Poseidon (film)
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| Poseidon | |
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| Directed by | Wolfgang Petersen |
| Written by | Paul Gallico (novel) Paul Attanasio (screenplay) Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) |
| Starring | Kurt Russell Josh Lucas Jacinda Barrett Richard Dreyfuss Jimmy Bennett Emmy Rossum Mike Vogel Mía Maestro Andre Braugher |
| Music by | Klaus Badelt |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Editing by | Peter Honess |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | 12 May 2006 |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $160 Million |
| IMDb profile | |
Poseidon is a movie remake of the classic disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, based on the novel by Paul Gallico. It was released on May 12, 2006 and stars Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Jacinda Barrett, Emmy Rossum and Richard Dreyfuss. It is directed by Wolfgang Petersen and was produced and distributed by Warner Bros., in association with Virtual Studios. The film also had a simultaneous release in the IMAX format. Executive Producers are Kevin Burns and Jon Jashni, Sheila Allen and Benjamin Waisbren.
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
The movie centers on the Poseidon, a luxury ocean liner, named for the Greek god of the sea, in the midst of a transatlantic crossing.
The beginning focuses on a brief introduction to the main characters, as they go about their activities and business throughout the ship: Jennifer Ramsey (Emmy Rossum) and Christian (Mike Vogel) are a young couple hoping to soon be engaged, but Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), Jennifer's father and former firefighter/mayor of New York, harbours doubts about the relationship, and Christian in particular; Elena (Mía Maestro), travelling to see her ill brother in New York, is a stowaway in the cabin of Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez), a waiter in the ship's dining room; Dylan (Josh Lucas) is a smooth-talking professional gambler; and architect Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is a distraught man who has recently experienced a break up with his boyfriend.
Later in the evening, Captain Michael Bradford (Andre Braugher) welcomes everyone to the New Year's party in the ship's ballroom, where Gloria (Stacy Ferguson) is the entertainer. On the upper level of the ballroom, Dylan and Robert are playing a game of poker with "Lucky Larry" (Kevin Dillon) and another passenger. Jennifer comes briefly to wish her father a happy New Year before heading downstairs to the nightclub with Christian. On the ballroom's main level, Nelson orders a five thousand dollar bottle of wine for the table, tells some of his table-mates the story of his breakup, and excuses himself to go on deck for air. Dylan, meanwhile, walking away with his winnings, bumps into a boy, Connor James (Jimmy Bennett), playing with his PSP. Dylan is introduced to Connor's mother, Maggie (Jacinda Barrett), when she comes up looking for her son. Down in the disco, Jennifer and Christian are dancing, and Elena manoeuvres her way through the crowded disco by herself.
In the ballroom, the countdown to the new year ends with streamers, balloons and cheers.
On the bridge the First Officer, Chapman (Gabriel Jarret), silences a celebratory crew, showing concern. He spots a rogue wave nearing the ship, as does Nelson, who was about to jump overboard and then returns inside. The officer puts in an order to turn the bow to starboard in order to avoid a side-on hit, but it is too late. The wave hits the ship on the starboard side, causing it to roll over. As the ship capsizes, scenes of destruction are shown around the liner. The wave passes over the exposed keel, causing it to rise again on the opposite side in a 270-degree rotation on its beam-end before settling in an inverted position. The impact of the wave and roll of the ship sweeps people overboard, while others are incinerated by flash-fires, crushed by debris, or electrocuted. After it passes, the survivors can be heard screaming inside the now inverted ship.
The ship loses electrical power upside-down, but the back-up generators kick-in, restoring some power. The bridge is shown submerged and completely flooded; the crews' corpses drifting within. In the ballroom, Maggie recovers, and immediately begins calling for Connor, who was last seen hanging on to the bolted-down piano as the ship flipped over. Maggie spots Connor on the bottom of the piano, which is now on the "ceiling". Using his training as a fireman, Robert grabs one of stage curtains and tells Connor to jump into it, which the boy does safely.
In the remains of the nightclub everyone is in a panic. From the melee of fleeing people, Jennifer enlists the help of Elena to try and lift the spotlight girder that has fallen on Christian, trapping his leg beneath it. While they struggle, fire sprinklers suddenly go off on the other side of the room, the water pooling on the ceiling, and into which some loosened electrical wires land, electrocuting everyone who is in contact with the water. Christian, Jennifer, and Elena remain safe, and the latter decides to go get help.
After some calm is restored in the ballroom, the captain assures the people that when the ship was hit, a signal-beacon was released and rescue teams would be on the way in several hours. Robert fights with the captain over his desire to go search for Jen, while Dylan, who opts to save himself rather than wait for help, is spotted leaving by Connor. This draws attention to Dylan, first by Maggie, and then by Robert and Nelson. After questioning and arguing, Dylan explains that they will probably be able to get out through the bow thrusters, now above the water line. Before leaving, Robert pulls Valentin aside, conscripting him as a guide as he is a staff member and is familliar with the ship. After the group leaves, the Captain orders the water-tight doors sealed.
Back in the nightclub, Elena is horrified by all the bodies, but keeps on stumbling towards an exit. As she tries to climb a girder an arm suddenly grabs her from under a pile of corpses; the arm belongs to Lucky Larry.
.Making their way to the Disco, the group travels through the fiery kitchen and climbs a deck via a service elevator shaft. In the shaft, the group uses a bench as a makeshift bridge and Dylan, Connor, Maggie, and Robert make it safely to the other side and up. However, as Valentin tries to help Nelson, the elevator cab suspended above them begins to shake loose causing their makeshift bridge to fall, and Valentin is left dangling and clinging to Nelson's legs. In order for Nelson to save himself, he has to kick Valentin off, who falls all the way to the "top" of the shaft where he's impaled on metal debris and then crushed by the falling elevator. Though visibly shaken, the group recovers and heads on.
In the nightclub, Elena, Jennifer, and Larry manage to get the girder off of Christian just as the other group arrives from the ballroom. The assemblage then heads through the passenger corridors and into the main atrium, where the fallen elevator tracks form the only bridge to the other side. After most get across successfully, a large piece of machinery torn loose from its moorings falls through the floor above, striking the bridge, with Lucky Larry on it, followed by a waterfall of fuel which ignites into a stream of flame. Without the elevator tracks to cross, Dylan grabs a nearby fire hose, dives into the water, swims across, and climbs up to where the others are, making a rope bridge. With Jennifer and her father alone on the one side of the atrium, she shows him the engagement ring, to which he offers little surprise. The two, using a piece of broken brass railing, slide across the fire hose bridge together.
Back in the ballroom, the glass of the exterior windows starts cracking from explosion shock waves, and the rivets pop out, spraying water into the room. It doesn't take long for people to notice and start panicking and looking for an exit, but the corridors beyond the water-tight doors are now flooded. The Captain and Gloria calmly hug each other just before all the windows shatter and water comes pouring in, drowning everyone. The screams of those trapped in the ballroom are heard by the survivors in the atrium, and the group heads off once more, realizing the water is on the way. The flaming lake in the bottom of the atrium begins to rise quickly.
Robert finds a shaft which he thinks might lead up to the next level. Despite Elena's claustrophobia, everyone makes their way into the duct, with the water now rushing into the corridor behind them. Once Robert reaches the grille at the end of the shaft, he finds it screwed shut from the outside, his fingers too big to manipulate the screws on the other side loose. To make matters worse, Nelson slips, trapping Elena and a drowning Dylan underneath him, but he manages to free himself in the nick of time. Using his small hands, and Elena's crucifix as a screwdriver, Connor releases the grille, allowing everyone to climb out of the rapidly filling duct.
They eventually find themselves in a ballast tank, with the only mode of exit being through the sealed portal into the next tank beyond, and only flooding the tank will open the portal. By manually operating the external ports, the tank is flooded, the vent opens, and the bunch swims through. Beyond that point they exit the tank and swim through completely flooded corridors towards a set of stairs. However, Elena gets caught on loose wires, and while trying to free herself hits her head. Nelson tries to save her but does not succeed. Noticing they are missing, Dylan and Robert swim back to attempt her rescue, but it is too late. With Nelson distraught over her death, the group clips Elena's cross back on her, and moves on. The remaining ballast tanks continue to fill one by one, bringing the ship closer to sinking.
Beyond the stairs, the path to the bow thrusters is discovered to be under water, as the ship is sinking by the bow. Discouraged, the survivors regroup and try to think of another way out when suddenly the engine room explodes, blowing out the stern decks below, and causing the ship to tilt towards the rear. This forces the water within the ship to shift, draining towards the stern, and thus clearing the way to the bow thrusters, though also knocking everyone down in the rush of water flowing down the corridor. Before they all head off on their original route, Maggie notices that after the wave of water, Connor has gone missing. She and Dylan search for him while the others secure an exit, and find him trapped behind a screen in an area rapidly filling with water. He is rescued by Dylan, and the trio rapidly swim towards the other four, who have made it into the bow thruster room.
In the bow thruster room, Nelson, spotting the hatch that gives access to the propeller shaft, opens it, only to get blown back by wind caused by the still-active propellers. Christian proposes blocking the propellers with debris, but Robert points out that the blades are turning the wrong way, and need to be stopped, or reversed in order to create suction. The two argue about who should make the hundred and fifty foot swim to the flooded control room. Robert agrees that Christian should go, as his lungs have a greater capacity. However, after Christian says goodbye to Jennifer, he turns to find that Robert has already swam off. Dylan, Maggie, and Connor arrive and are told what has transpired. Meanwhile, Robert arrives at the control room only to find the emergency engine stop button broken. He frantically searches for another button as he starts running out of air. He freezes knowing he's going to die just as he sees the propeller reverse button and presses it after he drowns, with his last remaining moments of life.
In the bow thruster room, it is noticed that the blades are now turning the other way. Dylan moves to throw a pressurized tank into the shaft, but the tank gets caught crosswise in the narrow door frame, held in place by the strong suction of air. He manages to kick it through, causing an explosion that blows out the propellers on both sides of the ship. The remaining survivors pick their way through the shaft, jump into the ocean, and swim for a nearby lifeboat that was inflated upon the capsizing. As they clamber in the Poseidon rights itself just before sinking. Jennifer urges everyone to paddle the life raft away from the backwash, which threatens to drown them. After escape, Dylan fires off a flare gun, and after wait of unknown time, a pair of SH-60 Seahawk helicopters arrive to pick the six survivors from the water.
[edit] Other main characters
 Dylan (Josh Lucas) finds Maggie after the ship shifted. |
 Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell) |
 Maggie James (Jacinda Barrett) |
 Elena Gonzalez (Mia Maestro) |
 Lucky Larry (Kevin Dillon) |
[edit] Sets
Like the film The Poseidon Adventure based many of its sets on rooms aboard the RMS Queen Mary, the set designers for the 2006 movie Poseidon drew inspiration for some of the spaces on board the fictional Poseidon from rooms aboard the RMS Queen Mary 2, most notably in the Poseidon's ballroom, which is modeled on the main dining room of the Queen Mary 2.
On the soundstage, at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, separate sets for each main room were built - one "right-side-up" and the other "up-side-down." The "upside-down" ballroom set was built on top of a large water tank in the sound stage so that it could be filled with water and drained in a matter of hours. The interior (and exterior) shots of the ship rolling were constructed using CGI.
[edit] Cast
- Josh Lucas - Dylan
- Jacinda Barrett - Maggie James
- Kurt Russell - Robert Ramsey
- Richard Dreyfuss - Nelson
- Jimmy Bennett - Conor James
- Emmy Rossum - Jennifer Ramsey
- Mike Vogel - Christian
- Mía Maestro - Elena Gonzalez
- Andre Braugher - Captain Michael Bradford
- Stacy Ferguson (Fergie) - Gloria
- Kevin Dillon - Lucky Larry
- Freddy Rodriguez - Valentin
- Kirk B.R. Woller - Chief Officer Reynolds
- Kelly McNair - Emily
- Gabriel Jarret - First Officer Chapman
[edit] Trivia
- According to Entertainment Weekly, the CGI Poseidon is 218 feet longer than the Titanic, which would make it 1100½ feet long, 31½ feet shorter than the Queen Mary 2.[citation needed]
- Many members of the cast and crew came down with minor infections due to being in dirty water for so many hours a day.
- Carol Lynley, Red Buttons and Pamela Sue Martin, three stars of the original film, attended the premiere in May, 2006.
- The ship on the official poster bears a striking resemblance to a Vista Class ship, such as P&O's Arcadia and Cunard's Queen Victoria.
[edit] Reaction
With a reported $160 million budget, Poseidon received mixed to negative reviews with critics (with the exception of Entertainment Weekly and MAXIM), and opened with a disappointing $22.2 million on its opening weekend of May 12, in second place behind the reigning leader, Mission: Impossible III.[1] Warner Brothers president-chief operating officer Alan Horn called the results, "very, very disappointing." The movie was however commended for its realistic use of CGI effects in the capsizing scenes.[2] As of August 14, Poseidon has taken in roughly $60.6 million at the domestic and $181 million at the worldwide box office. In the Netherlands, the film debuted at #2 and remained there for two weeks, with The Da Vinci Code being #1 for four consecutive weeks.
[edit] DVD release
Poseidon was released on DVD August 22, 2006, in both a single disc and double disc edition. The single disc edition has a behind the scenes feature and the theatrical trailer. The double disc edition features both the theatrical trailer, the behind the scenes feature, and also has the documentary Poseidon: Upside Down: A Unique Set Design Chronicle documentary, A Shipmate's Diary, which covers a film school intern's experience on the set, and a History Channel documentary that explores rogue waves.[3]
It is rumored that there will be a Poseidon: Extended Edition to be released on HD-DVD early 2007. Apparantly, this version will feature the original 98-minute theatrical version, as well as a 125-minute extended version specially prepared by Wolfgang Petersen. It is also said that Petersen and actor Josh Lucas have recorded a commentary track for the theatrical version. This extended edition promises to include a in-depth look behind-the-scenes. However, the HD DVD edition is delayed until further notice.
[edit] See also
- The Poseidon Adventure (2005)
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
- The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
- The Poseidon Adventure (book)
- SS Poseidon
- 2006 in film
- Queen Mary 2
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Poseidon official site
- Poseidon at the Internet Movie Database
- UK Site
- Poseidon Teaser Trailer
- Poseidon ShoWest Reel
- The Poseidon Journals for behind the scenes reports from nine different major online outlets.
- Poseidon at Rotten Tomatoes
- Poseidon at Metacritic
- Poseidon Premiere in Berlin AEDT.de
- Review: Poseidon at The-Trades.com
- Poseidon at Box Office Mojo
