Poseidon

Starring: Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum, Mike Vogel, Kevin Dillon, Freddy Rodriguez, Andre Braugher
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
2006

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: After a rough wave smashes into the Poseidon luxury liner, the boat flips over and begins to sink. A small band of survivors struggle to escape through the bottom (which is now the top) of the boat as it slowly begins to fill with water.

Review:

Tim: I was actually really looking forward to this movie. I never try to hide my undying love for disaster movies, and this remake featured an impressive cast. Plus, it was directed by water-and-boats master Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm). With his experience in the genre, this movie was going to be great, right? Very, very wrong. The film is a disaster, and I don't mean in the genre-sense. The acting is terrible, the dialogue is atrocious, and there is absolutely no character development. This sinks the movie quicker than you could possibly imagine.

Let's start with the cast. Josh Lucas was a terrific choice for the lead role. Sadly, his character is so one-dimensional that it doesn't matter. He's completely forgettable. Kurt Russell is a likewise great choice. Again, though, his character is so silly and inconsequential that he makes no impact on the film. Emmy Rossum might give the worst performance of the film. She's a great actress, but she is just completely awful here. She has proven she's great in disaster movies (The Day After Tomorrow), but that doesn't help her awful performance here. She and Russell never for a second seem like a real-life father and daughter. This destroys any heart the movie could have had. It doesn't help that Rossum's on-screen boyfriend Mike Vogel is about as animated and interesting as a block of ice. Kevin Dillon is way too over-the-top and manages to greatly detract from the movie. The only (and I really mean only) good performance of the film belongs to Richard Dreyfuss. I absolutely loved seeing him back on screen, and he's so enjoyable to watch. Sadly, Dreyfuss can't save this sinking ship.

The special effects are fairly impressive, but they provide a small amount of shine to an otherwise lackluster film. There are almost no real moments of suspense. We figure a few of the survivors will die, a few will survive, but we never really get emotionally invested in them. We don't care who lives and who dies, and therefore, there's surprisingly few thrills in the film. It is just good enough to hold our attention, but not enough to make us care.

Poseidon is pretty much a disappointment. It has a great cast hamstrung by an awful script. This causes everything in the movie to fall apart. Nothing in this movie is great. I didn't hate it, but it made me very, very sad. This should have been excellent.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Day After Tomorrow, The Poseidon Adventure, Das Boot, The Perfect Storm