#REVIEW: “BILLIE EILISH – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D)”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

I want to start this review by saying I am a fan of Billie Eilish, I had tickets to Happier than Ever before Covid cancelled the show, then I finally got to see her on the Hit Me Hard and Soft tour – and it was incredible. The performance she puts on is nothing short of remarkable, and the energy she outputs is infectious. So, to say I was looking forward to her working along side visionary James Cameron in a Co-Director capacity for the concert doc/film of Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) had me very excited to see what the two created. While the end result is a truly mixed bag of things, it is important to distinguish that this is *not* a movie, nor truly a documentary. With a two hour runtime, at least 90% of this is just concert footage and not behind the scenes moments or tidbits, but rather just a literal filmed version of the tour across various tour stops (none are ever specified but it does appear to be across multiple dates at least and not one specific show).

Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) which is co-directed by both Eilish and Cameron, changes the way concert movies will be seen forever, and this is going to create a plague of nonsense that is going to hit theatres for the foreseeable future. This isn’t to say that what it accomplishes should be diminished, but the amount of movies that got post converted 3D that was lackluster after Avatar was astonishing, and what Cameron and Eilish accomplish in this is genuinely nothing shy of perfect. This is the closest a common person can get to seeing a show at The Sphere in Las Vegas or at a place like the COSM in LA and Texas. It is completely engaging and immersive unlike anything we’ve ever seen for a concert before. There are moments where the camera is behind the audience and they capture the audience grabbing their cell phones and the immediate aggravation experienced that someone took their phone out during the screening, only to realize it was footage from the movie will simply take your breath away. The film and 3D technology is so engaging and jaw-droppingly brilliant, that it almost deters from what the film lacks as a whole – and that is trying to be something other than just being a prolonged live album with a visual component.

While there is nothing wrong with that on the surface level, making it appear that this is in fact a film or even a concert documentary is a hard stretch considering there is not really a narrative structure and anything interesting that gets touched upon by Cameron talking to Eilish is fascinating but it is surface level that never gets explored more. If Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) were instead balanced 50% as concert doc, giving fans who couldn’t attend the show OR wanted to relive those moments plus a ton of behind the scenes tour and insight, this would’ve landed better, perhaps. Unfortunately, this is nearly just a 3D 4K perfectly captured video from someone shooting the concert themselves, it is for the die-hard fans who will support anything Eilish does, more than those coming for a cinematic experience.

However, to discredit the contribution and advancement made in 3D in this sense, and not in the world of Pandora would be a disservice. Genuinely, I am hard-pressed to think of another non-animated, heavily CGI-focused feature film that uses 3D as well as Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D). So in the very least, the technical merit and achievement alone of this Film are certainly worth your time. If you want to enjoy the movie without it turning into a concert, your best bet would be to go on a weekday, during the day to fully enjoy it with minimal distractions.

Paramount Pictures Canada release Billie Elish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) in theatres on Friday, May 8, 2026.