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bakoonin
Reviews
Málmhaus (2013)
I feel it
There are objectively good movies, and then there are movies that punches you in the feels. For me, this was a fair bit of the first, and a whole lot of the last.
Poseidon (2006)
It's OK, it's better than the '72 adventure, but it's no match for the novel
The people who hail the original The Poseidon Adventure of '72 as being better than this remake - because it IS a remake - must be either in denial or in a state of overwhelming nostalgia. Wolfgang Peterson is a better director, and Poseidon is better movie, end of discussion.
Talking about Peterson; he obviously loves water, and when he gets to play with boats, lives and confined spaces, you're in for a ride. Poseidon is tight and claustrophobic, it's fast and gorgeous looking, and you can feel the desperation wherever the camera goes. If death and catastrophic violence is your game, you'll feast on people being crushed, hurled, flushed and drowned, electrocuted, fried, impaled and burnt - and still there is more, without wearing you out.
The 2006 remake is far from perfect. It would benefit from portraying more of the darkness found in the novel. The script still holds a few grim moments, but this is an action flick, so just don't expect people fleeing for their lives to take long moments bathing in guilt (that's why they call it POST-traumatic stress). The cast feels a bit safe, almost boring, and some characters (Kevin Dillon - you knew his fate the moment he opened his mouth) really didn't bring anything to the movie that couldn't be replaced with, well, just about anything else. The pathetic background stories (yes, every last one of them) tend to bring you out of the story and into critic mode, but soon bodies and debris start levitating again, and you're right back in.
In total, I find Poseidon to be far better than disastrous disaster movies like the Emmerlich turkey collection (The Day After Tomorrow and ID4), Twister, The Core, Armageddon and Deep Impact, but not at all up there with movies like The Abyss. Not very surprising, though, would anyone expect money loving Hollywood to sacrifice any income, even a tiny dollar, for something that would make a lasting emotional or - what a dangerous thought - intellectual impression outside the special effects?
6.5/10