@eggrollko
As long as movies have existed, people have experimented with different ways of enhancing the viewing experience. When done well, those experiments, such as 3D and IMAX, have added dimensions to movies that have helped to create an even more immersive experience for viewers, while failed attempts have at best seemed superfluous and at worst been an actualy detriment to the movies themselves.
One of the more recent experiments to have made its way into the U.S. is ScreenX, where the movie is projected onto the side walls, creating a 270 degree viewing experience. I had the opportunity to experience Ant-Man and The Wasp this way…
While I was there to watch Ant-Man and The Wasp — and you can read Ryan Ford’s o.g. review here — I was actually introduced to the viewing experience through a short film that served as the ScreenX brand trailer that played right before the movie. I was left speechless. The trailer made use of the three screens to pull the viewer in whichever direction the movie was headed. It made me feel like I was actually diving straight into the world and created an experience that felt more immersive than almost any 3D movie I’d ever seen. The only drawback was that this format caused me a slight amount of dizziness and I don’t normally get affected by motion this way, so I can only imagine how difficult it must be for people who get motion
sickness.
That aside, the experience left my thoroughly excited to see how this would be incorporated into Ant-Man and The Wasp. Given the size-changing nature of their powers, this movie would seem to be a great fit for this format, yet by the end I felt rather underwhelmed. The problem wasn’t the ScreenX format; it’s that AMaTW doesn’t really utilize the format for much of the movie. There are a few scenes, specifically a car chase sequence and the Quantum Realm, which are enhanced by the format and are really great (imagine a way better version of seeing this than IMAX)’ but otherwise they just feel awkward, especially when you see people appear to turn a corner when they’re obviously supposed to be walking straight off screen.
As awkward as that is though, this movie is almost worth watching in ScreenX for the Quantum Realm alone, as the three screens make it feel like you’re diving right in to this foreign world right alongside the characters. That scene along with the aforementioned trailer show that there’s great potential for an amazing and unique experience in ScreenX if a movie is willing to take full advantage of it. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t do so, though the experience is certainly enhanced the few times it does. 2.75/5 270° Bibles.
-Kevin Palma