Poseidon (2006)

How fitting that I start this task with a film that takes place on New Years Eve.  I have had people tell me how much this movie sucks and I have had people tell me how awesome and fun this movie is.  However, my feelings toward this aquatic adventure fall somewhere in the middle.  The action sequences and the special effects were top notch but certain elements definitely fall flat.  Now I have not been fortunate enough to see the original Poseidon Adventure so this review will not be a comparison of the two films, but a fresh take on the subject matter.

Lets start by addressing the director who is none other than action aficionado Wolfgang Peterson. He is the director of such action epics like Troy, In the Line of Fire, and Outbreak.  This is also not his first attempt at a film that is set at sea.  He has been there not once but twice before with the films Das Boot and The Perfect Storm.  The pacing and action sequences feel like they were in the hands of someone who knows how to make action work and the action scenes do work.  However the character development seems to have fallen by the wayside and that may not be all Wolfgang’s fault.  Some of the blame can be placed squarely on writer Mark Protesevich. 

For those of you that don’t know already this film is about an extremely large luxury liner that gets hit by a rare and deadly rouge wave, which causes the ship to capsize and send the survivors, scrambling to the bottom of the ship to safety.  After the character introductions and the pretty awesome capsizing scene the rest of the movie plays like one very long chase scene that pits the rag tag group of survivors against the relentless rushing water.  So after awhile it all feels pretty repetitive. The group gets in to trouble and then they figure a way to get out of it.  Repeat repeat repeat. 

I won’t go to much into the acting beacuase it all feels pretty phoned in.  I have a feeling that much of the attention in the film was paid to the sucesss of the special effects and not to the quality of the performances.  The cast does contain some pretty big names like Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss.  I love both of those guys but this is not either of their finest 90 minutes. 

So in conclusion if you want to see some pretty cool ocean special effects and lots and lots of ship explosions then check this one out because it will not let you down.  If you hate cookie cutter Hollywood big budget disaster movies then avoid this at all costs. 

For my next film I am going to follow Kurt Russell to the movie that gave him all the action movie cred he would ever need.  Escape From New York.