Poseidon
Passengers try to survive when a giant wave flips a liner on its belly.
It's that time of year again, said Kyle Smith in the New York Post. Poseidon is this year's big-budget mega-flop, a movie whose purported $150 million price tag can't save it from utter blandness. 'œAudiences at Poseidon are facing only a slightly better time than passengers on Poseidon,' who are drowned, crushed, impaled, and ground up while our sexy heroes improbably rush to safety. Hardly any character development takes place before the 150-foot 'œrogue wave' hits the ship and turns it upside down, giving us no reason to root for Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, and Richard Dreyfuss as they crawl through the bowels of the ship. This remake can't hold a candle to the cheesy 1972 original, The Poseidon Adventure, said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. Watching a digitized wall of water hit a computerized vessel isn't half as entertaining as seeing Shelley Winters' fat bottom bobbing under the sea. And thanks to director Wolfgang Petersen's humorless approach, this movie is 'œtoo unpleasant and repetitive to be entertaining, even as camp.' Come on, it's just a summer disaster flick, said Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. We all know what we're getting into when we walk into the theater: 'œA few characters will perish and others will look good wet,' and that's fine with us.
Rating: PG-13
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published