- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: VC-1
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 (Quebecois), French Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (Castilian), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (Latin American)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, German SDH, Italian, Italian SDH, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American)
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Rating: PG-13
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- Blu-ray Release Date: April 6, 2010
- List Price: $24.98
[amazon-product align=”right”]B000R209NY[/amazon-product]
Best Buy:
Purchase Poseidon on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
If fleshed out characters and a deep plot are what you are expecting from this 2006 remake of The Poseidon Adventure, then you’ll be sorely disappointed, but let’s face facts. It’s not like that 1974 original was steep on high drama either, only big-name actors and pretty good special effects for its day. Poseidon ups the ante on special effects with a CGI extravaganza and some fairly recognizable screen names that slide easily into the roles that are as shallow as the ocean waters are deep.
This time out, it’s Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum, Kevin Dillon, and Jacinda Barrett keeping the lifeboat afloat in this far-fetched tale of high seas adventure. It’s a modern day Titanic — The Poseidon, the biggest, fastest luxury liner the world has ever seen and it has been capsized by a rogue wave. A small group of strangers must now make their way up to the bottom of the ship and out to safety.
Along the way, they find the typical perils: floods, fires, dead bodies, bolted hatches, and just the right number of open doorways and just-wide-enough ventilation shafts perfectly placed to aid them on their journey downward, err, upward, as the water rushing into the ship chases at their heels and occasionally rushes over their heads.
Forget about deep thought and emotional drama here, this is strictly a vehicle for special effects and adrenalin rushes, unless you think one-liners like “where’s the ballroom?” “Why, you feel like dancin’ now?” count for real, heavyweight drama.
If you “turn off your mind, relax and float down stream” it’ll all be over with in an easy breezy 90-minutes or so and might well be worth it as a weekend rental.
Video Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Poseidon’s new 2.35:1 1080p VC-1 offers enough detail to render some of the outlandish special effects looking somewhat less than realistic, but overall it is a less-than-satisfying, soft transfer from Warner. It’s as clean and free from source damage as one would expect from a film that only saw its theatrical release in 2006, but it fails to pop at any given moment in this new Blu-ray release. Background detail is only occasionally well extended, and foreground details vary. Flesh tones are natural, black levels are deep, and there is no noticeable macroblocking in the constant rush of water and explosions.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Poseidon is granted a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack from Warner that certainly beefs up the low end, so those explosions and rushes of salty seawater making their way through the capsized ship will at times also make their way straight through your bones, but for the most part it is a tame soundtrack. There is mild use of the surround channels for discrete sound effects and ambient, atmospherics to heighten the intensity. Dialogue is clean and well balanced amongst the louder foley effects. The front channels are also put to good use for directional panning to follow the action across the screen.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Don’t look to this release to offer up a lorry load of supplements to get you excited. Everything here has been seen before, and it’s all in standard definition.
The supplements provided on this release are:
Behind the Story:
- Poseidon: A Ship on a Soundstage (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:22.42) — Explore the incredible filmmaking expertise employed in mounting this complicated movie.
- A Shipmate’s Diary (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:12.22) — Discover the difference between what one learns in film school and what actually happens on the set of a major motion picture.
- Poseidon: Upside Down (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:10.45) — A Look at the extreme challenges that go into building sets both upright and upside down.
Extras:
- 2006 History Channel Rogue Waves: The Sinking of Poseidon (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:28.37) — Explore the mystery behind the real phenomenon of rogue waves.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
Oscar worthy drama it ain’t, but Poseidon delivers on its promise of nonstop action for sure. Rent it for an afternoon of mindless fun, but don’t expect top tier reference material from Warner’s encoding.
Additional Screen Captures:
Best Buy:
Purchase Poseidon on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
