A freakin’ free train, like a roller-coaster ride!

The long, hot, dry summer spell comes to a halt as Warner Bros.’ ocean-bound spectacular Poseidon sets sail today in Metro Manila theaters.

From filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen, the director behind such blockbuster hits as In the Line of Fire, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm and Troy, comes a relentlessly pulse-pounding thriller that grabs the audience and never lets up until the end credits have finally rolled. This writer saw a portion of this movie in IMAX and the scene where the rogue wave hits the ship was simply awesome!

"It was a freakin’ free train. It’s like a roller-coaster ride!" exclaims actor Mike Vogel.

"It just doesn’t stop once it starts and it just keeps on going and going! It’s an amazing summer movie. It’s a perfect blockbuster summer popcorn movie," echoes co-star Mia Maestro.

Vogel and Maestro, and the rest of the all-star cast previewed the film the day before they met with The Philippine STAR at the junket held in Beverly Hills last week.

A re-imagining of the 1972 classic The Poseidon Adventure, the movie takes place almost entirely inside an upturned luxury cruise liner while a group of intrepid passengers seeks a way out of the ship before it further sinks.

But, unlike the first one, Poseidon employs the latest state-of-the-art technology, which, obviously, was not available in the ‘70s, and it offers more action, more thrills, and that fearsome visual flourish of every great disaster movie.

To get that action on screen, the behind-the-scenes story was just as scary and difficult.

"We have little bit of training for free diving, which is diving without the help of compressed air," says Maestro, an Argentine-born actress who has appeared in Salma Hayek’s Frida and in The Motorcycle Diaries.

All the actors had to endure several months of shooting under water. They did all their stunts and consequently suffered bruises, torn ligaments, concussions, etc. Some even suffered from pneumonia!

Josh Lucas sustained the brunt of injury on the set.

"Swimming was definitely the toughest in the movie, but we have one instance where Kurt, Josh and I were swimming with Mia through the water and it was very murky. You couldn’t see a thing. Kurt just happened to be throwing his arm around and I noticed it as it was coming through my face, I ducked, and Josh’s eye was hit and it split wide open and I think it ended up being used in the film," recalls Vogel, who recently starred in Rumor Has It with Jennifer Aniston.

Lucas, who most recently appeared in Glory Road, plays professional gambler Dylan Johns who leads the group in search for avenues to get to the top of the ship (which is actually the bottom as the ship has already overturned) and swim out to safety.

Do they get out safely? Do all the characters survive at the end?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But one thing is sure: Jacinda Barrett is not going on a cruise ship again. The Australian actress, who appeared in Ladder 49 with John Travolta and in the Bridget Jones sequel revealed, "I used to do gymnastics and that part of me related to the action. It was fun. But after seeing the movie, I was amazed at how violent it was that I don’t think I will ever go on a cruise ship again," she hesitantly declares.

"I knew it was gonna be tough, but I never anticipated how tough it was gonna be!" adds Emmy Rossum.

Rossum joins the cast after skyrocketing into prominence two years ago when she landed the plum role of Christine in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera.

She starred in another disaster epic, The Day After Tomorrow.

Isn’t she may get typecast in disaster movies? "No, not at all," she says. "For me it’s a totally different kind of film. The Day After Tomorrow is more like a "politically-aware" kind of film while this one is much more action-thriller. And the characters are much more different."

But the 19-year-old actress half-lamented that, to service the film’s action theme, most of the scenes involving her character ended up in the editing floor.

What didn’t end up in the editor’s trash bin is what awaits moviegoers in this movie which most film critics are already calling "A blast" and "The best thrill-ride this summer."

Poseidon also stars respected actors Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss. Their stories, and more, along with Josh Lucas’ will appear in a separate article.