4DX

Today I experienced for the first time watching a movie in a 4DX theater, Mall of Indonesia‘s Blitzmegaplex. I searched through Wikipedia, and it says the Jakarta-based Blitzmegaplex was the first to open a 4DX-capable theater in Indonesia in August 2013. The film I watched was X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The 4DX experience delivered all five environmental elements it had promised: motion, mist, light, scent, and wind on top of the audio and 3D video. The motion was fun yet soft. No need for a safety belt since it is not an attraction. It acts as an augment for the movie. Not only do seats vibrate, but there are also small holes on the chair near the head area to simulate, for example, bullets passing near your ears. The wind was good. There was quite a lot of action using the theater’s wind machine. The light was underutilized, only simulating lightning and other white flashes, or maybe it is only intended for lightning? I saw mist in the front and middle of the theater, but not on the back (I was sitting on the back). The scent was weird, there was supposed to be a burnt smell, but it came out somewhat sweet (perhaps not enough scent library? or malfunction?). Oh, and they also squirt out water once or twice during the show (it might be more with a water-intensive movie) to complete the whole experience.

Overall it was a unique cinema experience, though I would recommend choosing your film wisely to maximize the 4DX experience since ticket price is double (or nearly triple, during the weekend) to the regular show.