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Tag: 4DX

April 13, 2018

4DX Review – Rampage

This is a *mostly* spoiler-free review of Rampage in 4DX format. This isn’t designed to a be a review of the movie as much is it’s a review of the 4DX experience for this movie.

Rampage opens with a scene in space. The smooth gliding of the motion seats is accented by drips of water timed to floating liquid on the screen. The astronaut falls against a wall and the chair kicks you in the back. Perfectly timed again.

Scents are used to set the next scene, one of the least used effects but one that really makes this scene shine. No snow effects but plenty of water effects are used including at least one scene where the rain effects are mixed with the wind effects creating a sense of chaos in the theater.

The motion seats can get rough in some scenes, be prepared for a wild ride with this film. During a plane crash scene, the leg ticklers were used, mixed with the wind and motion seats it was one of the more impressive crash scenes I’ve experienced in the 4DX.

While used multiple times the smoke effects seemed to be turned on for a shorter length than in most 4DX films, this meant less smoke in the theater but also meant the smoke had dissipated before the scene was over. Latency between the action on the screen and the in-theater effects is one of the primary issues with 4DX but with the effects slightly turned down the experience isn’t diminished but the latency issue is fixed.

The last third of the film is a non-stop action sequence where an city is destroyed. It is one filled with smoke, motion seats, wind, and strobe lights. The non-stop action means that, despite nearly two dozen 4DX screenings, this is one of the roughest 4DX experiences I’ve done. Sadly, the snow effects could’ve been used in these destruction scenes but weren’t.

While not all effects are used the ones that are go with the film perfectly. From the sci-fi space opening to the intense total destruction of a city, Rampage was made for an experience like 4DX. While most action films seem to feature only a few effects, like the motion seats and wind effects, Rampage embraced many of the other effects. It also mixed the effects in unique ways that make this a must do screening.

 

-Review Summary-

  • Use of 4DX Effects- 4 out of 4
  • Movie Overall- 3 out of 4

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April 1, 2018

4DX Review – Ready Player One

This is a *mostly* spoiler-free review of Ready Player One in 4DX format. This isn’t designed to a be a review of the movie as much is it’s a review of the 4DX experience for this movie.

Ready Player One is an overwhelming crash course into everything pop culture of the late Twentieth Century and just as the film threw everything possible at the audience so did the 4DX. Slow camera linked motion in sweeping scenes was used, but it was more intense racing scenes that made the motion seats really sing. The use of fans and seats helped sell these scenes even more than similar ones in Cars 3, the use of the leg ticklers also added a great addition sense in more intense racing scenes. The ticklers made it feel as though we were just out of the grasp of those who were after us.

The wind effects were used in large swaths of the film but rarely not in a fitting way. In dream like sequences, the wind effects helped enhance the scenes even more than in more apparent scenes, such as the racing ones.

The racing scenes often led to crash scenes, and here the smoke effects were timed perfectly. A poorly timed smoke effect can give away an upcoming scene or linger way too long, a problem that nearly ruined Geostorm. Here the smoke seemed perfectly timed so that it appears just when needed and disappears before the scene changes.
Many of the effects were used more sparingly. The strobe effects, while only used a few times in the film, brought the action of the screen into the theater just as 4DX intends. The air cannons in the seats were rarely used, even in scenes that could’ve been enhanced by them.

What may be the least used in-theater effect for 4DX overall is easily the snow effect. While no scenes in Ready Player One called for the effect to be used in its traditional sense, here it was used similarly to Blade Runner 2049 where paper scraps were simulated with the snow. Here it was sold even more than in Blade Runner 2049 thanks to the paper in the film looking so similar to the snow in the theater.

The water effects were used in nearly every scene even remotely featuring water, possibly to the point of becoming repetitive though still not the level of Kong or even Ghost in the Shell. But the water effects do get more of a pass than other effects since viewers can turn the water off if they desire. Ready Player One did see the water effects used to simulate blood but it was much less gruesome than how Kong or nearly any horror film has used this same effect, but that could also be thanks to the much less gruesome action on the screen.

Overall, Ready Player One, while not in the upper tier of 4DX films, due mostly the repetition of certain effects while little use of others is definitely in the top quarter of 4DX films. The use of certain effects, while possibly only once in the entire movie, still help place it just above many other films of a similar style, including A Wrinkle In Time.

Ready Player One is a must see movie for any film or pop culture buff, and it’s an excellent introduction to the power of the 4DX experience.

 

-Review Summary-

  • Use of 4DX Effects- 4 out of 4
  • Movie Overall- 4 out of 4

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March 10, 2018

4DX Review – A Wrinkle in Time

This is a *mostly* spoiler-free review of A Wrinkle in Time in 4DX format. This isn’t designed to a be a review of the movie as much is it’s a review of the 4DX experience for this movie.

A Wrinkle in Time is Disney’s latest big-budget fantasy film.  With beautiful visuals and a wholesome good versus evil storyline, the movie will surely be in regular rotation on television, but these visuals are best seen on the big screen.

The movie opens with a cloud filled flying scene where the fans are used, but the smoke that could’ve sold the scene was missing. This seemed to be a theme throughout the film. The wind, water, and motion seats were used perfectly, but many of the other effects felt like afterthoughts if thought of at all.

The rumble effect in the seats was used with the bass of the music similar to how Black Panther did, but unlike Black Panther here the score just didn’t have enough bass to warrant such an effect. By far the best use of an effect was the motion seats. Unlike many action films here the seats weren’t rough and didn’t really move with the motion on the screen, instead, here they were used to enhance the emotional draw of the story. In more sensitive scenes the seats would tilt inward, drawing you into the scene.

Similar to Tomorrowland, another sci-fi based big-budget Disney film, A Wrinkle in Time has many scenes with wide vistas of fields. The fans in the theater made these scenes even more convincing. The smoke effects were used but not nearly enough as they could’ve been. The leg ticklers were only used a few times, but where used they were timed just right for the scene. Big storm scenes and a volcano like a scene meant the strobe lights got well used, almost to an annoyance but with so few other effects being used it feels wrong complaining about an effect being used too often.

Despite this being a sci-fi film, the genre that usually allows 4DX to shine, here the effects just weren’t enough to put this film in the upper echelon of 4DX films. It falls in the middle, not in the lower category of films where the effects distract from the viewing experience, such as with Kong, but the lack of variety in the effects mixed with the generic use of what effects, where used, make A Wrinkle in Time a less than memorable 4DX experience.

The visuals are the best part so it might be best to skip the 4DX and instead just take in this film on the big screen like IMAX.

-Review Summary-

  • Use of 4DX Effects- 2 out of 4
  • Movie Overall- 3 out of 4

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February 22, 2018

4DX Review – Black Panther

This is a *mostly* spoiler-free review of Black Panther in 4DX format. This isn’t designed to a be a review of the movie as much is it’s a review of the 4DX experience for this movie.

Calling Black Panther a blockbuster is to downplay just how huge this movie is. Ushering in a new era for Marvel films it brings a unique African inspired sci-fi aesthetic that’s both refreshing and captivating. The film starts with some classic hip-hop music and here we experience the first of many unique ways to make the 4DX effects shine. The vibrations in the seats are set perfectly to the beat, making it seem like the bass is much higher than the volume was. This vibration to the beat continues with drums during a few key scenes. Having the chairs ‘bump’ to the music enhanced the music in ways that the no sound system alone can.

Another well-used effect was the leg ticklers. This effect, which is typically used as a scare tactic, was used during both crash scenes and ones where the character on the screen is sliding down a hill. The effect was timed perfectly and made much more sense in these scenes than in nearly any that I’ve experienced it in before.

With the film set in Africa, there were plenty of large vistas where the camera flew over fields, skylines, and mountains. With each of these, the fans were used. There were a few times where it felt unneeded since the vistas were on screen for such short amounts of time but those times can be easily overlooked since it was used just right so many other times.

After more than a dozen films viewed in the 4DX format Black Panther comes in a strong third for me, just behind Guardians of the Galaxy and Blade Runner 2049 (which are tied for first place for me). Black Panther comes in just above the live action Beauty and the Beast. One of the few effects lacking in Black Panther is scents, which Beauty and the Beast used so well, making this more of a tie between the two. The other effect not used in Black Panther is no snow effects, an odd choice since there are scenes that take place in snow-covered landscapes. The lack of these two effects, both of which could’ve been used in the film, are the only reason why this film isn’t tied for first place with Blade Runner 2049 and Guardians 2.

Smoke effects are used just once in the film and at a minimum in that scene. There were many other scenes where smoke could’ve enhanced the film, but it wasn’t.

Some effects, like the air cannons in the seats, where used in nearly every action scene but even in high use they held their power working to enhance the scenes exactly as intended. Other effects, like the water, were used in fewer scenes but still were perfect. A fight scene in the water, similar to one found in Ghost in the Shell, was enhanced with water effects but unlike Ghost in the Shell, which left viewers pretty wet (though nothing like the non-stop water effects found in Kong which made me feel like I was on a water ride), here the water was turned down but still kept the impact of the effect.

Overall, Black Panther was an incredible film enhanced perfectly by 4DX. It’s a great first introduction to 4DX, even though a few of the effects weren’t used. As I said in Maze Runner’s 4DX review, the experience “shines best in science fiction films,” and that proves true Black Panther more than nearly anything I’ve seen.

-Review Summary-

  • Use of 4DX Effects- 4 out of 4
  • Movie Overall- 4 out of 4

 

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January 29, 2018

4DX Review – Maze Runner: The Death Cure

This is a *mostly* spoiler-free review of Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 4DX format. This isn’t designed to a be a review of the movie as much is it’s a review of the 4DX experience for this movie.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure is the action-packed finale to the post-apocalyptic film franchise based on the young adult book series. 4DX shines best in science fiction films like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner, but Maze Runner seems to keep 4DX on a short leash, causing the film to shine but not the in-theater experience.

The opening sequence showed promise. The strobe lights used to accentuate the title reveal were a unique use of the effect but one that worked well. The strobe lights were used in other unique ways a few other times during the film.

With the film set in the desert and abandoned locales, it’s no surprise the fans were used for large amounts of the film. Numerous fight scenes used the air cannons, but their use in nearly every fight scene seemed to lessen the impact of their use. The same with the rumble effects in the seat. Of course, the seat themselves were strong in their use throughout the film. With everything from a bus to a train to dune buggies featured in the film, this is a great movie for the motion seats.

Without giving too much away, there was one scene where a bit of a surprise happens on screen. It was paired perfectly with the leg ticklers. Like the strobe lights at the beginning of the film, the use of the leg ticklers in this scene isn’t the typical use of this effect but was more than successful in its use here. One or two quick splashes of water did little more than remind viewers that the effect existed.

That, unfortunately, covers almost every single effect used in the nearly two-and-half-hour long movie. I noticed no scents, no snoap, no rain effects, no smoke, and the film was in 2D. Personally, I do prefer 2D for 4DX films but only because the 3D glasses get covered with the snoap and water. Without those effects having the film in 2D seems cheap. I understand that the film hasn’t been released in 3D, but that should mean the 4DX programmers have even more freedom in using effects like rain and snoap.

Even during action scenes where the screen was filled with smoke, the theater had none. Unlike other actions scenes that used snoap for more than just snow effects (like in Blade Runner 2049 where it was used to replicate thick smog particles) here, the effects just sat unused.

The effects used were timed perfectly and used in original ways, but with some few effects, the ones used felt old by Hour Two of the film. I see no reason why this film should pull those debating between seeing it in 4DX and DBox (which just has the motion seats) or even a traditional 2D screening. Wind effects and air cannons can only carry the experience for so long, and here they failed to carry it all the way to the final credits.

Overall, The Death Cure left many unanswered questions, but the one I have the most is why so many 4DX effects sat unused.

-Review Summary-

  • Use of 4DX Effects- 1 out of 4
  • Movie Overall- 2 out of 4

Also check out my 4DX review of Coco

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