally projection film I've seen, the other two being Episode II and Toy Story 2. The biggest differences here is that these two movies were created digitally while X2 was shot on film and transferred. The picture was still superior, but not mind-blowing (and it made Mystique and Nightcrawler's make-up jobs look a lot more like make-up)
While I preferred the digital projection, I wouldn't tell you to plan a road trip to seek out a theater that has it like I would have for Episode II and Toy Story 2. If you're going to see it, and there is a theater around that does have it, then go for it!