Movie Review: Poseidon (2006)
Synopsis: The luxury liner Poseidon is struck by a rogue wave on New Year's Eve and is capsized. With rescue hours away and the ship filling up with water as it sinks, a group of survivors attempts to escape by working their way upwards toward the ship's engine room.
Who's in it? The movie stars Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum and Jacinda Barrett.
Review: I treated the family to take out from Applebee's yesterday evening and, since my wife and I had a little extra time from not having to make dinner and weren't really in the mood for another Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit rerun, looked for a movie on Netflix. We had both seen this movie before (on more than one occasion) but also weren't finding much else that looked overly appealing and, ultimately, decided to watch it again.
Normally, I'm not a huge fan of remakes and, if I had to compare the two, I still think 1972's The Poseidon Adventure is better (mostly because of the big-name cast). However, overall, I do think this is a movie that is worth taking the time to watch.
I think the thing that really stands out for me when it comes to this film is it isn't nearly as predictable as other disaster movies. This is because, unlike other films, that have characters die because they made horribly bad decisions, this film basically shows that a "smart" decision can still get you killed under extreme circumstances. As a result of this, it was difficult to figure out who, if anyone, would eventually be rescued and who would wind up dying a horrific death and when. In fact, there were quite a few instances where I thought someone would certainly die only to have them survive.
I also liked how the film took the time to introduce us to each of the survivors just enough to make us care if something happened to them and be genuinely saddened when they died. At the same time, the film did this while the action was happening instead of force feeding it to us early on, something too many "action" films fail miserably at. In other words, there was no opportunity to get bored with the film.
My only real complaint about this movie is I found I really couldn't stand the kid, Conor (Jimmy Bennett) that was among the survivors. This is mostly because, in addition to being kind of annoying, he proved he had to be the dumbest kid ever by wandering off toward the end of the film and nearly getting himself and two others killed in the process. What kid, in an extremely scary situation, wanders off from his mother to explore? Overall, I feel the movie would have been just fine without him.
Final Opinion: Again, the original is better. But, this movie is still an entertaining action movie and I would recommend watching it as a result.
My Grade: A
Who's in it? The movie stars Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum and Jacinda Barrett.
Review: I treated the family to take out from Applebee's yesterday evening and, since my wife and I had a little extra time from not having to make dinner and weren't really in the mood for another Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit rerun, looked for a movie on Netflix. We had both seen this movie before (on more than one occasion) but also weren't finding much else that looked overly appealing and, ultimately, decided to watch it again.
Normally, I'm not a huge fan of remakes and, if I had to compare the two, I still think 1972's The Poseidon Adventure is better (mostly because of the big-name cast). However, overall, I do think this is a movie that is worth taking the time to watch.
I think the thing that really stands out for me when it comes to this film is it isn't nearly as predictable as other disaster movies. This is because, unlike other films, that have characters die because they made horribly bad decisions, this film basically shows that a "smart" decision can still get you killed under extreme circumstances. As a result of this, it was difficult to figure out who, if anyone, would eventually be rescued and who would wind up dying a horrific death and when. In fact, there were quite a few instances where I thought someone would certainly die only to have them survive.
I also liked how the film took the time to introduce us to each of the survivors just enough to make us care if something happened to them and be genuinely saddened when they died. At the same time, the film did this while the action was happening instead of force feeding it to us early on, something too many "action" films fail miserably at. In other words, there was no opportunity to get bored with the film.
My only real complaint about this movie is I found I really couldn't stand the kid, Conor (Jimmy Bennett) that was among the survivors. This is mostly because, in addition to being kind of annoying, he proved he had to be the dumbest kid ever by wandering off toward the end of the film and nearly getting himself and two others killed in the process. What kid, in an extremely scary situation, wanders off from his mother to explore? Overall, I feel the movie would have been just fine without him.
Final Opinion: Again, the original is better. But, this movie is still an entertaining action movie and I would recommend watching it as a result.
My Grade: A
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