I recently got to see the Captain America / Avengers marathon, 5 movies in a row. The last movie was the newest, Captain America Civil War, which they were supposed to show in 2D but we ended up seeing the 3D version. After being in the movies all day I would have preferred the 2D version, but since my boyfriend couldn’t come to the marathon I knew I would have to see it again.

We decided to see it in 2D as I felt the 3D did not help the film at all, there was nothing coming off the screen, like Cap’s shield should have, or maybe Spider-Man’s webbing, so I felt it was an unnecessary extra. So we saw the 2D version and she loved it, and I even enjoyed it a second time, which is rare for me, ............ I don’t see movies a second time very often.

It was around this time that I heard about the details of 4DX, from Kevin Smith’s youtube video review of Civil war. He mentioned how the seats moved, the smells and the rain and other things. It sounded interesting so I read up on it and mentioned it to the boyfriend. She????? felt like the next X-Men was probably going to come out like that, and she wanted to go. As much as I wanted to experience this at least once, I felt like we should see Civil War in the format, as we both know the movie, and can focus on the experience, rather than the plot.

In NYC we now have 2 4DX theaters, one in Union Square and one in Times Square. I had previously been to an AMC Prime showing of a movie, which has special seats and speakers installed that make everything shake, but this was a whole new realm. We got to the theater at about starting time, and I went to use the bathroom before the movie. When I got back in, they were showing the intro letting people know about the 4DX thing. The seats were rocking back and forth, violently. I had to scoot in to my seat, and going past the seats while they were doing that was a bit dangerous. I waited until a lull in the movement, and jumped in my seat. The next bit was a roller coaster simulation with popcorn popping on the sides. This was animated. When the popcorn popped, it shot air on the back of your neck and it smelled like popcorn. After this we were treated to previews.

The previews were the regular ones, or 3D ones, there were no preview that included any 4DX effects. Even though we were shown the X-Men trailer, it was just your standard 3D trailer.

Now the movie started. Since I had seen this movie 2 previous times, I was well aware of when things would get shaky, so I was prepared. During fight scenes, these seat literally were jumping like the bed in The Exorcist with Linda Blair tied to it (old school reference, look if up if you need to). I noticed different smells on occasion like a foul smell during the gassing scene early on in the movie, and a coffee smell, plus some gunfire smells as well. The smell portion was not intense, but my sense of smell is not great so that could have affected it. My girlfriend who has a much better sense of smell didn’t seem to smell as much as I did, so it also may not have been a factor.

When there were gunshots, and there were a lot, the air kept hitting the back of your neck like a shot. It could be a bit distracting at times, but not too annoying.

Anytime there was a scene with movement, the chair tended to follow the camera direction, or the movement of the vehicle or person. The more mild movements were interesting, the more it moved the less it had a positive effect, for me anyways.

One really nice feature was wind. If you are watching a scene and the wind is blowing from left to right on the screen, you feel it in your seat. That felt impressive. The same for rain as well, there are nozzles on the seats in front of you and they basically rain on you when there is rain on the screen. My boyfriend complained about rain on her 3D glasses, but I did not have that issue. The rain mostly fell on my head, so they must shoot it in an arc so it lands on you like rain. You can turn off the water settings if you like, but that is the only adjustments you can make.

Another aspect of the seat movements were very particular. If a character fell or was thrown on his back, or there was a car accident, there is a panel your back is resting on that pushes out, basically like you getting hit in the back. This can be annoying, and slightly painful, so I was not a fan of this feature. My back is a bit sore today, no doubt from the seat, and my boyfriend felt that same way.

The only other effect they had in this movie was a strobe light effect which is done with real lights in the theater. It only happened a couple times, and I thought it was a bit jolting, kinda took you out of the movie since you see the lights on the wall. Maybe it would work with other movies, but I didn’t find it impressive.

CHEAT

Last edited by teacherovi (2018-03-19 10:40:43)