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?

I Am Legend (2007) - Lawrence's overrated apocalyptic slush

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Will Smith is a lone warrior in a septic-colored, apocalyptic future New York on this poster for Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend

In New York a military scientist lives isolated all alone in a world ravaged by a rampant virus, as he tries to find a cure. 

I Am Legend is written by Mark Protosevich (The Cell (2000)) and Akiva Goldsman (Silent Fall (1994)) and directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine (2005)), adapting Richard Matheson's (The Comedy of Terrors (1964)) same-titled 1954 novel, which was previously adapted as The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega Man (1971).
This big horror-action feature has quite a few CGI animals, quiet periods with only Will Smith (Hitch (2005)) and his German Shepherd dog friend, an unexplained catastrophe and ugly monsters that are a mix of zombies and vampires. The big scenes in Manhattan, which were visibly shot on location, are the best in this otherwise a bit dull and poorly written movie: Smith's character is self-contradictory and not basically solid, and Legend has a strange scene that uses Shrek (2001) pasted into it, as well as a strange religious angle. I Am Legend reeks of major studio slush.

Related posts:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

 Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 585.3 mil. $ 
= Big hit (returned 3.9 times the cost)
[I Am Legend premiered 5 December (Tokyo, Japan) and runs 101 minutes. Its development was very long, starting in 1995: Warner Bros.' development was fixed on Ridley Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but a huge budget and related flops made the production escape fruition. As Smith got involved, he asked Guillermo Del Toro to direct, but he passed in favor of Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). The film was green-lit without a script in place, and rewriting continued during shooting, which took place in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, California from September 2006 - March 2007. Lawrence insisted upon shooting on location in New York. One big scene on the Brooklyn Bridge cost a record 5 mil. $, involving 1,000 extras, 250 crew members and 160 National Guard members, as well as Humvees, Strykers, boats and many other vehicles. The monster creatures were initially supposed to be portrayed by actors, but Lawrence changed his mind, and digital creatures were instead created at a great cost. The film opened #1 to a huge 77.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, a new record for a December opening, and it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weeks (#2-#3-#3) and grossed impressive 256.3 mil. $ (43.8 % of the total gross). It was the 6th highest-grossing film of the year domestically. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 51.6 mil. $ (8.8 %) and Japan with 40.2 mil. $ (6.9 %). The film missed a Chinese release, as US films were temporarily shut out of the market, although Smith himself tried to alter this. It was still the 7th highest-grossing film globally of the year. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to two notches better than this review. It sold in excess of 7 mil. DVD's in North America, making an additional 126.2 mil. $ as the 6th bestselling DVD of 2008. Lawrence returned with Britney Spears music video Circus (2008), 3 episodes of Kings (2009, TV-series), Lady Gaga music video Bad Romance (2009) and theatrically with Water for Elephants (2011). Smith returned in Hancock (2008). There was talk of a prequel, but it hasn't yet materialized. I Am Legend is fresh at 69 % with a 6.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Am Legend?