With Poseidon, director Wolfgang Petersen completes a trilogy of seafaring films beginning with Das Boot and The Perfect Storm. We called it a "jolly" version of Paul Gallico's book, which was first shot as The Poseidon Adventure in 1972. However, not all critics were wowed, and it got a lukewarm reception from paying punters. The world is yet to be convinced of Josh Lucas's leading man credentials...

Petersen Rules The Waves

While our cousins across the pond were granted an extras-jammed two-disc edition, the UK release is a single-disc affair with just one behind-the-scenes featurette to accompany the obligatory trailer. The featurette gets across the sheer scale of filmmaking which is, as supporting player Kevin Dillon puts it, "humungous". Petersen is also keen to emphasis that "THIS IS NOT A REMAKE" because, "Why should we do another Shelly Winters character?" Instead he talks about taking the basic premise of Gallico's book and packing in as many stunts as possible.

Making A Splash

Of course the thesps assure us they were keen to do all their own stunts and in case we don't believe them, snippets of b-roll are offered as proof. Endless tanks of water are dumped on lavish sets while the likes of Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell and even little tyke Conor James flail around on wires. "It was hard not to lose our minds," says Lucas, "with the incredible excitement and the awe about the scope and the sheer tragic madness of it all."

Unfortunately we can't get as excited about this stingily assembled DVD, which we're guessing is merely intended to whet our appetite for a later Special Edition.

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