My fiance and I had a great opportunity to be in the loveliest of lovely city of Barcelona this…read morepast June 2022. It was the first time we traveled abroad since the pandemic. While there, we decided to go see Top Gun: Maverick. We relish watching this film cause to tell you the truth, we are from San Diego, where this fictional story originate and where it was filmed. So when we saw this film showing at the Multicines Filmax, which was near our Hotel Porta Fira, we gladly jumped at paying the admission, and as an added bonus in 4DX.
Multicines Filmax is on the top level within the Gran Via 2 shopping center. The shopping center is only a 5 minutes walk from the Europa/Fira subway station on the L8 & L9 line. It is a modern multiplex theatre showing mainly films in Spanish and the occasional VOSE pictures.
Let's start with the lobby; consists of a nice concession stands selling the usual popcorns and drinks. I must say the jumbo popcorn in Spain are larger than my local theatre in San Diego. There is two type of popcorn, plain and sweet. I saw an even mix of patrons between the two, but the sweet slightly edge out the plain on my visit. There is also a larger selections of confectionaries that I normally don't find at home. A plus is an adjacent video arcade, something that has long gone here in the US, other than Dave & Buster.
The seats are assigned at the time of purchase, a trend I have seen worldwide in recent years as theatres attempt to combat people sneaking in to see multi films on one ticket purchase. Despite our limited Catalan, the staff selected good seats for us and that was much appreciated.
The 4DX experience is a thrill no matter where in the world you are. The sounds, the shakes, and the snowflakes, all contributed to the in movies experience.
Overall, we had such a fun time at the movies. Side note, even our taxi driver recommended this theatre. He said that lots of locals come from surrounding community come to catch the latest flix at this multicines.
After the movie, we ate at a local restaurant in the mall before walking back to our hotel.
Final thoughts; this review is not about the physical structure of the movie theatre. The theatre itself is no different than any modern theatres you find at your local mall. The five star ratings is about the people that helped us along our journey to see a simple film. Despite the language barrier and the state obvious that we are tourist, we deeply appreciate the helpfulness of the staff trying to decipher our wants and needs. From the elementary Catalan we spoke to the hands gestures of charade. We always felt welcome by the staff and that has left a sentimental impression of both our movie viewing experiences and our visit to Barcelona.
