Tuesday, May 16, 2006

POSEIDON
Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss, Jacinda Barrett. Mike Vogel, Andre Braugher.

Cinema 4, Edsa Shangri-la Cineplex

"Mayday"

Wet, wet, wetAlright well I never saw the original Poseidon Adventure so I can't really make a valid comparison but the first one was released when 'disaster' movies were the in thing. It was a time when CGi and special effects were unheard of but a plot with suspense and thrill factor sustained most of the movies.
Wolfgang Petersen known for the ultimate submarine movie, "Das Boot" manned this remake of a movie about a luxurious ferry that sank after being hit by a rogue wave in the middle of the ocean. Disaster strikes pretty much early on the movie and the remaining minutes we are shown the struggle of the few survivors to make it to the top of the ship to escape. The movie is laden with loopholes and highly impossible scenarios which tend to be overshadowed by the thrill of finding out which of the very few survivors stay afloat so to speak to freedom. I won't enumerate the gaping inconsistencies one by one because (a) they are too numerous to list and (b) everyone who has reviewed this disaster movie has already mentioned them over and over again. The few actors who get most of the focus were pretty much ok, in my opinion. Except maybe I did wish at some point the insufferable kid would finally drown to end my misery. Heh! I haven't seen Richard Dreyfuss in many films lately so it was good to watch him in such an ineffectual role. Although as a gay architect who wanted to commit suicide but amazingly survives, out of all the thousand passengers who perished seems like such a cliche. Surely, Josh Lucas' amazing blue eyes was quite pleasant to watch in his 'heroic' role, he just has a mesmeric presence on screen.
To my pleasant surprise and despite all the negative reviews I've heard about this watery wet movie, I enjoyed it and thought it was suspenseful enough till the very end.

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