4D at Nu Metro, Waterfront, Cape Town

With pirating and improvements in home entertainment, movie houses really need to pull out all the stops to get us customers into their cinemas. With my Vitality movie card (half price discount) and my love for astros mixed in popcorn (don’t knock it till you tried it), it doesn’t take much to get me to the movies. But getting me to go to a Nu Metro movie where my Vitality discount doesn’t apply – that takes some work. Although I was excited to check out a 4D movie at Nu Metro at the V&A Waterfront, it still hurt a little when I had to part with R150 in hard earned cash.

Okay so we got our tickets and in typical fashion we ran late and I wasn’t able to take pics of the cinema (sob!!). Arriving in the dark, I almost tripped on the foot-rest of the seat. I hoisted myself into a very comfy chair, looked around and noticed I was under a huge aircon/fan thing. Good thing I came prepared with a jacket.

The sound was awesome and the screen appeared slightly curved and image crystal clear. I waited patiently to get past the adverts, my 3D glasses perched on top of my head. One ad showcased the cinemas capabilities – the seats vibrated and knocked us about, the giant fans blew gusts of air and the seat infront of me sprayed out some chemical smelling vapour (“gun shot” flavored I imagine!).

Everyone laughed excitedly at that point. It felt like being on a baby roller-coaster.

The movie finally started and I looked around at the other movie-goers and realised the movie was not in 3D! I just assumed it would be.

The seats moved in tune to what was happening onscreen. I especially liked the slow movements which  gave everything a surreal feeling.  In one scene, the actor was in a bumpy car ride and we were also thumped around as the car hit pot-holes!

Sometimes the movement didn’t seem to tie up with what was going on in the movie. It isn’t from the main characters perspective so you get knocked (moved around) by the good guy and the bad guy. Hold onto your drink!

There was also something lightly hitting my legs but luckily it wasn’t very hard. I’m not sure what that was supposed to signify. I’m also not sure of how well the smell/vapour thing worked. To me, it just smelled of chemicals. It might be different for different movies.

Anyway, one thing is for certain, this is a great option if you are in the habit of falling asleep in movies!!!

– Rif

Also have a look at channel24’s review on 4D & The Movies.co.za

Our review on Ster Kinekor’s cinema Prestige