After F1 Promised A Fine Tuned 4DX Motion Experience, I Need More Blockbusters To Learn From How It Delivered

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2 days ago

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Dear readers, now is definitely the moment to start you engines. The 2025 movie schedule saw F1's impressive opening box office mark the start of another hit at the movies. But what's more important is the fact that director/co-writer Joseph Kosinski and his team have landed an even greater victory: they marketed and delivered one of the most artistic 4DX-periences on the market.
I'm not going to waste any more time, because this premium format joy ride may very well be off the market before I finish raving about it. But if you need a little more selling, or if you want to know what you missed with F1's 4DX variant, then this is the place to be. Let's drop the green flag and get to it, shall we?
I know a director's job is to hype up the very movie they've spent years producing, so it's no surprise that Joseph Kosinski is stumping for F1's premium format showings. The Top Gun: Maverick mastermind has been filming with smaller IMAX cameras, giving us some pretty amazing views of action most people never get to witness in their lives. But with 4DX, even he seems surprised by how amazing the results are, as you'll see in this promo video:
Whenever someone tells me something is 'finely tuned' in any capacity, I need to put that claim to the test. So heading into my F1 showing in 4DX, I was ready to see if this was all smoke and no fire; and it led to another example of a moment where I love to see my inner cynic proven so soundly wrong.
4DX Motion Seating Has A New Gold Standard, Thanks To F1
Quite possibly the lowest bar for a 4DX movie to cross is whether or not its motion seating is worth its hydraulics. But after F1's wild 4DX trailer, the racetrack in question became even more of a daunting task to live up to. Even in those early looks at what the motion seating was promising, I consistently saw audiences being wowed by how rough the ride got when that format enhanced sizzle reel would shift into gear.
Unlike How to Train Your Dragon's 3D/4DX version, the hype in the trailer was only the beginning, as F1 really took advantage of motion seating in a way I'd never felt before. Yes, it got rough, but there was a precisely dialed level of action at all times. Revisiting the traumatic early wreck in the career of driver/mentor Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), we get thrown around, but never truly hit the wall like he does.
That shock is saved for later, when other moments of peril see him and young upstart Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) racing for their legacies; and it's just a small example of how dialed in the seats are on F1. Different vehicle types, track conditions, and even engine condition are all taken into account - and no two experiences are alike.
Seat-mounted water canons, as well as ceiling-mounted sprinklers all help sell 4DX sensations like rain, or other phenomenon. Lately, it has felt like this effect isn't as popular with filmmakers working with this format, although Jurassic World Rebirth's upcoming release looks like it'll change that. I'm going to be observing those effects rather keenly after F1, thanks to the moments that did use moisture based storytelling were absolute stand outs.
Two separate races see rainy conditions befall Sonny and Joshua's team, and that's the first time we really get to feel the water on ourselves. Employing the ceiling based fan systems to help further sell the illusion, the seat mounted units weren't really used - and that's with purpose.
Although the best 4DX water effect is used at the end, which is going to require spoilers for F1. I'll save those for the storytelling section below, so you have time to punch out and read our F1 review when those plot details start to pour in.
With a hard driving story that needs to feel adrenaline packed, F1 is going to naturally cut quickly between segments of action on the track and in the pit. Visually that's no problem, but with a room full of moving chairs and sensory effects that need to be in tune with the picture on the screen, that could be a problem.
It's not even a concern in the slightest when it comes to F1, as the movie's flow isn't interrupted at all by the motion, or any other aspect of the picture's 4DX package. That's saying something, as I don't think Joseph Kosinski, or anyone who's used this format so far, shoot with this version prominently in mind. If there was ever a time the conversion team deserved a round of applause, besides Sinners' insanely fun 4DX romp, this would be it.
Ok, so as promised there's going to be spoilers for F1's ending from this point on. But the final race is, quite possibly, reference quality 4DX work that shows the powers of this format at its height. I say that because the finely tuned degree of this presentation actually help enhance the story of this movie in a way that I'm almost afraid to watch it in any other format. (Except for IMAX, of course, as the film was shot with that presentation in mind.)
When Sonny Hayes wins the final race in Abu Dhabi, we actually feel the champagne he and the APX GP team are being showered with. That isn't the first time we see a team getting that treatment, but it is the first time our characters feel it - and saving this card in the deck for the grand finale was so superb it hammered home some of the lessons 28 Years Later's 4DX presentation had left me with.
Even more impressive is the fact that the final lap of Sonny's victorious showing in Abu Dhabi achieves the exact feeling APXGP team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) sells with his dialogue. He tells us that Sonny is flying, and the care put into that feast of a moment feels as angelic as it sounds; a contrast from all of the struggles shown before.
This is the third blockbuster this summer where I've felt bad about seeming to have turned my back on my premium format roots in IMAX. And again, F1 has made such a deal of actually shooting in the large format's language that I feel like I owe it another go to enjoy that version's delights separately. But after seeing this, Sinners, and especially Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning's 4DX variant, I think it's time these two giants meet to put their heads together.
I know there's an Ultra4DX format that seems to be dawning upon us, where ScreenX and 4DX are merged into what feels like one crazy intense ride. But that being said, I've heard that ScreenX really isn't all it's cracked up to be with its extension of the picture, as those other side screens are simply stock imagery themed after the movie in question.
If we're really going to play with power here, I think we need to put the best of the best together in the ultimate format. IMAX and 4DX need to partner together and give us something reminiscent of those theme park motion simulators we all know and love from the past. Except this would be at a participating theater near you, showing movies like F1 in all of their glory.
For now, all I'll say is if you're reading this before the release of Jurassic World Rebirth, you need to go see F1 in 4DX. And if you're reading this after the fact, then perhaps this Labor Day could see the picture brought back in all of its splendor. It worked for Twisters' 4DX revival last year, and this is a prime candidate for the same sort of treatment in 2025.