Poseidon - A Movie Review

It’s almost midnight! I hope no tsunamis are going to flip the ship over tonight.

Poseidon is a 2006 remake of the popular 70s film, The Poseidon Adventure. The passengers on the cruise Poseidon’s night is flipped over for the new year. Literally. A small group of survivors must make their way through the capsized ship to get to safety before it is too late.

The Poseidon Adventure is one of my favorite disaster films of all time. I was excited when I came across the remake to see what filmmakers would do differently. Having an upgrade in technology, Poseidon took advantage of the mesmerizing digital effects. The downside to this remake of a well-known film is that it destroys the strong character dynamics which made the original so engrossing.

The casting was incredible. Josh Lucus, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossom, Mia Maestro, Mike Vogel, Kevin Dillon, Freddy Rodriguez, and Jimmy Bennet did a remarkable job feverishly climbing through this upside-down world to survival. Other credits include Andre Braugher, Kirk B.R. Woller, Gabriel Jerret, and even a fantastic appearance by Fergie!

One of my favorite aspects of the original version of The Poseidon Adventure was the well-written characterization that was equally mixed in with special effects. The special effects of Poseidon overpower the characterization. We don’t know enough about any of these characters to really understand them.

Like in the original this small group of survivors doesn’t know each other, but they make efforts to work together. This group of people does not share any chemistry. Dylon (Lucus) was not encouraging anyone to come with him, the young couple is in love and that’s it, Dreyfuss tags along for whatever reason after his attempt at a dark decision, and Conor (Bennett) gets himself into trouble and is mostly here for audiences to worry over his safety because he is a child.

The only characters that actually had depth were Robert (Russell) and Elena (Maestro). The Poseidon Adventure is meant to be a character movie! Reportedly there were a number of scenes cut that centered around possible character development.

I still have to give everyone credit for the immense hard work they did. I found the journey through the upside-down ship believable and that’s what kept me watching. Poseidon films require physical work. Most of the actors trained themselves for specific scenes in swimming, climbing, but mostly a lot of swimming.

Cinematically, Poseidon is stunning! The beautiful ship you see sailing through the ocean was made completely out of CGI! Now, that is impressive. The big scene where the gigantic wave capsizes the ship is a signature moment. Designers went out of their way to craft believable sets of what actually looks like a hotel sailing on the water.

I could tell that the filmmakers just wanted to make a new upgrade to the movie because of advancements in technology. The special effects, sets, and costume design more or less take over the movie. The music is very good, too.

It’s easy to tell that Wolfgang Peterson got lost in the special effects for this new rendition of Poseidon instead of paying attention to the characters. The scenes that he deleted could have made this film stronger. Peterson knows how to do suspense though. I felt my heart pounding during the overwhelming capsizing scene.

Poseidon is still a film that you have to check out. I have watched this film a few times, and its disaster essence captures me into it. Just be warned that it is overwhelming when the ship first turns off, following the suspenseful journey that takes place after.