BFI London Imax Cinema (London)

I'd heard people talking about the iMax long before I ever went there and long before I ever really knew what it even was. I knew it was some kind of cinema and friends used to speak of it in such revered tones that I guessed it was a special cinema, but I never understood what was different about it. So when I was offered the chance to see a film there, I grabbed at it, as much out of curiosity about the venue as a desire to see the film.
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...Thames, very close to the London Eye and Waterloo Station, the iMax would be a far more eye-catching building if it were either bigger or not surrounded by so many other landmarks. You can see it from the top of the stairs when you exit Waterloo Station as a large, brightly lit up circular building with "360" written all over it.

The size of the building is even more impressive, once you get closer and realise that it's set ... more

I'd heard people talking about the iMax long before I ever went there and long before I ever really knew what it even was. I knew it was some kind of cinema and friends used to speak of it in such revered tones that I guessed it was a special cinema, but I never understood what was different about it. So when I was offered the chance to see a film there, I grabbed at it, as much out of curiosity about the venue as a desire to see the film.

Situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, very close to the London Eye and Waterloo Station, the iMax would be a far more eye-catching building if it were either bigger or not surrounded by so many other landmarks. You can see it from the top of the stairs when you exit Waterloo Station as a large, brightly lit up circular building with "360" written all over it.

The size of the building is even more impressive, once you get closer and realise that it's set below ground level in the middle of a roundabout. Getting to the building on foot is easy, if you follow the signs from Waterloo Station. If, however, you wander around the South Bank and rely on just walking in the right general direction, it's not so easy. I ended up approaching from the roundabout, only to discover that there was no obvious route to the entrance. It was only by walking around the building that I chanced upon one of the subways, which lead to the entrance level. If your main means of transportation is by car, however, that it not recommended as there is no obvious parking nearby and even the website doesn't give any suggestions of how to get there by driving, only by bus and train or underground.

Despite being in the middle of a large and busy roundabout, the below ground location does make the area seem a little secluded. Even more so when you consider that the easiest access is by subways that are used by the homeless for sleeping. I didn't see any CCTV cameras in the area, although I wasn't looking, but both the building itself and the subways are brightly lit and it would be a busy area when the cinema is ending a show or soon before one starts.

Once you get into the iMax, the entry area is surprisingly compact for the size of the cinema. Admittedly, with only a single screen there are unlikely to be as many people milling around at once as at your local cinema, but even so, any significant queue for tickets is going to have an impact on accessibility, especially for the disabled. I think that the circular shape of the building hasn't helped, but neither has putting the ticket office more or less centrally in the ground floor. This means that to go anywhere, you have to work around the ticket booth and, standing just inside the lobby, there are no obvious signs to tell you that the toilets, a bar and café are hidden away just out of sight. Although I can't comment on the quality of the food and drink, prices do seem to be equivalent to those you would find in any Central London cinema, which makes them on the expensive side.

When the film is about to start, getting up the stairs is actually slightly easier than going anywhere else. Although you still have to squeeze between the queue and the ticket office, the staircase is wide enough to take lots of people heading up it at once. Thinking about it, though, this could be because they can't all get to the staircase at once, being caught up in the melee attempting to reach it in the first place.

Sadly, the upstairs area that leads into the screen itself isn't designed much better. The traditional cinema snacks are for sale off to one side, but if people gather in that area, they could easily overspill and block the route between the entrance to the room and the entrance to the screen. The snack bar was again standard for a London cinema, with the service being relatively quick, the prices just a step away from being extortionate and the range being the same as at any local chain owned cinema.

The entrance to the screen opens into the very front of the cinema, so that the first thing you see when you enter is the huge screen towering above you. The screen is supposedly 20 metres high and 26 metres wide, although it's difficult to confirm this, as standing so close to the screen removes all sense of scale. All you know for sure with it rising in front of you is that it's a huge screen, far bigger than anything at your local cinema.

The steps up into the seating area are plentiful and the seating is quite steep, to ensure that everyone has a clear view to the screen. The seats are, once again, very much the same as those in a local cinema, with a cup holder too small to safely hold the largest drink they sell and seats that are next to impossible for someone of my height (just under six feet tall) to sit comfortably in for in excess of two hours. I would imagine that the best seats, in terms of the view, would be somewhere in the middle of the cinema, but our seats were over to one side and only about a third of the way back and the view to the screen was unobstructed and both sound and vision were clear. The only thing that would really prevent this at any point in the cinema would be if someone were to stand up in the row or two directly in front of you. The sound system is equally as impressive, supposedly putting out nearly 12000 Watts, which is more than 100 times what you would expect from your own sound system.

The adverts before the film came as something as a surprise, as there is clearly not a special iMax film produced for advertisements. This meant that they appeared on what I assume to be a normal cinema sized section of the screen. This only goes to prove exactly how big the iMax screen is, as there were huge expanses of unused screen space all around the picture. What was quite sweet was that one member of the audience had clearly prepared well in advance and had an advert on screen asking his girlfriend to marry him. Most of the cinema thought that was part of an advert until they shone a spotlight on her and those in the seats around started applauding. I think she accepted, although I was too far away to see her reaction.

Before the show started, there was an introduction from a member of staff, a little like the safety announcements before the start of a flight, followed by a film demonstrating the power and size of the iMax system. For someone who had never been to the iMax before, this was highly impressive, showing off the system at its best, although it was a little simplistic. However, I can see that for a regular attendee, it could get quite repetitive, as I can't see there being much variation in the show or the speech. Whilst the film was impressive, the little speech beforehand was a little quiet, as the person concerned was clearly just a staff member of duty and not someone practised at public speaking. That said, she did win marks from me by starting a round of applause for herself at the end when the audience didn't; a tactic I once used after a speech in my student politics days.

For all these demonstrations, it's not until the film starts that you really get to experience the differences between an iMax film and a regular film. Although the picture doesn't fill the whole of the huge screen you see walking in, it fills the whole of the visible section to the point that the bottom of the screen is nearly obscured by the rails at the front, but not quite. The position of the picture is exact to the centimetre to prevent any obstruction of any part of the screen. The picture was a lot bigger than anything I'd ever experienced before and the picture as a whole seemed clearer and sharper than in any other cinema. The sound was very clear as well and, much like with the visual, sharper and clearer than anything I had experienced anywhere else. I'm not sure whether this is down to the extra quality of the iMax experience or because I was at the first showing of the film, which may have an impact on the quality. I suspect it was more due to the iMax film and projector, however.

Whilst this makes for an improved cinematic experience, it's not ideal. From my seat about ten rows back and off to one side, I was constantly getting the feeling that there were parts of the screen I wasn't seeing properly. This had nothing to so with the view being obstructed, but is entirely down to the sheer size of the screen. I was never entirely relaxed about the prospect that I was seeing the whole picture in one go and always worried that the corners of the screen weren't in focus and that something was happening in the corner of an eye where I couldn't quite see it clearly. This meant that I kept having to shift my focus into the corners and I was never completely sure I wasn't missing something. I don't think I did miss anything of great importance, but the concern that I had or I could was always there.

Once the film is done, the exit route suffers from similar problems to the entrance, in that there really isn't quite enough room to take everybody at once. The exit is from the back of the cinema, which means you're quite high up in the building and there are a lot of stairs to come down. These stairs aren't nearly as wide as the ones leading up to the screen and having a lot of people on them at once does make them very crowded. The other issue might be with disabled access. Whilst the iMax website suggests that there is disabled access throughout the complex, I was unable to see where that was; although as noted earlier, with the way the place is laid out and the relative sparseness of signage, this does not mean such facilities do not exist.

The main problem with the iMax, other than the layout and signage is the price. I went to see a film which had recently had a release at all cinemas and that cost of the ticket for this was £12.00. Whilst I'll accept that the sound and visual aspects of the film were superior to any other cinema, I don't think they were worth paying almost double the price of a normal cinema ticket for. Especially as, in all other aspects, the iMax is no more than equal to my local cinema and there is also the additional cost of travelling to and from the South Bank to be added to the ticket price.

The other issue with the iMax is that you have to keep a close eye on the listings and make sure you book in advance, especially with a popular film. There is only the one screen and much of the day's schedule is often taken up with their special 3 D films. In addition, whole days are sometimes lost to private hire, so you cannot always guarantee that what you want to see will be showing at a time convenient to you. This also reduces the amount of flexibility, meaning that you cannot go to the iMax on a whim; it's an experience that needs to be treated as a visit to any tourist attraction in London and planned in advance on that basis.

All in all, I am glad I went to the iMax, as when people talk about the place in revered tones, I know what all the fuss is about. Personally, however, I think it's all a bit of fuss over very little. Really, the iMax is not a great deal more than an overpriced, overblown cinema in a fancy location. Seeing a film at the iMax rather than anywhere else is little more than simply showing off that your screen and your sound system was bigger than theirs. It's a futile boast, as the person who sees the film at the cinema will get to see a second film for the same amount of money and be better off in the long run.

Despite being less than impressed with the iMax, I am quite tempted to return to see one of their speciality 3 dimensional films. The trailers make them look quite interesting and I believe that it the way to see the iMax experience at its best, rather than just watching a larger version of a mainstream film. At only £8.50 as well, the price makes it more appealing, although as that's for a film lasting less than an hour, it does put me off slightly.

Really, the iMax is little more than a cinema for the show off in all of us. I'm not someone with either the need or the money to show off more than once, so I'll savour the experience, although without any great fondness and I won't rush to repeat it.  

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