Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES:30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

POSEIDON (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: Petersen knows water flicks and stuff blows up. I'm there.

MAJOR PLAYERS: Josh Lucas (Stealth), Kurt Russell (Miracle), Richard Dreyfuss (Mr. Holland's Opus), and director Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm)

Aboard the Poseidon, it's New Year's Eve and everyone is rich and merry. Well, maybe not the crew or stowaway Elena (Mia Maestro) who's en route to see her brother in America, smuggled aboard by crew member Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez). Shortly after the new year, a "rogue wave" to end all waves hits, capsizing the enormous luxury liner and killing hundreds. The bulk of the survivors are in an air
pocket in the main ballroom, where the ceiling is now the floor as the ship floats upside down. Ex-Navy loner Dylan (Lucas) reluctantly leads a band of survivors - including former fireman and Mayor of New York City Robert (Russell), his secretly engaged daughter (Emmy Rossum) and her fiancée (Mike Vogel) as well as a depressed gay architect (Dreyfuss), a single mom (Jacinda Barrett) and her son
(Jimmy Bennett), Elena and Valentin, and others - out of the ballroom and through level after treacherous level of the Poseidon to get to the bottom (now the top) of the ship so they can escape the vessel before it sinks. But Mother Nature has other plans.

When it comes to filmmaking, Wolfgang Petersen doesn't believe in the South Beach Diet - he supersizes everything (think "Troy," "The Perfect Storm"). For a remake of the 1972 "The Poseidon Adventure," Petersen puts "Poseidon" through the big Hollywood effects machine. Effectively creating a luxury world literally turned on its head, Petersen has all the movie makings of a video game: great visual effects, orgiastic action, and no real script to speak of. Visual effects: you've seen that crazy wave from the trailer by now, right? Action: elevator shaft explosions, impromptu zipline over a pool of fire, a claustrophobic nailbiter of a scene where the survivors are trapped in a vent... Petersen's got mayhem any way you want it. And
the (flatliner of a) script? What script? With such a mix of eclectic characters, the writers barely have enough time to establish their names let alone backstories, lest they slow down the set piece-to-set piece adrenaline extravaganza. And these are truly dynamic set pieces and scenarios.

Held together by Klaus Badelt's involving score, "Poseidon's" big star is Mother Nature. Sure, Lucas and Russell topline in the "Armageddon"-esque, two hero formula (when one hero falters, another steps up), including a nice, unexpected twist in the de rigueur Dr. Spock moment (from the "Wrath of Khan" when Spock
sacrifices himself to save the Starship Enterprise: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"). Momma Nature ain't no joke. She conspires for some wickedly spectacular deaths, swiping lives in expected and unexpected manner. "Poseidon" focuses on the absolute unfairness of who lives or dies, and the wrenching human cost of having to make such a choice for other people. Although it's good for what it is, what "Poseidon" is, like its titular ship, is upside down
(effects over script) and barely afloat.

@@ REELS
(TWO REELS)
Extra medium

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES:30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare POSEIDON (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: Petersen knows water flicks and stuff blows up. I'm there. MAJOR PLAYERS: Josh Lucas (Stealth), Kurt Russell (Miracle), Richard Dreyfuss (Mr. Holland's Opus), and director Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) Aboard the Poseidon, it's New Year's Eve and everyone is rich and merry. Well, maybe not the crew or stowaway Elena (Mia Maestro) who's en route to see her brother in America, smuggled aboard by crew member Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez). Shortly after the new year, a "rogue wave" to end all waves hits, capsizing the enormous luxury liner and killing hundreds. The bulk of the survivors are in an air pocket in the main ballroom, where the ceiling is now the floor as the ship floats upside down. Ex-Navy loner Dylan (Lucas) reluctantly leads a band of survivors - including former fireman and Mayor of New York City Robert (Russell), his secretly engaged daughter (Emmy Rossum) and her fiancée (Mike Vogel) as well as a depressed gay architect (Dreyfuss), a single mom (Jacinda Barrett) and her son (Jimmy Bennett), Elena and Valentin, and others - out of the ballroom and through level after treacherous level of the Poseidon to get to the bottom (now the top) of the ship so they can escape the vessel before it sinks. But Mother Nature has other plans. When it comes to filmmaking, Wolfgang Petersen doesn't believe in the South Beach Diet - he supersizes everything (think "Troy," "The Perfect Storm"). For a remake of the 1972 "The Poseidon Adventure," Petersen puts "Poseidon" through the big Hollywood effects machine. Effectively creating a luxury world literally turned on its head, Petersen has all the movie makings of a video game: great visual effects, orgiastic action, and no real script to speak of. Visual effects: you've seen that crazy wave from the trailer by now, right? Action: elevator shaft explosions, impromptu zipline over a pool of fire, a claustrophobic nailbiter of a scene where the survivors are trapped in a vent... Petersen's got mayhem any way you want it. And the (flatliner of a) script? What script? With such a mix of eclectic characters, the writers barely have enough time to establish their names let alone backstories, lest they slow down the set piece-to-set piece adrenaline extravaganza. And these are truly dynamic set pieces and scenarios. Held together by Klaus Badelt's involving score, "Poseidon's" big star is Mother Nature. Sure, Lucas and Russell topline in the "Armageddon"-esque, two hero formula (when one hero falters, another steps up), including a nice, unexpected twist in the de rigueur Dr. Spock moment (from the "Wrath of Khan" when Spock sacrifices himself to save the Starship Enterprise: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"). Momma Nature ain't no joke. She conspires for some wickedly spectacular deaths, swiping lives in expected and unexpected manner. "Poseidon" focuses on the absolute unfairness of who lives or dies, and the wrenching human cost of having to make such a choice for other people. Although it's good for what it is, what "Poseidon" is, like its titular ship, is upside down (effects over script) and barely afloat. @@ REELS (TWO REELS) Extra medium Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com Â© 2004, Edwardo Jackson