I’ve been to the cinema.

IN FORE DEE EXXXX!

Unfortunately it was to watch SHAZAM! which might not have been the best film in 4DX.

I thought the 4DX was alright - the best way I can explain it is like those rides you get at Alton Towers, MGM studios and what-not where you sit in a big machine and it tilts and shudders and stuff. But you get some extras like - a massage chair (which feels like someone is kicking the back of your chair), blasts of air either side of your head, the back of your legs and a fan in front of you, a smoke machine under the screen, 3D (obv), and a blast of misty water. There’s smells as well but I couldn’t smell anything so it might not have been used for SHAZAM! Oh and some crazy fucking flood light things that blinded you to simulate lightning. Those were cool as fuck (although overused for SHAZAM! since lightning happens all the sodding time).

I came out and spoke to some bloke who had been a few times. He said the best type of films he’d seen in 4DX were the Star Wars films which makes sense I guess.

The weird thing was that I couldn’t fathom what part of the cinema experience the moving chair was. Sometimes it was part of the camera as it slowly panned about which felt really great as your chair is tracking with the camera going up and down and stuff. But at other times it was kicking me in the back as the villain was punching SHAZAM!; other times it was SHAZAM! as he was punching the villain. Rather than being part of the experience at times it felt disconnected.

The film was alright though. It felt like the Bumblebee film - the boy learning his powers stuff was good and then towards the end as it becomes about SHAZAM! SHAZAMMING! it got much less interesting. Most concerning though was that the boy actor was much more interesting and a better actor than the bloke who plays SHAZAM! I suppose the bloke has a tough time following up Tom Hanks in Big from fuck knows when and I don’t think he did a great job pulling out the emotions and mannerisms of the child actor into his superhero form. The difficulty I guess is that the child actor gets much more time on screen than Hanks child form so it becomes more noticeable when he’s just playing ‘a child’ as a superhero rather than ‘this child’.

It’s pretty funny in parts though but labours some jokes and has to explain them to the audience (there’s one really great moment near the end where SHAZAM! and the villain face off in a typical Superman style but it’s breaks the trope cause they can’t hear each other. It’s initially hilarious but then it goes on too long as the joke is explained in detail as if the audience hasn’t already fathomed what is going on). But equally it’s not laugh out loud hilarious and only about 50% of the lines actually land. The cinematography is alright but for a superhero that wears a bright red and yellow costume the colour palette is still quite muted. It’s better than DC’s more recent output, mind, but with Aquaman, Batman v Superman and Justice League being universally fucking dreadful it doesn’t take much to elevate itself above that garbage pile.

4DX: 6/10 but it was the wrong film. I would see, say, an Avatar or something in 4DX again.
SHAZAM: 5/10

Heres a 4DX info panel.