Overview: German-born director Wolfgang Petersen (DAS BOOT, THE PERFECT STORM) returns to the sea for POSEIDON, a gripping remake of Ronald Neame and Irwin Allen`s 1972 disaster classic, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

Blu ray: In truth, and with all honestly I didn't even want to go see 'Poseidon' back in 2006 - and all because of the insanely negative reviews it got! But I went only because my boyfriend begged me to see it with him. I was lucky to have seen it on the IMAX screen, and for $15 per ticket I must say that it was worth it!

Now out on stunning-quality Blu ray, the movie starts out with gorgeous sweeping angels with the most majestic music that berated into the wide open surface of the ocean around the cruise ship. It starts off fast and there is no sitting around and waiting for something to happen. About ten minutes into the movie I was actually pissed at myself for almost missing it and the scenes in front of my eyes went from wild to insane.

This movie is extremely graphic to say the least. Except for some really dark war movies I have never seen people die and get hurt in so many ways to the point where the realistic portrayal knocked the wind out of my lungs. I felt as if I was there, tumbling with the ship hit by a rough wave exactly on midnight on new years ever.

Watching the ship go from wild turning to being turned upside down, having the fuel leak and explode, the rooms fill with ocean water, people flying and dying right and left looked like some crazy National Geographic disaster special. I couldn't believe how hard the struggle for a small group of passengers was as they were going back to the bottom of the boat, now facing up, trying with all they had for a chance to jump into the bottomless black ocean.

This reminded me of the Titanic, and the characters were fresh and modern, they struggled and sacrificed honor and lives, and they took us with them thorough the intestines of the ship. Kurt Russell has always been one of my favorites and his determination and strength were quite powerful in this movie as he and a group or random people reached to the ends of their sanity and physical strength to move forward. Pinocchio sure made escaping out of a whale look a lot easier then escape from the Poseidon was.

Overall I loved this movie yet it was terrifying because it threw human mortality and fragility right in front of the viewer. I do not think I could have survived going through what these people went through and that was sad and scary. Really good movie, bit sad, bit heart warming and definitely very intense.

And on the end note the music in the movie was staggering and breathtaking; it gave this movie such layers of depth that I got goose bumps from the first minute upon hearing it.

Now, for those all-important stats: The VC-1 1080p transfer (aspect ratio 2.40:1) appears to be the same as the HD-DVD. Indeed, the source is flawless, the blacks are terrific, and contrast is nice and smooth across the entire grayscale. Detail is super sharp much of the time (see the grand ballroom, or a subtle rainbow across the rogue wave's foam spray as it charges towards the ship), but it's not perfect - what is in life?! This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

3 Featurettes - "Poseidon: A Ship on a Soundstage," "Poseidon: Upside Down," and "A Shipmate's Diary."
"Rogue Waves" - a History Channel documentary

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