Poseidon 4K Ultra HD

Irwin Allen’s all-star disaster epics were the original event movies.  With a cast made up of one or two A-list names and as many character actors as you could fit on a movie poster, these were three-hour (or even longeron TV) parades of melodramatic destruction full of sinking ships, towering infernos and really pissed off bees.  2006’s Poseidon goes all-in for the glorious upside-down chaos, but can’t quite recapture the overblown kitschy-ness that made those ‘70s sagas so memorable in the first place.

Capsized by a rogue wave on New Year’s Eve, the cruise ship Poseidon turns into a maze of flooded corridors and flash fires.   A small group of survivors led by the ex-mayor of New York (Kurt Russell) and an ex-naval officer (Josh Lucas) work their way to the bottom - now top - of the luxury liner in hope of rescue.  

That’s really all there is to it.  With a running time that barely crosses the hour-and-a-half mark, there’s no time for Love Boat style introductions or significant subplots. And maybe that’s for the best.  Poseidon’s script is cut to the bone.  We know Richard Dreyfuss’ character is gay because he wears a (gasp) earing, Emmy Rossum wants to get away from her overprotective father but still calls him “Daddy,”…and don’t even get me started on what Fergie up to!  These quick sketches are just enough to get the action moving, which is where the film excels.

Wolfgang Petersen is a man who knows about bad weather and explosive decompression.  And both come into play here as the director is reunited with his Perfect Storm cinematographer to whip up some waterlogged devastation, cramming his actors into flooded air vents and ballast tanks in very convincing fashion (up to seven cameras were used simultaneously to limit everyone’s time under water). It’s an impressive technical achievement.  But that’s all it is.  Even Kurt Russell, who brings a healthy dose of respectability to everythinghe’s in, can only squeeze so much emotion out of the situation.  Poseidon expends a lot of effort putting its characters in jeopardy, put hardly any time making us care if they survive.  For all of the original’s sappy sentimentality, that’s the part Irwin Allen’s productions always got right.

But for pure visual spectacle, Arrow’s new 4K UHD doesn’t need any comparison.  The limited-edition comes with several new interviews focused on the cinematography, make-up and visual effects plus a video retrospective.  All the archival stuff is packed on board too along with a collector’s booklet.  That’s all in addition to the Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of the film itself in Dolby Vision / HDR which is off-the-charts beautiful.