Poseidon: A Remake That Emphasizes Special Effects Over Its Characters (Limited Edition 4K)

The Film:

Back in the '70s, a bizarre trend occurred that had filmmakers tackling large-scale disasters as the subjects of their films. This popular craze gave us such exciting & special effects-heavy projects as "The Towering Inferno," "Airport," and "Earthquake," all of which earned several Oscar nominations, with the first two on this list even getting a nod for Best Picture. However, one of the best films of its kind to come out of this trend was 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure" (based on the 1969 novel by Paul Gallico), which told the tale of a group of survivors trying to escape a ship that's been turned upside-down by a giant wave. With its compelling story, incredible special effects, fantastic cast, and memorable characters, it took viewers on a gripping journey that doesn't let up until the very end of its two hours, making it easy to see why it stands near the very top of the disaster film trend.

34 years later, Oscar-nominated director Wolfgang Petersen ("Das Boot") and screenwriter Mark Protosevich ("The Cell") took on the daunting task of putting together a remake of the thrilling classic, simply titled "Poseidon," in an attempt to recapture the excitement of the original telling. With the 20th anniversary of Petersen's reimagining of the tale coming up fast next year, Arrow Films is celebrating by bringing the film to 4K and packing it with bonus features, both new and vintage, so let's go back and see how successful he was at trying to breathe new life into a disaster classic.

Taking place aboard the luxury ocean line Poseidon as it makes a journey across the Atlantic on New Year's Eve, we follow a group of passengers that includes former New York City Mayor and firefighter Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), who is travelling with his daughter Jennifer (Emmy Rossum) and her boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel), Maggie James (Jacinda Barrett) and her son Conor (Jimmy Bennett), gambler Dylan Jones (Josh Lucas), waiter Marco Valentine (Freddy Rodriguez), who is helping stowaway Elena Morales (Mía Maestro), and architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss).

When a rogue wave strikes the ship, it gets turned completely upside-down, killing many passengers and leaving very few options for the survivors. Most opt to wait for help in the ballroom with the Captain (Andre Braugher), but several decide that their best chance for survival lies in trying to find a way out before the ship sinks, putting them on an incredibly dangerous & desperate journey to the bottom (now the top) of the ship in hopes of discovering a means of escape.

As mentioned, when it came to the original "The Poseidon Adventure," the filmmakers were able to take a film that could've easily been an actual disaster and turn it into one that was a skillful balance of remarkable special effects (which won an Honorary Oscar) and a story that still managed to emphasize character development, resulting in an incredibly gripping experience, one which grabbed the audience from the start and didn't let go until the credits rolled. With all of that in mind, any attempt at a remake was going to have some awfully big shoes to fill in their attempt to find that tricky balance once again.

When it comes to Wolfgang Petersen's "Poseidon," it's unfortunate to see that the primary goal seems to have shifted quite heavily in favor of the special effects, and much less so in terms of its characters & story. You may recall how the original took the time to set up its memorable characters, such as Gene Hackman's unorthodox reverend, Shelley Winters & Jack Albertson as an elderly couple on the way to meet their grandson, Ernest Borgnine as an ex-cop and his wife, a former prostitute, and more. However, as far as the remake is concerned, it wants to get to the action faster (it is considerably shorter after all), so it settles for giving us a smattering of characters that are hardly defined and tosses them right into the disastrous situation.

With the balance being thrown off that early on, it makes it rather difficult to care about any of the survivors that we're asked to spend the rest of the film with, survivors that include a former New York City Mayor (what this has to do with anything is anyone's guess), his daughter & her fiancee (a pairing that tries to elicit more of an emotional response from the audience), a professional gambler who only seems to care about himself (making it particularly difficult to care about him), and a mother & her somewhat whiny/irritating son (a stark contrast to the intelligent & useful child character in the original). Simply put, this is hardly the most compelling group of characters that you could want to watch for 90 minutes.

With the emphasis on the special effects, it's good to see that those are pretty impressive for the most part. There are times when you can see that something is clearly a computer-generated image, such as the opening beauty shots of the ship, but when it comes to the ship turning over, water rushing everywhere, and the great multitude of explosions that follow throughout (seriously, something on this ship seems to explode every few minutes), the effects are done quite well, justifying its only Oscar nod for the effort.

Overall, all that effort and money ($160 million) poured into it just makes you wish that they had taken their time to establish a much more firm foundation built on the film's characters, as opposed to trying to give us the bare minimum and then hoping that the parade of special effects would make up the deficit. It was certainly a valiant effort in regards to making it a big, action-filled disaster picture, but without that firm foundation of characters to give the audience an anchor to hold on to, there just isn't going to be much of a reason for them to come along on this ill-fated voyage.

Video/Audio:

"Poseidon" comes to 4K in a 2.39:1, 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The picture is beautifully crystal clear & sharp throughout its entire 98-minute duration, perfectly highlighting its multitude of digital & practical special effects. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects (including the numerous explosions), and music in excellent quality. Overall, Arrow Films has done a marvelous job in both areas for the film's 4K debut.

Special Features:

Ocean View (15 Minutes) (New)

Big Sets for Big-Time Directors (13 Minutes) (New)

Surfing the VFX Wave (18 Minutes) (New)

Bringing Out the Dead (12 Minutes) (New)

Set a Course for Adventure (17 Minutes) (New)

A Ship on a Soundstage (23 Minutes)

Upside Down (11 Minutes)

A Shipmate's Diary (12 Minutes)

This new Limited Edition UHD release comes with a ton of great extras, totaling about two hours, that feature new interviews with several of the crew, including the director of photography, production designer, visual effects supervisor, and the make-up effects on-set supervisor, as well as vintage featurettes that explore the making of the film. Definitely plenty of great material here for fans to dig into if they're looking to learn more about the film.

Conclusion:

Wolfgang Petersen's "Poseidon" makes for a rather disappointing attempt to remake a disaster classic, one that makes the unfortunate mistake of emphasizing special effects over character & story development, and while those Oscar-nominated effects may be impressive for the most part, it's just not nearly enough to make up for its lacking elements, ultimately making for a remake that leaves its audience adrift.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on Limited Edition 4K starting tomorrow.

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