Poseidón

It all starts off so well too. The opening shot of Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon is beautiful. A single take that begins beneath the surface of the ocean that swings up and out of it as the underside of the ship slices through the waves, before pivoting round the colossal cruise liner and zeroing in on Josh Lucas running on the deck. With the sun setting in the distance and the immense size of the vessel itself contrasted with the deep blue of the water, this is a visually astounding entrance to a movie that is unfortunately very shallow indeed.

A remake of the classic disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure, this tells much the same story with a small group of passengers trying to escape a doomed ocean liner after it capsizes due to a freak wave. Given the beloved status of the original, besting it was going to be tricky from the start so how to do it? Bestow the characters with as much depth and humanity as possible, arrange it so that you don't want any of them to die just as the original film did? No. That isn't the 21st Century Studio Approach to blockbusters at all, the trick is explosions! Lots of explosions! And dangerous stunts that happen in very quick succession with no set up whatsoever.

As a result, things happen very quickly. We've hardly got to know anyone on the ship before the wave strikes and sends their world tumbling upside down in a hail of glass and debris. Trapped beneath the waves, there is no debate on the best means of survival but instead a bull headed rush to escape as soon as possible and before you know it, barely any time has elapsed before we have our luckless nobodies dangling from lift shafts, diving through burning oil slicks or scrambling up air vents rapidly filling with water. This could all be very entertaining if it wasn't so empty and if only they'd eased back on the throttle a little bit, we could have had a much more successful film.

Kurt Russell for instance is wasted. As an ex firefighter and former Mayor of New York with a failed marriage behind him, they could have crafted the image of a troubled man going through a midlife crisis who finds himself tested beyond his limits. Instead, the only hints at any characterisation are him protesting his daughter's cleavage bearing dress to leave no doubt that theirs is a strained relationship. Then there is Richard Dreyfuss (who has finally found a bigger boat), whose character might as well be listed in the credits as "depressed, elderly gay man." Everyone else is just as vacuous and while Josh Lucas is certainly a charismatic focal point, it cannot make up for the two dimensional stereotypes of Kevin Dillon's gambler Lucky Larry or Mike Vogel's performance as Christian, the fiancée of Russell's daughter who manages to put in perhaps the worst attempt at acting you will see in a blockbuster this year.

It does have a few commendable points though. One death scene involving a lift shaft, jagged metal spikes and an explosion is an adrenaline pumping crowd pleaser and the aforementioned scramble through the flooding ventilation shaft is really quite tense, the ensemble cast squeezed together in a claustrophobic nightmare as the water bubbles up around them. Ultimately though, it is not enough to save it. Poseidon may make for a diverting hour and a half but Hollywood needs to learn a valuable lesson about plotting: bigger explosions and insane stunts are nowhere near as impressive if we don't care about the people involved. The original version made an entire generation terrified of getting on a boat with Ernest Borgnine, this is just laughable.

www.kajatm.com It has been said that the imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However when it comes to remakes in Hollywood imitation often result in movies that are far worst than the original. The remakes that have actually turned out to be good, while limited, have had some success in recent years. Such movies as the Thomas Crown Affair, Ocean's 11, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Grudge and The Italian Job we very well done and have become some of my favorites. Poseidon, my friends, is not one of these movies.

Just like the original, Poseidon is the story about a new cruise ship that has been struck by a rogue wave which results in the ship flipping over and trapping the guest within the sinking ship. The main characters of the original have been replaced by Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss* and Jimmy Bennett. Again just like the original, a group of passengers realize that if they stay where the captain wants them to stay they are in certain doom and will end up drowning. And this is where Poseidon lost me. Where is the compelling speech from Josh Lucas, just like Gene Hackman before him, to try and convince the passengers to follow him out of the ship? The whole scene is lost without this speech. Why is it that from that point forward it seems like the whole new version of Poseidon is on fast forward? There is no plot development, no character development and basically it just seems like Wolfgang Peterson had something better to do while making this movie. I understand that the ship is sinking and they have to get off as soon as possible but I distinctly remember the original having the same story line and I didn't feel like the characters were running some obstacle course that they needed to get through in 2 minutes. I think that if he would have taken the time to watch the original he would have come to the realization that he could have put 30 more minutes in the movie and it probably would have turned out better.

The only positive thing that I saw about this movie was the scenes that showed the ship getting hit by the rogue wave. I would like to take the time to thank whoever created CGI. People flying everywhere, people dying, water taking over the boat and just the realistic destruction that they can create using a computer is really amazing. This is the only category that tops the original. But outside of that this movie left me very unsatisfied.

Some classic movies such as The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, Empire Strikes Back, The Magnificent Seven, The Wizard of OZ, Caddy Shack, Airplane, Jaws, Raging Bull, Cool Hand Luke, The Sting and Rear Window should automatically go on the "These Movies Reached Perfection the First Time so we are Never Ever Remaking Them!" list. Poseidon Adventure should have been one of these movies. I hate the fact that nothing is sacred in Hollywood.

Give me Gene Hackman, give me Ernest Borgnine, give me Red Buttons, give me Roddy McDowell and give me the original Poseidon Adventure. Don't give me Josh Lucas, don't give me Kurt Russell, don't give me Kevin Dillion and don't give me the new Poseidon. If you have never seen the original Poseidon Adventure I fully expect you to enjoy this movie but unfortunately I have and that ruined my movie experience. But then again, what do I know? *Why didn't someone tell me that Richard Dreyfuss now looks like he is 101 years old. What happened? Did he enter some sort of aging machine that took him from his 50's to senior citizenship?

I went in expecting the least, but was pleasantly surprised by a handful of qualities the movie had to offer. Once you get past your formulaic introduction of characters, which honestly felt gratituous by the movie's end, the high-end production played its cards right, showing off some solid CGI in bursts, and relying more on the people to carry the tension. Not to mention Josh Lucas as the lead, laudably so, with Kurt Russell co-piloting the adventure, engaging as usual. Most of the drama was pretty meh to me and my biggest gripe revolves around a certain plot point that chewed up an unnecessary 15min, meanwhile we never get an explanation for why so many explosions occur on the ship throughout the entire movie. Past those, Dreyfuss and Emmy Rossum carry their own, even Freddy Rodriguez and Mike Vogel were good. There's some cheese, some eyerolling, and maybe even some unintentional humor, but if this type of flick is up your alley to begin with, you're bound to enjoy it. I just wish the ending had offered a glimpse of the survivors back home, how their lives turned out. A high 6 from me.

Although 'Poseidon' was not all that well received, I actually enjoyed it more than the original, highly acclaimed 'The Poseidon Adventure' (of which 'Poseidon' is a remake), which I found too comical and unbelievable despite its good cast.

'Poseidon' is an action adventure survival thriller, with the focus on the survival element. It doesn't spend much time on character introductions and jumps right into the chaos, so we get to know the characters once their quest for survival begins. Excellent visual effects and a fantastic production design help bring this film to life, making it realistic and conceivable. The capsize scene, especially, was incredibly well done.

The film does follow the same pattern as most disaster films of this genre, with stereotypical characters, and it's always easy to spot the dispensable ones. Essentially, this is a slasher movie - just a different kind of slasher. Due to the film's short running time (94 minutes), it is fast-paced and entertaining throughout and doesn't waste a minute of screen time.

The film features a stellar cast, but I don't think I would have cared who the actors were, as the story was interesting enough and well executed. It is a nail-biter with one primary focus: survival. In my humble opinion, the film succeeded in that aspect. I've watched the movie a few times and enjoy it every time. 'Poseidon' is a disaster movie that delivers.

Especially one that sinks Titanic in special effects...

This is a remake of The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Before you jump on the bandwagon and start bashing it on this basis alone, keep it mind that the original film was not exactly a masterpiece. It was a film that sacrificed scientific reality to propel an inane plot, filled with one-dimensional characters and compensated for it with action-overload. Poseidon is exactly the same -- ridiculous plot, intrepid characters and big slice of adventure. What is different in this version is the masterful CGI. This is a perfect time to remake a film like this (much better than in 1972) -- just go overboard with special effects and no one will notice the flawed writing (which is basically a sketchbook mess).

This is the reason Poseidon does not fail in entertaining the audience. I'll admit that I was skeptical when Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas appeared in all her plastic surgery glory and Josh Lucas spouted out some cheeseball line ("Where is the disco?" "Why, you feel like dancing now?"), but I set its cringeworthy dialogue aside early on and focused my energy on not wanting to kill Fergie. The giant tidal wave capsizing the luxury liner Poseidon would take care of that, leaving only a small group of people fighting to reach the top and get out.

Another thing, besides special effects, that is by far better in this version is that the characters are actually interested in surviving and do not stop every few minutes for a petty argument as in The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Make no mistake however, these characters are still dumb to the core, getting by on lucky circumstances, occasional heroic feats and conveniently appearing objects and hatches – you've seen it all before, but damn, this is sensationally quality action.

Overall, Poseidon is bathed in a militantly hectic mood and is as fast-paced as any action film you'll see. It features mind-numbing special effects, overdoses of excitement and just typical Wolfgang Peterson overkill. It definitely won't disappoint you if you're looking for cheap but solid adrenaline kicks. I'd even happily sit through this experience again.

6.5/10