Customer Reviews

Not quite a disaster... - By: Trevor Willsmer, 09 Nov 2007
The most predictable of last year's box-office bombs, Poseidon was always on a hiding to nothing: a remake of the much-loved but frankly not that good blockbuster that kickstarted the 70s disaster movie trend, arriving a year after a reviled TV miniseries version, showing all the signs of burning cash as it was rushed through production to meet a summer release date (it looks like it cost $80m but cost nearer twice as much despite the less than stellar cast) & comingin at a very slim 98-minutes (twelve of them credits) was always going to be facing too many negative waves. Perhaps someone at Warners should have remembered what happened the last time they boarded the Poseidon with Irwin Allen's disastrous sequel to the original, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, which sank with all hands. Naturally, this isn't anywhere near as bad.

Always having been disappointed with the 1972 version, I must admit I didn't find this nearly as bad as others did & probably enjoyed it more despite its many obvious failings. To be fair the much-criticized lack of characterization isn't a major issue here since the wave hits at roughly the same pointin the running time as the original, which relied on the audience identifying with recognisable starsin clichéd roles rather than quality writing, although it's a film that'sin too much of a hurry to work as well as it could. The pacing definitely is a problem, with some scenes not allowed long enough to establish any real tension before amping up: it's definitely a filmin a hurry, whether due to re-editing (not particularly readily apparent, to be fair) or a desire to give the film a sense of urgency. It's not one of Petersen's better jobs of direction - better than The Perfect Storm or Air Force One, not as good as Troy or Das Boot - & the CGI is variable - many of the most criticized shots are pretty decent, while it's often the explosions that convince the least - but it throwsin a couple of surprises (including one surprisingly brutal momentin an elevator shaft), has a much better than expected supporting turn from Richard Dreyfuss who steals what few acting honors are going & is much more enjoyable than I was expecting.

The extras are pretty light even on this 2-disc NTSC release: a 22-minute featurette & trailer that feature on the UK sinle-disc release, & a second disc with barely an hour's extra featurettes, with the half-hour documentary on Rogue Waves the clear winner.