BFI London Imax Cinema

The screen and sound here are great. Everything else feels so dated and underserved compared to like a hundred + cinephilie places in the US.

On the outside it looks like a temple to movies as you're getting close to it; it's a huge, imposing oval of a building in the middle of the street. But the temple illusion is shattered quickly as to get to the place you have navigate into one of several tunnels with some of the local homeless community and their respective full use of the place as a toilet. This is especially disconcerning if you go to a late showing.

Once you get inside, your feeling will shift from slightly tense to slightly underwhelmed. The interior here is kind of like an AMC megaplex from the early 1990's. There's some light celebration of movies going on but it really doesn't appear like some flagship for the BFI, especially given the gravitas they employ on their movie collection video they play before many movies here. Food is also really underwhelming compared to nearly all higher end theaters in the States with full service; I guarantee if you were to visit the first Alamo in Austin that was converted out of a dumpy old 1970's style four theater complex you'd find that experience an order of magnitude better than what you'll get here (and that's before we get into just the attention paid to the love of cinema bv a company like that compared to the vanilla offerings here!)

LIke I wrote before, once the movie starts it's very good. If you have a BFI membership like I do and can access the VIP seating, they definitely have more legroom than anywhere else I've been in the country.

But overall experience is just deeply underwhelming and they should really overhaul this whole place to truly immerse people in the love of film - even the Everyman chain in London does a way better job of this than this location does.

I swear I've never seen a screen this large in my life!!! I don't remember what the movie was about because I was just so in thralled by the screen and its size. However I had the best time from the bartender giving great service to all the food offerings in different beverages that you can decide to have prior to your movie in during your film was great. Still don't understand how there is no butter for popcorn .... Americans love their butter.lol

22#s for a regular ticket (not even the VIP ticket) is too much for this outdated theater setup. Yes, it's already obsolete.

- Narrow seats with shared armrests. You need to fight with your neighbor just to be able to rest your arm. Legroom is super tight as well. Somone couldn't even get by without you standing up. This is old tech vs the reclining luxury lounger at newer theaters with your own dedicated armrest and 10x more legroom.

- The screen really isn't that large anymore compared to just about any megaplex in the states. I'll give this theater credit for having the perforated screen with the speakers positioned right behind the action.

- Wish Solo had a non-3D option. The 3D glasses made all the edges fuzzy. Like another reviewer pointed out, it made the movie unwatchable. What a waste of the laser projector.

Went here for the 'new tech' experience and got 'old school' instead.

Went along to this Imax to see some props that are going to be auctioned at the end of the month. Over 450 iconic lots of original props, costumes and rare production material will be sold on the 23rd of September at the BFI IMAX. The spectacular live auction will also be live-streamed online with an interactive webcast for fans to track the bidding. They had props from James Bond to Labyrinth.

The cinema itself which I went to a few years back is also very good. Screen massive, bright and sound quality the best of its kind. The seats very comfy. When they screen 3d movies you really feel like part of the movie.

Highly recommend.

I love the crisp sharp picture quality but the reason for the 2 stars is that there were multiple phones lighting up in the theater.

My wife had to leave to find an employee but none were to be found on that floor. She wasn't about to go 4 floors down to the lobby to complain. I recommend not going to this imax unless you love spending over 100£ on tickets and snacks for yor family only to have the movie ruined by inconsiderate people on phones.

Brilliant massive screens! Sit in the centre, especially if it is 3D screening for the best views and experience.

When leaving the screening, and you need to use the gents/ladies, go down to the ground level to the foyer where there are more toilets, than on the upper level.

A return visit to see the Independence Day sequel reminded me to review this place (the film itself was fabulously silly fun by the way - as a huge fan of the first, I loved it!).

For the right film, this place gives me all the tingles - not just for the size of the screen that everyone raves about and you become fully immersed in with your 3D glasses, but the ridiculously good surround sound system too. It properly turns me into a little kid again watching magic and reminds me why I love the cinema so much :)

The trickiest bit can be finding the entrance to building depending on your route as it basically sits in the middle of an island - keep your eyes peeled for signs at the subway level. The rest of the cinema has your standard refreshments stand and you're given 3D glasses as you enter the screen. I would say the middle-back is your prime location and be careful with anything in the front few rows - the screen angle gets very steep!

The highlight I always look forward to is the little intro speech by one of the staff at the start to remind people of where the exits are etc. Maybe I was just overexcited but this time the guy was particularly funny and had us all off to a giggly start to the film! If it was cheaper I'm sure I'd be back much more often but for now it's a special treat.

BOOOOOOOOM!

That is my experience here in a word. Yep just one word...but this is me and I have way more to say than just one word so...

This place is amazing and if you love cinema and are going to see a spectacular then I would recommend popping your bottom in one of their super comfy seats. Warning: fear of heights, just don't bother!

I saw Batman here and as a HUGE comic book fiend it was superb seeing the portrait stil shots displayed as they were intended. God bless the IMAX! Oh and its nice and convenient right by waterloo .

Film fans of London town need to see a few flicks at the Bfi Imax!

The building is absoloutely amazing, a really impressive landmark just by Waterloo station. I always thought the screen would be round like the building itself but alas it's not!

I first saw the film "300" at the Imax with my Mum who happened to be in town visiting. I just couldn't believe the sound, the size of the screen and... just how steep the seating was! I had to make sure my Mum didn't get vertigo; she was a little scared she would fall! We left absoloutely exhilarated - it made me not want to watch any film anywhere else!

There was no noise, no rowdy kids, no one talking during the film. This was the ultimate film experience. I unfortunately missed Batman at the Imax but I'm looking to go back, it's a really good night out.

I like the IMAX. It is a pretty unique cinematic experience but that's what you're going there for! The last film I came to see here was Superman vs Batman and the film was meh but the experience was good.
However I was in row H and my neck started to hurt a bit so I recommend maybe sitting a few rows back so your neck doesn't start hurting!