(L-r) MIKE VOGEL as Christian, KURT RUSSELL as Robert Ramsey, EMMY ROSSUM as Jennifer Ramsey, JOSH LUCAS as Dylan Johns, JACINDA BARRETT as Maggie James, JIMMY BENNETT as Conor James and RICHARD DREYFUSS as Richard Nelson in Warner Bros. Pictures’ Poseidon, © 2006.
I remember seeing Titanic with Leonardo Dicaprio and when I finally saw it, I still couldn’t really understand all the hype about it. But now that I actually think about it, it was one of those films that tried to be for everyone. It was historical, had a lot of action and good special effects, and had a rinky-dink love story. Of course, the girls my age who saw it when it came out were in love with Dicaprio. See The Aviator, you won’t think he’s so hot anymore.
Poseidon plays somewhat like Titanic, big ship, big disaster, a small lovestory that doesn’t really play much to the point of the film, and a lot of death. Poseidon has a cast that probably includes one actor/actress that someone enjoys.
On New Years Eve, on an enormous cruise ship known as the Poseidon, hundreds of people are celebrating the new year with dancing, drinking, and gambling. When a Rogue Wave, also sometimes known as a freak wave or monster wave, approaches the ship, the Captain (Andre Braugher) alerts the passengers in the ballroom. Of course everyone panics and runs around screaming and when the wave strikes the ship, it capsizes. We are taken through the ship as people are thrown from A to B, die of electricution or explosion, or become heavily injured.
A group of survivors all from the ballroom, decide to leave and make their way through the hull of ship. The Captain requests that stay their because the ball room is a secure and safe air bubble, but he can’t stop them. The rebels include former Navy member Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas), former Mayor of New York, Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell) is the boat with his daughter Jennifer (Emmy Rossum) and her boyfriend, Christian (Mike Vogal), Gay architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss), single mother Maggie James (Jacida Barrett) and son Conor (Jimmy Bennett), and Elana Gonzalez (Mia Maestro) who seemed to be the only person without a story. They attempt to make their way through the ship while facing many challenges mostly water, wind, and fire.
Director Wolfgang Petersen seems to be sinking with his directing, just as this movie does. He’s directed a variety of good films such as The Neverending Story, In The Line of Fire, and The Perfect Storm. His most recent film before Poseidon, I honestly thought was a complete flop, was Troy. What honestly made him want to remake this film, I have not a clue, but I can tell you right now that A. the first film was not supposed to that great, and B. remakes can sometimes symbolize the line between good directors and bad directors. Thankfully, I still find him respectable considering he didn’t make this film as long as the two hour original.
The acting is where it needs to be for such a B movie as this one, but then again, the collection of mostly talented actors could hide the fact that maybe they do a poor job but I was too glad they were actually in the film to care.
Mark Protosevich’s screenplay is a dead giveaway of why the characters seemed for the most part one dimensional and unrealistic. Mark attempted to establish backstories for each character, but seemed to stop for some reason when he probably couldn’t think of anything else to do, so he just blew it off. One could have established flashbacks of who these people actually are, a technique commonly used in the hit show, Lost.
When Kurt Russell is rescuing Jimmy Bennett from a piano on the ground when the ship is capsized he attempts to catch him in one of the curtains, he explains that he also used to be a fireman. Anyone is capable of doing this, and you don’t just have to be a fireman. Though there was one particulary edge of your seat scene when the survivors were attempting to use the ventilation system to escape the water, but unfortunately they find a metal gate blocking them on the otherside. One of them gets stuck and the water begins to rush inside.
I completely understand that is a disaster survival story, but it seemed like everytime they made it through a different level of the ship there was new challenge of danger. Everytime that seemed to happen, it also seemed that one of the characters were put on the spot to do something or held in peril. Very, very tedious.
Cinematographer John Seale is probably the most positive factor of the film. The opening shot, coming from underneathe the bow of the great Poseidon and sweeping around to the side of the boat with Klaus Badelt’s (Pirates of The Carribean) score. The visuals are pretty stunning, the images of the outside of the ship are pretty fantastic, as well as the images of the ship underwater. There are also plenty of explosions, eventually you grow tired of seeing them. The Rogue Wave is as realistic as the waves in The Perfect Storm and will make any viewer think, “That wave is huge!”
To clarify what a Rogue Wave is exactly, I was as confused as you probably are, until the miracle of wikipedia crossed my mind. A Rogue Wave is not a Tidal Wave or Tsunami, but only occurs far out at see and is a completely random and rare occurence. It can happen in almost any conditions and is almost near impossible to detect without a satellite.
There are also a few minor errors in the film that seemed pretty overlooked and I was surprised that I noticed them. In the beginning of the film, right before the Captain detects the Rogue Wave before it hits, Richard Dreyfuss’ character goes out onto the deck to check his cell phone for messages. How can anyone call you when you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean? It is clearly not a satellite phone and most likely doesn’t have some sort of built in feature. Richard Dreyfuss also looks like he is seventy years old, this is not makeup, but the man is only fifty-eight!
Also, when Kurt Russell attempts to save young Jimmy Bennett in the curtain, this is happening when the ship is upside down. The curtain would not be dangling as it would be if it were right side up, it would be a lump on the ground.
I went to see this film at the IMAX theater, so I’m sure seeing at a regular theater isn’t as thrilling, even though this film isn’t really all that thrilling in the first place. The first thing when I got home from seeing this film was, of all things, not even using the restroom considering all of the water during the film, but getting a glass of water. That was actually much more satisfying than the movie.
Rated PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of disaster and peril. Running time 99 minutes.