Poseidon

[JJuggle]

Poseidon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409182/)

I simply couldn't help seeing this remake of the classic, The Poseidon Adventure, complete with updated special effects, a bit of blood and guts, and a healthy dose of claustrophobia.

But what else does this new version offer that the original does not?

In exchange for the righteous, irrepressible Rev Gene Hackman we get two characters. Ex NYC Mayor Kurt Russell and inveterate gambler and reprobate, Josh Lucas.

In exchange for lovelorn Red Buttons we get gay lovelorn Richard Dreyfus.

In exchange for mousy flower child, lounge singer Carol Lynley we get illegal alien Mia Maestro.

In exchange for lovable brute Brute Ernest Borgnine we get loathesome brute Kevin Dillon (ouch - have you seen the remake of The Blob?).

This movie can easily be interpreted as pushing Hollywood's famed liberal agenda. Heroic characters in the form of a gay man, an illegal, and a single mother. As well as an interracial couple played by Andre Braugher as the stoic but tragically mistaken captain of the Poseidon and his partner, Charo-esque bombshell lounge singer Stacy Ferguson. And for this I salute it.

But what do we get in exchange for theme song, "The Morning After" (hmmm, too bad they couldn't have reused this and added an FDA commissioner to the roster of doomed passengers), and for Roddy McDowall.

And for Shelley Winters? For Shelley Winters, fer cryin' out loud?

Sadly, nothing.

[James_Potter]

I only just recently saw the original movie, on TV. It was pretty good...so I want to see the new one sometime soon.
One thing that was interesting is that Leslie Nielsen was in it, and he wasn't funny...?
Also, Charlie Bucket's grandpa, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was in it.

[johnfoss]

I start estimating the quality of a movie's remake by the quality of the original. For example, not that The Dukes Hazzard was a movie, it was a lame TV show. A movie version *might* have improved on that, but apparently it went the opposite way. I didn't see it.

The original Poseidon Adventure was one of Irwin Allen's earliest (first?) big disaster movie. For those not familiar with his work, he also did Earthquake, The Towering Inferno and a few others. As well as TV shows Lost In Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants and more. Of his disaster movies, Poseidon was perhaps the best one.

What to expect of a sequel? Sometimes you wonder why someone wants to go back and redo a movie that did well in the first place. In this case, perhaps to do more with CGI special effects and capitolize on the much greater popularity of cruise ship vacations these days. It could be better than the original.

One thing that was interesting is that Leslie Nielsen was in it, and he wasn't funny...?
Ahh you youngsters. Leslie Nielson probalby didn't ever play any funny roles until the original Airplane. He was in movies for 30+ years before that. For laughs (not from him), check out Forbidden Planet, a 1950's sci-fi classic. You'd barely even recognize the heroic but serious captain of the Earth-military spacecraft.

[chosen]

Ahh you youngsters. Leslie Nielson probalby didn't ever play any funny roles until the original Airplane. .
Awwww is that the movi where the old lady speaks jive? Lol.

[James_Potter]

Awwww is that the movi where the old lady speaks jive? Lol.
Haha, yes, its the funniest movie ever written!!

We've got clearance, Clarence.
Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?