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Poseidon (film)

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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.

Contents

Storyline

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The movie centres on the Poseidon, a luxury ocean liner, named for the Greek god of the sea, in the midst of a transatlantic crossing.

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

Elena (Mía Maestro) is a stowaway traveling to see her ill brother in New York, 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 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 one other 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 mom, 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, alone, through the crowded disco.

In the ballroom, the countdown to the New Year ends with streamers, baloons and cheers.

On the bridge the First Officer silences a celebratory crew, showing concern. He spots the rogue wave nearing the ship, as does Nelson, who was about to jump overboard, and who returns inside. The officer puts in an order to turn the bow hard to starboard in order to avoid a side-on hit, but it is too late. The wave hits the ship, rolling it completely upside-down, and, 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. The impact of the wave, and roll of the ship sweeps people overboard, while others are burned in flash-fires, crushed by debris, or electrocuted.

After some calm is restored in the ballroom, the Captain assures the people that when the wave hit, a signal-beacon was released and rescue teams would be on the way. Meanwhile, Jennifer and Christian are in the remains of the nightclub, where one of the spotlight girders has fallen on Christian, trapping his leg beneath it. Jen, with the enlisted help of Elena, try to lift the girder off of Christian.

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 rescue, 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 aside Marco conscripting him, as he is a staff member, as a guide through the ship. After the group leaves, the Captain orders the water-tight doors sealed.

Making their way to the Disco, the group traverses the fiery kitchen, and climbs a deck via a service elevator shaft. In the shaft the elevator cab suspended above them begins to shake loose, their makeshift bridge falls, and Marco, who fatally volunteered to let Nelson go ahead of him, finds himself clinging to Nelson's legs. To save himself, Nelson kicks Marco loose, and the latter 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 (who was found by Elena beneath a pile of corpses) 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 she and her father alone on the one side of the atrium, Jen shows Robert 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, and rivets popping. Once this is noticed, people begin to panic, looking for an exit, but beyond the water-tight doors is flooded. The Captain and Gloria calmly hug each other just before all the windows shatter and water comes pouring in, drowning everybody. The screams of those trapped in the ballroom are heard by the survivors in the atrium, and the group heads off once more. The water collected in the bottom of the atrium beginning 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 slipped, trapping Elena and a drowning Dylan underneath him, but he managed 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 hits her head. Dylan swims back to attempt her rescue, but it is too late. With Nelson distraught over her death, the group leaves Elena by putting her cross back on her neck and moves on, while the remaining ballast tanks continue to fill one by one, bringing the ship that much closer to going under.

Beyond the stairs, the path to the bow thrusters is found to run into only 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 tiling 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. 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 swam off. Dylan, Maggie and Connor then arrive and are told what has transpired. Meanwhile, Robert arrives at the control room, only to find the engine stop button broken. With his last breath he manages to find and press the button which reverses the direction of the propellers. Robert then drowns.

In the bow thruster room it is noticed that the blades are now turning the other way. Dylan moves to throw a nitrogen 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, the Poseidon, with only the bow emerging from the water, rights itself, and goes under. 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 helicopters arrive to pick the six survivors from the water.

Sets
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, and opened with a disappointing $22.1 million on its opening weekend of May 12, in second place behind the reigning leader, [[Mission: Impossible III]]. [link] Warner Brothers president-chief operating officer Alan Horn called the results, "very, very disappointing."[link]. As of June 18, Poseidon has taken in roughly 60,1 million dollars at the domestic and 166,7 million dollars 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 €727.600. [Boxoffice NL]

DVD release

Poseidon will be released on DVD August 22nd, 2006 in both a single disk and double disk edition. The single disk edition will have a behind the scenes feature and the theatrical trailer. The double disk edition will feature both the theatrical trailer, the behind the scenes feature, and will also have 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.[link]

See also

References

External links

 

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