{"id":31787,"date":"2025-08-07T14:52:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T21:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31787"},"modified":"2025-08-07T14:52:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T21:52:53","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-poseidon-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31787","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4k Ultra HD Review: POSEIDON (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d will be released by\nArrow Video on August 12th<\/sup>, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You might be surprised to learn this, but disaster pictures\nhave been around since the early days of film production. In the 1930s, movies\nlike Deluge, San Francisco<\/em> and The Rains Came<\/em> took full advantage\nof the cinematic possibilities of presenting floods, earthquakes and other\nphenomena on the big screen. The genre truly exploded with the release of The\nPoseidon Adventure<\/em> in 1972, a box office smash (grossing roughly $125\nmillion on a budget of less than $5 million) about a group of passengers\nattempting to survive after a rogue wave overturns the cruise liner they are\nvacationing on. It spawned a wave of titles through the 1970s like The\nTowering Inferno, Earthquake<\/em> and many more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2006, a string of new disaster movie successes over the\npast decade (Twister, Titanic, Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow<\/em>), as\nwell as vast improvements in special effects technology, inspired noted\nfilmmaker Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The Neverending Story, Enemy Mine, In\nthe Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm<\/em>) to mount a\nnew edition of The Poseidon Adventure<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poseidon<\/em> was a massive production, costing more than $160\nmillion. It was among the most expensive movies of the year (although Pirates\nof the Caribbean: Dead Man\u2019s Chest <\/em>and Superman Returns<\/em> were\npricier), but the feature didn\u2019t make as big an impression as hoped for at the\nbox office. Truth be told, it barely recouped its production budget, leaving it\nabout $100 million in the hole from marketing expenses. While a fine director\nwith a steady stream of hits up until that point, Petersen never made another\nfilm in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The movie did make up some of its losses and gained popularity\nafter its home video release, enough to help build a cult following over the\nyears. Arrow Video is now presenting a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD edition that\nreally shows just how epic and lavish a film it was. Admittedly, the movie has\nplenty of story problems, but the action is exceptionally well-handled, and the\nvisuals are awe-inspiring when the scenes involve practical effects. If you own\na large television and 4K player and want to want to enjoy a spectacle, Poseidon<\/em>\ndelivers this in spades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the opening credits roll, viewers are introduced to the\nmassive ship making a transatlantic journey from London to New York. On board are\nbasic characters quickly introduced in only a scene or two. There is gambler\nDylan Johns (Josh Lucas), former mayor and firefighter Robert Ramsey (Kurt\nRussell), as well as his daughter Jennifer (Emily Rossum) and her boyfriend\nChristian (Mike Vogel). Robert isn\u2019t a fan of Christian and is unaware that the\npair are now engaged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Additional voyagers include single mother Maggie (Jacinda\nBarrett), her son Conor (Jimmy Bennett), sleazebag \u2018Lucky\u2019 Larry (Kevin Dillon)\nwaiter Marco Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez), stowaway Elena (Mia Maestro), and architect\nRichard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss). After a wave knocks the ship upside down,\nthese characters decide to locate one another, then climb and escape the ocean liner\nthrough a bow propeller. Captain Michael Bradford (Andre Braugher) advises them\nagainst it, remaining with other passengers including performer Gloria (Stacy \u2018Fergie\u2019\nFerguson). The group\u2019s journey is perilous and some perish as they try to find\na way out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disaster movies typically introduce a wide variety of\ncharacters who share their troubles, resulting in some melodrama before tragedy\nstrikes. Then, they fight for their lives while dealing with their personal\nissues. As mentioned, there isn\u2019t much development here. In fact, the rogue\nwave strikes only 17 or 18 minutes into the picture. One feels that there must\nhave been more material shot. Despite only staring each other down at the\ncasino table for one scene, after the major event Robert Ramsey immediately starts\nreferring to gambler Dylan by his first name. All of the important facts about\nevery role are breezed over in a line or two, and it seems obvious that early\ncharacter-building moments didn\u2019t play and were trimmed down to focus on delivering\nthrills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, there is a subplot or two that does recur, with\nthe most significant being the mayor coming around to accept Chirstian as a\ndecent guy worthy of his daughter. The rest seems to simply fall by the\nwayside. As a result, viewers aren\u2019t as emotionally invested in the leads. And\nwhile the digital effects were very good for their day, the elaborate opening\nshot, the rogue tidal wave, as well as flames expanding down hallways aren\u2019t as\nseamless today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, a lot of the work in the film is largely practical\nand looks stunning. So much so that those just wanting to see incredible sets\nand impressive action will be more than satisfied. The group must climb up and out\nof the ballroom, then again in the grand lobby, as well as cross elevator\nshafts and swim through waterlogged parts of the ship. All of this looks incredible,\nand you can see that the performers were made to do a lot more than they likely\nbargained for. For genre movie fans, the filmmakers also deliver some memorably\nhorrific death sequences, with several characters falling great heights or\nbeing flattened by falling instruments. One scene, involving a central\ncharacter drowning, is the film\u2019s most wince-inducing moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the lack of character development, this is a silly\nmovie, but a fun one that does wow and is always inviting to look at. The new\n4K remaster of the film is presented in Dolby Vision and looks absolutely\nperfect. The image in incredibly sharp and clean. Of course, this means that\nsome of the digital effects aren\u2019t quite as convincing as they once were, but\nthe upside-down, multi-story sets and various ship environments are full of detail.\nIt\u2019s hard to image this movie ever looking any better than it has been\npresented here. This is top-notch transfer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The disc also comes with some great bonus features. This\nincludes a new interview with talented cinematographer John Seale (Witness,\nThe Hitcher, Rain Man, The English Patient, The Perfect Storm, Harry Potter and\nthe Philosopher\u2019s Stone, Mad Max: Fury Road<\/em>) who goes over his experiences\nworking on the movie. The figure notes that he was offered his first gig with\nthe filmmaker after meeting him at a Hollywood party thrown by Harrison Ford. He\nalso talks about the multi-camera, almost TV show-like shooting set-up and what\nhe did to try and make the film look like it was shot with one or two cameras\n(he easily succeeded). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, you\u2019ll get a wonderful interview with production\ndesigner William Sandell, who created the phenomenal sets, which really define the\nlook of the picture. He also worked on The Perfect Storm<\/em> with Petersen\nand discusses how he got his start, and his specific efforts on this film, as\nwell as some other visually striking efforts, including Robocop, Total\nRecall, Hocus Pocus, The Flintstones <\/em>and Master and Commander: The Far\nSide of the World<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is also a discussion with visual effects supervisor\nBoyd Shermis, who talks about his storied career and how this production pushed\nthe boundaries of CGI at the time. Both are great to listen to and are informative\nchats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion with make-up effects on-set supervisor Michael\nDeak is a great deal of fun too. He discusses how he got his start at KNB and\nreceived a request for the various corpses lying about through the ship. He\nused the 100+ bodies from another film he had just finished on called The\nIsland<\/em>, adding burns and other wounds, as well as making them able to work\nin water. All were impressed by the work and he was contacted and asked to\nprovide the same carcasses for an explosion scene in the movie D\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu<\/em>.\nThese bodies really got around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of the individuals interviewed noted just how impressive\nthe multi-story sets were and the dangers of working in such an unusual\nenvironment. Deak recalls that safety was emphasized and production assistants\nwere constantly telling him not to approach the edges of the upside-down areas.\nHe states he was actually more worried about them falling off. They all note\nwhat a great experience shooting the movie was and that Petersen was a nice man\nto work with. Several also discuss their disappointment at the film\u2019s lackluster\nperformance at theaters. While he was very proud of his work, Deak does note\nthat the original film is so beloved and that he is such a fan that this redo didn\u2019t\nreally stand a chance of topping the first feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a new retrospective piece on the movie, in\nwhich a defensive critic sticks up for the picture. He first admits that the\nfilm doesn\u2019t have strong female characters, but that it is still excellent and\nthat it intentionally abandons character development. The individual insists\nthis is why the moniker is simply the name of the ship, because the boat is<\/em>\nto be taken as the main character. It\u2019s a questionable assertion, and as mentioned\nI\u2019m certain footage must have been cut. I find it hard to believe that the epic\nproduction was always intended to do away with character building and be less\nthan 90 minutes in length (not including credits).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for the title change, I have a friend (author Michael Rose), whose amusing comments on the name might be a little more authentic. He always found the original title misleading, stating that the film\u2019s events were hardly what would be defined as an \u201cadventure\u201d, adding that the few who survived would likely be seeking therapy and\/or taking part in a massive lawsuit. Despite my disagreements with some of the arguments presented by the critic in this extra, he does make some interesting points, particularly about the film\u2019s casting and streak of eliminating several of its characters in shocking ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll get ton of archival featurettes from the movie\u2019s original\nrelease with all the cast and crew sharing their thoughts on the production. Additionally,\nthere is a reversible sleeve with new and original artwork for the title, as\nwell as an illustrated booklet with new writing on the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poseidon<\/em> isn\u2019t among the best disaster movies ever\nmade, but it is certainly entertaining for its jaw-dropping sets, impressive\naction sequences and memorably unsettling moments of carnage. Arrow Video\u2019s \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d 4K Ultra HD disc really helps the movie shine on home theater systems,\nwith an incredible picture and impressive soundscape. If you are a fan of the film\nor the disaster genre in general, this disc is definitely worth picking up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d will be released by Arrow Video on August 12th, 2025. You might be surprised to learn this, but disaster pictures have been around since the early days of film production. In the 1930s, movies like Deluge, San Francisco and The Rains Came took full advantage of the cinematic possibilities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[155,697,1357,1836,4964,5903,6928,7489,7490,7905,10078,10708,11058,11618,11952,13743,13945,16283,16284,16285,16286,16986,18276,22825],"class_list":["post-31787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-155","tag-action","tag-andre-braugher","tag-arrow-video","tag-cruise-liner","tag-disaster","tag-emily-rossum","tag-fergie","tag-fergie-ferguson","tag-freddy-rodriguez","tag-jacinda-barrett","tag-jimmy-barrett","tag-josh-lucas","tag-kevin-dillon","tag-kurt-russell","tag-mia-maestro","tag-mike-vogel","tag-poseidon","tag-poseidon-4k-ultra-hd","tag-poseidon-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-poseidon-disc-review","tag-richard-dreyfuss","tag-ship","tag-thriller"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}