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Poseidon (film)

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Poseidon
File:Poseidon Offical Teaser.jpg
Directed byWolfgang Petersen
Written byPaul Gallico (novel)
Paul Attanasio (screenplay)
Akiva Goldsman (screenplay)
StarringKurt Russell
Josh Lucas
Jacinda Barrett
Richard Dreyfuss
Jimmy Bennett
Emmy Rossum
Mike Vogel
Mía Maestro
Andre Braugher
CinematographyJohn Seale
Edited byPeter Honess
Music byKlaus Badelt
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
12 May, 2006
LanguageEnglish
Budget$160 Million

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.

Storyline

Template:Spoiler 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 focus on a brief introduction of the main characters as they go about their activities and business throughout the ship: Jennifer "Jen" Ramsey (Emmy Rossum) and Christian (Mike Vogel) are a young couple hoping to soon be engaged, but Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), Jen's father and former firefighter/mayor of New York, harbours doubts about the relationship, and Christian in particular.

Elena (Mía Maestro) is a stowaway traveling to see her ill brother in New York. She resides in the cabin of Marco Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez), a waiter in the ship's dining room. Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas) is a smooth-talking professional gambler, and architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is a distraught gay 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. Jen 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, Jen 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, causeing it to sink into the sea . As the wave begins to capsize the ship, crashing is heard everywhere in the ship, a group of people who were swimming in the indoor pool are plundged into the ocean as the glass surounding them breaks. In the lobby the elevator collapes and a woman falls to her death screaming. As the wave passes over the exposed keel, causes it to rise again on the opposite side, causing the ship to complete a 270-degree rotation on its beam-end before settling in an inverted position and people can be heard screaming inside the now capsized ship. The impact of the wave and roll of the ship sweeps people overboard, while others are incinerated to ash in flash-fires, crushed by debris, or electrocuted.

The ship loses power upside-down, but the back-up generator kicks in, turning the power back on. 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.

Meanwhile, Jennifer and Christian are in the remains of the nightclub, where everyone is in a panic. One of the spotlight girders has fallen on Christian, trapping his leg beneath it. Jen and Elena try to lift the girder off of Christian. Back in the ballroom, Maggie spots Connor on the bottom of the bolted-down piano, which is now on the "ceiling". Robert grabs a curtain, claiming to once be a fireman, and tells Connor to jump into it, which he does. The curtain acts as a safety net and Connor lands safely into it.

In the nightclub, Jen and Elena are still trying to free Christian. Suddenly, sprinklers on the other side of the room go off, and the water hits some loose electrical wires, gruesomely electrocuting everyone it touches to death. Elena 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.

In the ballroom, Robert fights with the captain over his desire to go search for Jen. 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 Marco aside and conscripting him, as he is a staff member and can act as a guide through 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 walking. As she tries to climb a girder, an arm suddenly grabs her from under a pile of corpses. The arm belongs to Lucky Larry, who has survived.

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 made it safely to the other side. However, as Marco tries to help Nelson, the elevator cab suspended above them begins to shake loose causing their makeshift bridge to fall and Marco is left dangling and clinging to Nelson's legs. In order for Nelson to save himself, he has to kick Marco 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. The group recovers and heads on.

In the nightclub, Elena, Jennifer, and "Lucky 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 is their 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 Jen 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 shockwaves, 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 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 screw 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. The tank is flooded, the vent opens, and the bunch swims through. Beyond that point, they head through flooded corridors towards a set of stairs. However, Elena gets caught on loose wires, and while trying to free herself, she hits her head. Dylan swims back to attempt her rescue, but it is too late. With Nelson distraught over her death, the group ties Elena's cross back on her, puts her body in the water, 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 found to run into more 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. Before they all head off, though, 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 either stopped manually or turning in the other direction 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 Jen, he turns to find that Robert has already swum 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 with his last breath.

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, in an ironic twist of fate, 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.

Template:Spoiler-end

Sets

File:Pos-2.jpg
The set of the ballroom for Poseidon.
File:BritanniaRestaurant2.jpg
The Britannia Restaurant on board Queen Mary 2.Template:Replacethisimage

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.

Cast

Trivia

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. In total, the film has grossed a total of € 1,178,357 in the Netherlands.[3]

DVD release

Poseidon was released on DVD August 22nd, 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]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Boxoffice NL
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