Poseidon 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Poseidon 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 6, 2025

The Poseidon Adventure at least helped to solidify the "disaster film" genre when it was released to overwhelming box office in 1972, managing to escape itself from what some might have perceived as "pulpy" roots (a celebrated source novel by Paul Gallico) and ending up with two Academy Awards out of eight nominations in the process. And so of course, the handwriting was on the wall (or the hull, as the case may be) that someone was going to come along and mount a remake. Perhaps the only surprising thing about Poseidon is that it took decades after its progenitor to hit the big screens. Poseidon had a long ago 1080 release by home studio Warner Brothers that I frankly had forgotten I reviewed way back in 2010 (see below), which may suggest that this film is as they say less than memorable.

As mentioned above, Poseidon had a 1080 release in 2010 and my Poseidon Blu-ray review provides a plot summary, a list of supplements and my assessment of the technical presentation. I was obviously in a joking mood the day I wrote that review as evidenced by the "deck" (no ship pun intended -- the little subtitle under the review heading) and some really awful waterlogged puns I utilized. Sorry, not sorry.

Poseidon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken directly from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate, and I recommend those interested to look at some of the screenshots in our old Poseidon Blu-ray review for a probably better representation of the palette. Since this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

Poseidon is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.38:1. Arrow's insert booklet provides the following information on the presentation:

Poseidon has been restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with 5.1 audio.

The film is presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

The original 2K DI files were restored in 4K resolution and color graded at Duplitech.

All materials sourced for this new master were made available by Warner Brothers.

QC review was completed by Pixelogic.

This is a rather interesting looking 4K presentation where I suspect once again it may be the highlights in the palette courtesy of HDR / Dolby Vision grades that may strike eyes most forcefully, rather than any huge uptick in detail levels. Right from the get go with some of the opening shots of water, the HDR grades offer some really gorgeous teal tones, and probably unsurprisingly throughout the film the blues in particular pop very well and have a variety of interstitial tones that aren't as observable in the old 1080 SDR release. That said, what actually kind of surprised me in this new color corrected version is how brown a lot of the material looks, especially some of the early on board material in Poseidon before she gets all cattywampus. That can occasionally give a just slightly dowdy appearance to flesh tones and background sets. The increased resolution of this release probably only further points out what I mentioned as one of the deficits in the old 1080 presentation, namely the patently fake looking CGI which is ironically probably more noticeable in the early "upright" scenes than later. Grain is tightly resolved throughout the presentation.

Poseidon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Poseidon features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that sounded virtually interchangeable with the excellent track on the old 1080 disc I reviewed years ago, and that's a good thing. The sound design of the film is one of its undeniable strengths, and surround activity is a near constant throughout this presentation. As I mentioned in the old 1080 review, there are some fantastically directional effects throughout the story, and sudden bursts of LFE will probably engender some startle reactions. There are some cacophonous moments where (as I mentioned in the 1080 review) little snippets of dialogue can get slightly buried beneath the sonic maelstrom, but on the whole dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Poseidon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Ocean Views (HD; 14:32) is a new interview with director of photography John Seale.


• Big Sets for Big Time Directors (HD; 13:08) is a new interview with production designer William Sandell.


• Surfing the VFX Wave (HD; 18:23) is a new interview with visual effects supervisor Boyd Shermis.


• Bringing Out the Dead (HD; 11:47) is a new interview with make-up effects on set supervisor Michael Deak.


• Set a Course for Adventure (HD; 17:09) is a retrospective by Heath Holland.


• A Ship on a Soundstage (HD; 22:43) is an archival EPK.


• Upside Down (HD; 10:46) is an archival featurette focusing on set design.


• A Shipmate's Diary (HD; 12:23) is an archival featurette focusing on production assistant Malona Voigt.

Arrow provides another nicely appointed insert booklet, this one with an especially interesting essay by Priscilla Page which kind of surprisingly tethers the film's ambience to 9/11 (and/or 911, as the case may be). Packaging features a slipcover.

Poseidon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Revisiting a film you haven't watched in a decade and a half or so can be a time for reassessment, and frankly in some previous similar situations I've actually ended up stating overtly that I enjoyed the film more on the second (or more) time around than initially. Unfortunately, I had pretty much the opposite reaction here, thinking I frankly may have been overly generous with my 2.5 overall score years ago for the 1080 release. This new 4K version offers a nice 4K presentation that may offer more nuance in the palette than any stunning upticks in detail, along with some nicely produced new supplements, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.