33 years after the now classic, cheesy original hit theatres in 1973, Warner Bros and Director Wolfgang Petersen (Speed) decided it was time for a bigger, better remake, POSEIDON.
We all know the story of the luxury liner with a gaggle of assorted stereotypes capsized by a giant wave at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. And that's the problem.
You expect better special effects in 2006 and the film delivers. The bathtub models of the original Irwin Allen version are replaced with a massive CGI beast of a ship that our virtual camera can fly around and zoom in and out of decks and portholes. The effects are superb.
Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss and Emmy Rossum lead a game cast, but their trek to the bottom (now the top) of the big boat to escape lacks any sense of urgency or investment in the people aboard.
Petersen has made some great films. He has shown that he KNOWS how to build suspense in tight quarters in "Das Boot" and he can craft a savvy no-brainer summer film (Twister) but here, the entire exercise just seems as water-logged as the boat.
And yes, for the record, Fergie is a nice improvement over Carol Lynley/Maureen McGovern as our proverbial New Year's Eve party singer, but I kind of miss those hideous brown leider-hosen Lynley wore in the original.....
This POSEIDON is all wet and gets a C-.
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