Director goes down with ship

His gritty war drama “Das Boot” told the harrowing story of a Nazi submarine crew. “The Perfect Storm” centered on a real life tragedy at sea. And now, in “Poseidon,” he remakes the classic 1972 disaster flick that established the genre.

Peterson upgrades the lame special effects of the original with dazzling 21st century computer graphics.

The terrible wave that flips the giant cruise ship is the moonlit mother of all waves. The crashing, burning, glass-breaking destruction is state-of-the-art.

But in the screenplay, Peterson retains every cliche of dialogue and plot you’ve ever seen or heard in a disaster movie.

Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas play the guys who take charge during the catastrophe. They risk their lives to help the damsels in distress and the child in danger. They run into all the deadly obstacles and strange turns you would expect in their desperate attempt to escape the doomed ship.

Valiant people die a watery death trying to save others. But in the end, it’s a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing but mindless action fluff.