Will Smith in 4D

For about a year now the cinema next to my apartment has offered something called “MX4D” which promises additional light effects, scents, light water sprays, rocking chairs etc.. I was surprised to learn, that MX4D wasn’t an IMAX product but developed by MediaMation. Tickets for movies being shown in that one room where they have MX4D are quite expensive at EUR 18.90 (!) not including drinks and snacks. That’s basically the price of a just-released Bluray for a single ticket.

Due to that high price (and me not particularly liking 3D effects in movies anyway) I’ve not been to any of these showings yet; until yesterday. A couple of days ago, Gemini Man with Will Smith was released and a couple of friends and I thought it might be nice to see. Due to time-constraints the only show available was the MX4D one and so we decided to swallow that particular pill and give it a try.

Gemini Man

First let me write a little bit about the movie, though. Will Smith plays an aging black-ops assassin (in the movie they even use the actors actual age (!)) for the DIA that all of a sudden is being hunted by someone looking remarkably like himself but 25 years younger. That’s pretty much it. Outside of that detail the plot feels extremely generic and predictable. That being said, the visuals and action sequences are extremely well done, and the acting by everyone but especially Will Smith is excellent. It’s a nice action movie without any particular depth or drama, yet very entertaining.

On a local radio station, Gemini Man received 7 out of 10 points, something that I can completely get behind. Without Will Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead it would have been a completely different story, though.

MX4D

OK, and now on to the tech:

• The 3D was good, albeit only in the close-up scenes. In scenes where the focus object was far away or it was just a landscape scene the picture was extremely blurry.
• The sound was also good, but nothing more. Personally, I prefer the sound in IMAX rooms.
• In a handful of scenes certain scents were injected. Actually, that would put it to favorably. In 3 scenes the smells of an undefined alcoholic drink and flowers was injected. Both should have been pleasant in the contect of the respective scenes but were not.
• The shaking chairs were actually great! There are small shockers embedded into the seat and the back that are activated during combat scenes and add to the experience. During a motor bike chase the seats also leaned in the proper directions in order to emulate going around corners with the protagonist.
• There were also a couple of compressed air nozzles close to my legs and neck, which were activated in firefights, giving me the feeling of something missing my head just by a few centimeters.

In total, I liked the experience. In most situations it added a little to the atmosphere. Out of all the effects, only the smells were really bad and were far too distracting.

Is all that worth additional ~ EUR 10? Definitely not! If you have the chance (and like Will Smith movies), watch this movie in 3D, though. There are some good 3D-moments in the movie.