When entertainment technology goes wrong

A friend and I recently went to see Bohemian Rhapsody. Since neither of us had ever seen a film in 4DX, we decided to try it.

I won’t talk too much about the movie itself, because that topic is way too complicated to fit into a single blog post. Although you might try to imagine someone honoring Steven Spielberg by making a very entertaining movie that is also highly antisemitic.

But the 4DX. Ohhh, that 4DX. It was so amazingly wrongheaded, it was truly epic. Every time there was a camera move with a dutch angle — even on intimate interior shots — our chairs tilted and swooped as though we were being chased by ravenous velociraptors.

We came to dread any camera move on screen, because the bumping and rumbling and shaking would take the whole audience right out of the movie. Air would blow pffft into our faces any time somebody opened a door, and for long stretches it was nearly impossible to pay attention to what was happening on screen.

But the piece de resistance was a touching scene in the rain between Rami Malek and Lucy Boynton. The scene, taken on its own, is tragic and lovely, and is meant to relate a wonderfully intimate moment of quiet acceptance.

But it takes place in the rain, you see. So when the first squirt of water spritzed into our faces, we started to giggle. Then the water kept coming, and coming. Several times I had to wipe off my glasses just to be able to see the screen.

There were these two actors, emoting their heads off in a tender bittersweet moment, and the whole audience was getting drenched and laughing uncontrollably.

I feel bad for not just for the actors, but for everyone who worked on that movie before the 4DX people got their hands on the experience. Yet I have to admit that it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever experienced in a movie theater.

Even if the humor was entirely unintentional.

One thought on “When entertainment technology goes wrong”

  1. That’s hilarious. At first I thought you were making it up, but quickly discovered similar reviews of 4DX.

    The concession stand should get in on the action…by selling towels.

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