Poseidon (2006)

Poseidon is a remake of the 1972 classic thriller, The Poseidon Adventure. I had seen the original many years ago, and the basic plot of the two films is the same. An ultra luxurious cruise ship flips over from a storm. A group of trapped passengers bands together to try to get to the bottom of the upside down ship for an egress. This time among the passengers we have Hollywood heavyweights Ricard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, and Josh Lucas.

This new version relies heavily on computer generated animations. The film opens with a two plus minute scene of the ship that resembles a video game, far more than film. It's always a challenge to render the ocean believably, but films like Titanic and A Perfect Storm are a lot more realistic.

The other issue with Poseidon is the characters lack depth. The disaster occurs early in the sequence, before we have developed who these folks really are. As the film progresses, the characters remain flat and unidimensional, and never really progress.



Still, I like a good thriller, and Poseidon held my attention. While it takes "poetic license" on some issues- I seriously doubt that anything electrical would function in salt water- it is a plausible story overall. If you're looking for a good yarn of the sea, can accept unidimensional characters, artificial special effects and suspect science, then Poseidon is for you. The rest can let this ship sail into the computer generated sea without them.

Overall Grade: C+