I drove to Orlando for ‘Twisters’ in 4DX, and I’m still shook

ORLANDO — After hours battling Disney passholder traffic on I-4, I hustled into the theater moments before showtime. It’s not a good start, being out of breath at a 4DX movie.

My seat on the end of a cluster of four immediately started jostling violently during a preview. I felt an ominous aura as breakfast bubbled up.

Maybe those theme park fans in gridlock were the smart ones. How long is a simulator ride, five minutes? This screening of “Twisters” at Regal Waterford Lakes promised two hours in 4DX, a moviegoing experience that incorporates wind, fog, rain, scents, vibrations and other sensory, uh, delights. A drumbeat of social media posts have shown flying popcorn, flopping legs and people grasping their mouths in disbelief with emergent Einstein hair.

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Just getting a ticket was a challenge. Orlando was the closest theater to Tampa Bay that I could find a showing in 4DX, though local theaters do offer other specialty enhancements like RPX, IMAX and D-Box. As I attempted to buy a ticket from a theater a touch closer on International Drive, the show sold out. I finally secured one of the last seats for $22 at the location on Alafaya Trail.

The original “Twister” is an action classic and special to me; it was the first movie I ever saw alone with friends, parents dropping us off at the gate. At 13, watching Helen Hunt’s father get sucked out of the storm cellar was terrifying enough in a motionless seat. Now, I was eager to witness the sequel starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell in the boldest way possible. “Twisters” in 4DX raked in millions in its opening weekend, tapping into a zeitgeisty appetite for both experience and escapism.

I also wanted to understand how movable movies had improved over the years. In 2012, I had the chance to travel to Seoul, South Korea, where the movie chain CJ CGV piloted the technology. I saw “Underworld: Awakening” and do not remember anything other than a persistent punching of my butt every time Kate Beckinsale kicked. It is human nature to remember bad things, yes, and it is my opinion that being punched in the butt for 88 minutes is bad.

Would things be better, rear-wise, in Orlando? We set off on a cinematic journey through the Oklahoma plains following a team of wide-eyed storm chasers overseeing an experiment gone wrong. As a tornado whipped itself into a frenzy, our seats lurched forward and sideways, rumbling below while whips of wind blew our faces and ankles. Mercifully, there was not much in the way of butt punching, replaced by the mild shoulder ribbing one might find in a nail salon chair. The herking and jerking, though, went on and on. It seemed I, too, would be sucked into a villainous funnel cloud before finally resting for eternity in the sweet release of death! Please! Death!

It stopped. Everyone in the theater gasped. Then they all laughed the kind of laugh that pours out when the senses are sensing too hard.

And here’s when I really started to enjoy the show. The motion pared back, immersion emerging in moderation. Sudden movements became more fun and thrilling versus horrifically long. A mist of water crept in during rainy scenes (you can turn this feature off on your chair). I expected to get more soaked, but it was akin to standing near a wayward sprinkler. As far as odors, I didn’t catch any other than the smell of my intermittent fear.

The final action scene was the rowdiest of all, so powerful my phone and notebook flew out of my tote bag onto the floor, landing near someone else’s floor phone. When it was all over, the audience gathered belongings and stumbled into the light, united in the secondhand embarrassment of being voluntarily shaken like a cocktail. My Apple Watch had logged five minutes of exercise.

Movies in 4DX are a gimmick, yes. I can’t imagine springing for 4DX for, say, that upcoming film in which Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci try to pick a new Pope. But for a big, bursting action movie once a year? A gimmick might be just the trick.

I walked out behind 10-year-old Megan Bolden. Her family drove in from Sanford in search of 4DX. The movie was 10 out of 10, she said. But…

“I wanted it to be bumpier.”

Some of us are just stronger than others.

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