Early in the original 鈥淛urassic Park,鈥 a group of theme-park visitors sit down in a state-of-the-art auditorium for a video presentation about the science of DNA and cloning. They鈥檙e having a good enough time until their built-in lap bars descend with a clank, turning them suddenly into a captive 鈥 and struggling 鈥 audience.
It鈥檚 a sight gag with a purpose: at a moment when critics and commentators were carping (not incorrectly) that Hollywood blockbusters were being reverse-engineered as roller coasters 鈥 all the better to connect to the branded theme-park attractions bearing their names 鈥 Steven Spielberg鈥檚 film neatly summarized (and satirized) the pop-cultural zeitgeist.
鈥淛urassic Park鈥 wasn鈥檛 a symptom of the problem so much as a diagnosis. This parable of a luxuriously subsidized corporate spectacle gone off the rails 鈥 with potential consumers reduced to hors d鈥檕euvres 鈥 played slyly (and excitingly) as allegory. It had its dinosaur-sized spectacle and devoured it, too.
Inevitably, I was thinking about 鈥淛urassic Park,鈥 and my first time seeing it at the York Theatre in 色色啦 in the summer of 1993, when I recently took in a matinee of 鈥淛urassic World Rebirth.鈥 This was partially because Gareth Edwards鈥檚 film 鈥 a legacy sequel set in a post-Spielbergian world where audiences have gotten bored with dinosaurs due to their overexposure聽鈥斅爐ries to mimic the original pretty much beat for beat, with a few direct visual homages: a banner unfurling majestically above a T-Rex skeleton; a rearview mirror whose legend reads 鈥淥bjects in mirror are closer than they appear.鈥
Mostly, though, I was remembering how seeing “Jurassic Park” as a teenager felt like a genuinely weightless experience. I exited the screening hovering about a foot off the ground. My viewing of 鈥淛urassic World Rebirth鈥 in 4DX, however, merely made me feel trapped. 4DX is a high-tech, high-priced 3-D presentation featuring a moving seat that can bump and turn in sync with the onscreen action as well as offering other physical effects. For $24.99 鈥 the city’s most expensive movie ticket that doesn’t include dinner service 鈥 you can imagine yourself as Sam Neill鈥檚 Dr. Alan Grant, who eventually slips his restraints and makes a break for it.
To quote Richard Attenborough鈥檚 billionaire dinosaur impresario John Hammond, 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like a ride.鈥
In 4DX, viewers can experience the humidity that Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson feel in “Jurassic World Rebirth.”聽
Universal Pictures/Zuma Press/TNSThe idea of fully experiential filmgoing 鈥 erasing the boundaries between the screen and audience 鈥 is not new, and neither are the aspirations and anxieties underlying it. The likely apocryphal story of the Parisian filmgoers who scattered during the initial projection of 鈥淟鈥橝rrivee d鈥檜n train en gare de La Ciotat鈥 in 1896, supposedly out of fear that the train approaching the camera might somehow push through and steamroll them, neatly symbolizes our collective desire to be overwhelmed, and anticipates a long history of presentational gimmicks designed to emphasize the power of the theatrical space 鈥 often as a lure away from home entertainment.
It鈥檚 not a coincidence, for instance, that 3-D was originally developed and popularized in the 1950s, when studios were sweating the potential for TV to cut into their revenue streams. The format鈥檚 re-emergence in the 21st century peaked with the release of James Cameron鈥檚 鈥淎vatar鈥 鈥 a film that used the technology brilliantly to bring viewers into the screen, not make them duck. Its continued prevalence speaks simultaneously to a refinement of the format and broader expectations for immersive entertainment聽鈥 i.e., virtual-reality gaming headsets like the Oculus Rift, which effectively fulfilled the (Marshall) McLuhanist prophecy of David Cronenberg鈥檚 鈥淰ideodrome.鈥
鈥淛urassic World Rebirth鈥 was made with 4DX in mind: Edwards is a shrewd, technocratic filmmaker, and can be seen on Instagram cheerfully exhorting audiences to go to enhanced screenings wherever possible (not only in 4DX but also ScreenX, which extends the image across three massive panels into a 270-degree panorama). The film鈥檚 remarkable box-office success 鈥 despite middling reviews and the franchise law of diminishing returns 鈥 can be partially contextualized by its makers鈥 embrace of these technologies.
The 4DX experience includes moving chairs and special immersive effects like wind, mist and scent matching the on-screen action.聽
Cineplex鈥淩ebirth鈥 opened on nearly 70 4DX screens across North America, setting an opening-weekend record for multi-sensory formats with more than $4 million; factor in ScreenX tickets and that number climbs to nearly $7 million.
Despite going to movies for a living 鈥 and spending plenty of time at the theatre beyond working hours 鈥 I鈥檇 never actually seen a 4DX screening. So I was looking forward to the experience, certainly more than I was looking forward to the movie, which a trusted friend had described to me via text as an endurance test.
Owing to a broken escalator at the Yonge-Dundas Cineplex (speaking of endurance tests), I scurried into 鈥淩ebirth鈥 a couple of minutes late, which meant I missed the warning about potential hazards to my health (a slightly ominous list of guidelines, including a plea to forgo hot coffee). While rushing to my seat, I forgot to procure a pair of 3-D glasses.
By the time I returned to the auditorium, my reclining chair was already rocking slowly back and forth, as the camera crept across the floor of a secret, island-based facility, where 鈥 spoiler alert 鈥 genetically mutated dinosaurs were being kept behind ostensibly unbreakable glass for surveillance and study. Meanwhile, the first image that I was able to register clearly through my tinted lenses was that of a Snickers wrapper blowing ominously across the floor, clogging the facility鈥檚 security system so that its most dangerous resident 鈥 the grotesque (and completely fictional) Distortus Rex 鈥 can break out.
It鈥檚 possible that Edwards intended this bit of product placement as a wry nod to Spielberg, whose use of Reese鈥檚 Pieces in 鈥淓.T.鈥 serves as a primal scene for the practice of in-film advertisements. There鈥檚 also a running joke in 鈥淩ebirth鈥 involving one character鈥檚 fondness for Altoids, which earned a laugh from the people in the row behind me when the onscreen chomping melded with the sound of one of them crunching their own candy.
I had been curious about the effect of the 4DX setup on theatre etiquette, but rather than leading to a rowdier crowd, the relentless whooshing of seats and spritzing of water 鈥 lots of spritzing, given how many scenes are set either on the ocean or in sweaty, hothouse rainforests 鈥 seemed to keep viewers more focused on the action.
Not every cue worked perfectly: when the heroes stumbled upon the massive corpse of a hapless herbivore (a warning sign, naturally, that an apex predator was still in the vicinity), I could detect some kind of scent wafting through the air, but it smelled more like peanut butter than rotting flesh 鈥 though maybe that鈥檚 not such a bad thing.
In truth, I don鈥檛 know what kind of physical effects could truly enhance a movie as dully predictable as 鈥淛urassic World Rebirth,鈥 or if I鈥檇 have thought more of the format had I gone to see, say, 鈥淔1,鈥 which cries out for full-bodied, hairpin turns and humming wind machines. It鈥檚 also fun to think about the potential of 4DX for screenings of classic or art-house movies, like 鈥淧sycho,鈥 maybe, with spraying jets during the shower scene, or “Tampopo” 鈥 two hours of hot, spicy noodle smells, plus a discount code for a ramen restaurant.
As I left the theatre, with snatches of John Williams鈥檚 score running through my head, I thought about a line from Spielberg鈥檚 film that seemed to sum up my 4DX experience. 鈥淕od help us,鈥 sighs Jeff Goldblum鈥檚 chaos-theoretician Ian Malcolm when he realizes what he鈥檚 signed up for by attending Jurassic Park. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in the hands of engineers.鈥
And then I thought of another one, from the same character: 鈥淵our scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn鈥檛 stop to think if they should.鈥
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation