Poseidon (2006)

By John Chard

I wouldn't put a lot of faith on what the captain says. I'm an architect, and these boats weren't designed to float upside down. After playing water games with "The Perfect Storm" six years previously, director Wolfgang Petersen returns to the water to reimage 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure" (novel by Paul Gallico). Story essentially finds a cruise liner capsized by chaotic weather and survivors try to make their way out of an upside world before the boat either sinks or the inrushing water drowns them. The original is one of the highlights of the disaster genre that burst forth in the 1970s, so it really didn't need remaking, but Hollywood insists on remaking old films for cash cow purpose. As it is, this is hardly a terrible movie, it lacks character development, the plot is stripped bare without any additional depth, and ultimately it's the CGI effects (that do work handsomely enough and were Oscar Nominated) that carries the picture to just above average status. Hardly a must see disaster film but enough excitement and suspense to make it a dent time waster for fans of the genre. 6/10