4DX is the next step up from 3D cinema, and it’s supposed to tap into your other senses, but it often takes away from the content itself.
3D cinema is exciting and it offers an immersive experience when it comes to certain movies. I often opt for 3D when it’s an action movie, where I really want to be in the director’s seat.
After a few trips to the cinema, though, 3D quickly became a novelty, it’s expensive, the glasses aren’t always comfortable to wear and some movies aren’t even 3D all the way. 4DX on the other hand taps into your other senses when compared to 3D or even 2D for that matter.
4DX boasts high-tech motion seats and special effects such as wind, fog, lightning, bubbles, water, and scents to stimulate all five senses. Available in both 2D and 3D formats, 4DX works in perfect synchronicity with the action on screen – creating the most exhilarating cinema experience yet.
Your seats move in various motion that’s supposed to be in sync with the movie you’re watching, you get some feedback almost like getting a massage from the back/lumbar support area of your seat, it vibrates, and if you leave the water feature on, you even get sprinkled with water every now and then.
The whole point is if you were to be watching say Fast and Furious, you would feel like you’re in the driver’s seat during a chase, or in the case of the new Star Wars spinoff, as they fly in space, you also move with it.
It all sounds fun but after my experience, I feel it’s not going to be the future of cinema, there’s still some work to be done if it’s to be otherwise.
The seats can be very intense, the constant vibration and when you do get into the movie, you could get distracted from the story itself. The spokesman at Cineworld told me that the process comes into place once the movie is made, rather than having the movie made with the 4DX elements in mind from the start.
When you get a two hours movie for example, what you don’t want is a constant rocking chair the whole time, it will either send you sleep or really irritate you, so maybe it’s not for everyone, but it will definitely be one of those two things.
What the designers of 4DX can do, though, is create something that allows the individual to adjust how intense it is. If the user can adjust various elements of the experience, it would be something more enjoyable.
Imagine if you can adjust the vibration intensity, the rocking and other elements of the chair, the experience would be better – the back massage type of feeling sometimes felt like someone poked me for no reason, so picture how irritating that can quickly become.
Just one caveat, this is a personal opinion of the 4DX experience, it’s not something for all, but certainly something to experience at one of the nine Cineworld locations in the UK – do check for availability where you are, as it’s worth experiencing.
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