Poseidon (2006) - Petersen's disastrous disaster flick

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+ Career Killer of the Year: Wolfgang Petersen + Costliest Flop of the Year: 87.36 mil. $ range

 

An upside-down cruise ship underwater makes up this disaster-teasing poster for Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon

 

The giant cruise ship the Poseidon gets hit on new year's night by a 'rogue wave', which turns it upside down. Chaos ensues inside, as a group of survivors fight their way to the surface!

 

Poseidon is written by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend (2007)), adapting The Poseidon Adventure (1969) by Paul Gallico (Miracle in the Wilderness (1975)), and co-produced and directed by German-born American master filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen (Ich Werde Dich Töten, Wolf (1971)). The novel has previously been adapted as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Really handsome visual effects, especially in the beginning of the film and around the impact of the freak wave, keeps Poseidon above water for a while as a more good-looking, appropriately silly update of the well-known, silly, tiring 1970s movie. We are introduced to plentiful characters, but the encounters become very superficial one and all, and more than once outright laughable in their corniness. Popstar Fergie (Nine (2009)), the black and the latino characters all die relatively quickly, and so the film lives up to the old Hollywood race-profile cliché of letting the white characters outlive other races.

Despite controlled length the film develops sort of like the original Poseidon movie with many long, thrill-less scenes with wet stars, flames and screaming. Petersen fails to elevate this shipwreck.

 

Related posts:

 

Wolfgang Petersen: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Top 10: Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Boat/Das Boot (1981) - Petersen's awe-inspiring WWII epic 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 160 mil. $

Box office: 181.6 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.13 times its cost)

[Poseidon was released May 10 (Philippines, Thailand) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place from June - October 2005 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind Mission: Impossible III, to a 22.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#5), grossing 60.6 mil. $ (33.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 14 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Japan with 9.9 mil. $ (5.5 %). The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The film additionally made in excess of 27.1 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Petersen returned with Vier Gegen die Bank (2016). Kurt Russell (Vanilla Sky (2001)) returned in Death Proof (2007). Poseidon is rotten at 33 % with a 4.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Poseidon?

J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic

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1 Time Film Excess Award Winner:

Best Make-up and Hair: Alessandro Bertolazzi, Kathryn Blondell, Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Tania McComas, Carol A. O'Connell

3 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (lost to Rory Stewart Kinnear, Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (lost to Jack Black for Bernie)
Best Make-up and Hair: Alessandro Bertolazzi, Kathryn Blondell, Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Tania McComas, Carol A. O'Connell (won)

+ Best Biopic of the Year

Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular intelligence hawk, Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar

QUICK REVIEW:

Presented with jumps in time of several decades, some of the most important cases and periods that define FBI founder and chief through 48 years, J. Edgar Hoover is portrayed.

Contrary to the unbalanced opinions of many, regular audiences and critics alike, (perhaps due to the politically controversial figure that is the subject here), J. Edgar is actually a mighty fine film, master filmmaker Clint Eastwood's best since Gran Torino (2008).
Dustin Lance Black's (Milk (2008)) sensitive script covers the Lindbergh-baby kidnapping, the G-Men PR of the 1930s, Hoover during Roosevelt's presidency and his de facto power over them through various extortions, through to Nixon and Martin Luther King, - and to Hoover's life-long confidant - and secret love of his life - Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger (2013))). It is all presented in superiorly controlled fashion, soberly, and phenomenally played by Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)) in the imposing title role.
J. Edgar is both moving and an important piece of historical drama about one of the most powerful men of the 20th century.

Related posts:
 
Clint Eastwood: American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story
The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (actor)
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (actor)
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (actor) 

Leonardo DiCaprio, impressively, also remains believable as Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar in his latter years

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 35 mil. $
Box office: 84.6 mil. $
= Minor flop
[J. Edgar nearly made the financial cut theatrically, and probably earned a small profit with video and TV exploitation. DiCaprio was Globe-nominated for his acting in it. It opened with a 11.2 mil. $ opening weekend and grossed 37.3 mil. $ (44 % of the total gross) in North America. Though derided by several dubious critics, J. Edgar also has other fans besides Film Excess: Like Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, David Denby of The New Yorker and Roger Ebert, who gave it 3½ stars out of four (equal to my 5 hearts.)]

What do you think of J. Edgar?