Poseidon
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: May 12, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
17
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
It's a buoyant, old-wave disaster pic for a generation of well-conditioned thrill seekers charmed by the revelation that Richard Dreyfuss really is the Red Buttons of our day. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Beyond being a showplace for crash-and-burn effects, Poseidon seems to be stumping for togetherness. Read full review
80
EmpireSimon Braund
A shot in the arm for the classic disaster movie: awesome effects, nail-biting tension and a cast of characters we don’t want dead after half an hour - even, amazingly, the cute kid. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
You'll end up entertained if you forgive the cliches and let Petersen grab you with the visuals. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
As clumsy as the movie is in many ways, it strings together maybe a dozen situations in which we are absolutely, excruciatingly, on the edge of our seats -- which is to say that the new Poseidon essentially does its job. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The new cast is no match for the star-clustered original, but Lucas, who looks much like a young Paul Newman (you may think you're watching "The Towering Inferno"), has a strong, matinee-idol presence, and Russell is a reliable old hand at this sort of thing. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Among the willing cast, only Jacinda Barrett and topliners Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss manage, just barely, to suggest a third dimension to the script's cursory character sketches. But that won't matter to audiences craving a disaster thrill ride. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian Lowry
Thanks to its simple construction, Wolfgang Petersen's large-scale liner moves reasonably well, though anyone with the faintest memory of its 1972 predecessor will wonder where most of the plot went. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Petersen leaves out, largely, character, back story, anecdote and warm personal relations. Poseidon isn't cute, funny, warm, nice, inspirational or uplifting. It's about the incredible labor of survival in a world turned totally sociopathic in an instant. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
An extremely well-crafted exercise in physical invention and fear. Yet within those limits--the limits of a pop-digital survival drama--Poseidon is an exciting show. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Poseidon is devoid of anything that might conjure up memories of the Winslet/DiCaprio coupling. Its straightforward action/adventure approach is both a strength and a weakness. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
By stripping the genre down to its essentials, long on the serial disasters but thankfully light on the stupid dialogue, [Petersen] not only maintains an acceptable modicum of suspense but -- here's the major bonus -- also manages to set a blissful speed record in the process, bringing his pricey blockbuster home to port in under 100 minutes. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The effects are terrific, from the two-and-a-half-minute opening sequence that tracks around the brilliantly lit liner from below, above and round about, to some amazing exterior shots of the groaning vessel rolling around in the churning sea like a giant, wounded whale. Read full review
60
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
In the plus column, Poseidon is a tightly-paced action movie that doesn’t depend too much on special effects for its thrills. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
"Titanic" without the metaphors, the class-consciousness, the love story, or anything resembling a theme, Poseidon invests so little in its screenplay that it might as well be an episode of "The Love Boat" gone horribly awry. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is nothing wrong with the performances. All of the actors are professionals, although none have as much fun as Shelley Winters, who is the actor everyone remembers from the 1972 movie. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
At least Poseidon takes care to dispatch the Black Eyed Peas' Stacy Ferguson who, as the shipboard entertainer, sings what may be the worst song ever written, reprised over the end credits. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The special effects, with one painful exception, hold up beautifully. But the people have no personalities, the story is unconvincing, and the whole movie is as shallow as the puddle left on a flat roof by a 20-minute shower. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
There's nothing hip or ironic about Poseidon, which makes Russell and Lucas the perfect leading men. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Maybe it's the era we're living in, but the new film is as much fun as a shroud. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Pretty much pure boilerplate: a reasonably well-executed throwaway that, when you finally get around to seeing it in its proper setting, will make you glad you decided to travel by air instead of by sea. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
More than characters, dialogue and lighting, here Petersen is interested exclusively in suspense of the will-he-or-won't-he-be-crushed-by-that-falling-flaming-elevator variety. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Exciting and nerve-racking in the moment, but empty. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Aside from a disturbingly graphic depiction of a drowning, there is also death by fire, electrocution and giant falling objects. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
After 9/11 and Katrina, this megabudget remake by Wolfgang Petersen benefits from a similar cultural oomph, though it's just as enjoyably silly as the original. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
An acceptably entertaining picture. At just 100 minutes long, it feels tight and trim, and unlike so many contemporary action pictures, it boasts only one ending, instead of three false ones. What's more, it's just as dumb as the original. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Overall it's slick, brainless entertainment. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The movie is, in all senses, a big downer. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Poseidon '06 is spectacularly noisy, uninteresting and character-free. Read full review
38
PremiereJessica Letkemann
Isn't quite self-aware enough to be really funny, and certainly isn't serious or genuinely exciting enough to be thrilling because of it's action. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Poseidon is a sodden saga, with a script that is awash in clichés. It nearly drowns under the weight of its own soggy tedium. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
An utterly empty-skulled genre mechanism and nothing more. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
If this version had been called The Poseidon Adventure, audiences could have sued for truth in packaging. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's all so much blood and brine signifying nothing, not even a good time. Now somebody do us all a favor and cut that albatross from around Petersen's neck already. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A deeply dreadful movie -- no, a shallowly dreadful movie -- that's too unpleasant and repetitive to be entertaining, even as camp.
12
New York PostKyle Smith
It's "Das Bomb." It's "The Perfunctory Storm." Read full review
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