There has been a lot of talk in recent years about how the movie theater experience fits in with the age of at-home streaming. With options like Amazon and Netflix now offering Oscar-quality films, something has to change at theaters to get butts in seats.
On a recent theater excursion, I saw an advertisement that caught my eye. It promised an all-new theater experience in something it dubbed “4DX.”
4DX is movie theater technology that began appearing in various theaters around the world in 2014. Designed by South Korean company CJ 4DPLEX, 4DX promises an immersive moviegoing experience that, on paper, looks to be the answer to the movie theater industry’s prayers.
For the price of roughly $25 per ticket, a 4DX theater features moving seats, simulated wind, sprays of water, flashing lights throughout the theater, and even smells to go along with the images on-screen.
That last one should have given me more pause than it initially did.
Being a sucker for bright and shiny new things, I decided to give the 4DX experience a go. With the release of “Captain Marvel,” I saw my opportunity.
Oh, how young and foolish I was.
Along for the ride
Whereas most movie seats are your standard seat back, seat and optional reclining leg-rests affair, a 4DX seat looks more like a roller coaster seat without the accompanying seat belts or safety bars. I came to call this mechanical beast “the chaircoaster.”
‘Comfortable’ is not a word I would use to describe the chaircoaster. Stiff, awkward, a little lumpy, and unforgiving to the unprepared. More on that later.
The armrest featured two buttons which offered me the options “Turn Water ON” or “Turn Water OFF”. The idea of getting water sprayed in my face sounded a little obnoxious, but I had paid $25 for this experience and I was determined to get all of it. I now know I should have gone with my gut on that. Getting water sprayed in your face is annoying. I am a movie goer, not a cat on a kitchen counter.
It isn’t much more than a mist, but it is enough to be a nuisance if you’re caught off-guard.
There is a pre-movie, high-octane short film clearly created as a kind of teaser for the experience I was about to have. During the course of this film, I was subjected to a series of jabs, shakes, rough jostles from the chaircoaster and spritzes of water that managed to tag me right in my 3D glasses. The kaleidoscope effect this created, accompanied by the constant rocking of my seat, made me glad I hadn’t eaten a big lunch.
I learned quickly that there was very much a right and wrong way to sit in the chaircoaster. Too far forward and you’re setting yourself up for a direct hit from the water misters, too far back and the shaking of the seat becomes intolerable.
Mercifully, the short film comes to an end and I’m able to relax for a minute. Buyer’s remorse begins to fill my still-spinning head.
The movie began with me on the edge of my seat for entirely the wrong reason.
For those who may not know, “Captain Marvel” is a superhero movie by Marvel Studios. Starring Brie Larson as the titular character, it’s part origin story, part 90s nostalgia trip that is designed to introduce Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Check out WTOP Entertainment Editor Jason Fraley’s review for more on the movie itself.
The first act unfolds and I’m beginning to get settled in to my new environment. Call it Stockholm syndrome, call it the sunk-cost fallacy, but there were a few moments where I was genuinely impressed by what the technology offered.
At one point, Brie Larson and Co. go on a black ops mission into enemy territory to recover a spy. As they sky-dive to the planet’s surface, a strong gust of wind blows through the theater. Hats off to the designers of that thing, because that feature is actually great.
Unfortunately, the largest drawback of the 4DX setup began to make itself apparent at this point.
The actions of the seats are not 1:1 reflections of the action taking place on screen. According to CJ 4DPLEX, the movie’s production company is in charge of programming the 4DX experience. Based on my experience, I get the feeling that this may not be top-priority for these production companies.
As Jude Law and Brie Larson duke it out early in the movie, I can only guess what impressive moves the fight choreographer cooked up, as my head keeps getting jerked in random directions. There is also something in the back of the chair that has been perfectly programmed to deliver a blow to your kidneys at random intervals.
However, the top honor for the most immersion-breaking part of my whole experience hands down goes to the scent.
As I mentioned up top, one of the features advertised in this torture chamber masquerading as a movie theater is an array of smells that accompany the movie. In my case, it was “smell”. Singular. AKA, ‘The Scent.’
I had to check the company’s information page to see what this particular feature is supposed to offer, because I got the feeling that mine was either not programmed correctly or was malfunctioning. Sure enough, there are supposed to be a multitude of smells including coffee, smoke, burned rubber, flowers and more.
But I got stuck with ‘The Scent.’ It smelled vaguely of lavender, but in a way that called to mind off-brand car fresheners and college dorms on parents’ weekend more than it did fields of lush purple flowers.
While it was the only smell present, it seemed determined to work overtime to make up for it in pretty much every other scene of the movie regardless of whether the scene called for it.
I wondered if ‘The Scent’ was going to cling to my clothes when I left the show, marking me to every passer-by as a dupe who paid too much to get shaken about by a mechanical monster, sprayed down with water and blasted by little jets of compressed air.
The climax of the movie arrived at last and I realized I actually was more invested in this movie than in others in recent memory. But more so because I needed to be ready for when my chaircoaster sprung to life once more and attempted to unseat me, than an actual emotional investment brought on by the 4DX features.
I wanted to enjoy this experience. I like going to the movies and I like seeing some innovation brought to traditional cinema at long last. Maybe if the 4DX package was dialed back several notches this could actually be pretty fantastic. Walking out of the theater, I felt like I just survived several rounds with a mechanical bull. which was not what I signed up for.
For all of my grumblings, 4DX seems to be thriving for now. CJ 4DPLEX recently cut a deal with Warner Bros. for at least six more films.
As it is, I’ve spent less time telling people about my thoughts on “Captain Marvel” as a film — I enjoyed it well enough, by the way — than I have spent warning them of the perils of this bizarre new technology.
