Film Review

In Greek mythology, Poseidon is the god of the sea and the cruise ship that sails on his kingdom holds the same name. In the new film, “Poseidon” a rogue wave capsizes the ship with all its passengers inside it is only a matter of time before they run out of air or the whole ship sinks just from being upside-down. A group of 10 people set off to try to make their way down into the bowels of the ship to reach the surface. But how do you get out through the hull of an upside-down ship?

A remake of 1972’s epic “Poseidon Adventure,” this version follows a horrible television version made earlier but the film holds up to expectations.

Josh Lucas plays one of the group, Dylan Johns. He is cool but with an arrogant jerk front that takes a very slow, then sudden character arc. It is distracting that all the other characters change gradually and yet he changes in spurts.

Despite Dylan’s character, the movie was good. Richard Dreyfuss is incredible in the fact that he gets so little back story but the whole audience feels for him even at the opening of the film. Kurt Russell did a great job as well, portraying a former mayor of New York and retired fireman. Each person in the ragtag group had a definite purpose that helped them along and created a much needed symbiosis that helps them on their adventure through the Poseidon.

This was a good film with strong acting but overall it just didn’t have that spark to make it an incredible film. The first “Poseidon Adventure” had surprise on its side. It started the disaster films and the sight of a person falling into a chandelier as the ship capsizes is something that remains with the audience. This film was not that spectacular - it is worth seeing but shouldn’t top the list of films to see.

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and written by Mark Protosevich, based on the novel by Paul Gallico. Rated PG-13, I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.