Poseidon

Can you say, “Titanic?”—Season

Before Friday night, I had no intention of seeing Poseidon. I heard that it was a bad movie, but that wasn’t the reason I wasn’t going to watch it. After all, Gladiator was ripped apart by the critics and look what happened. No, the reason why I didn’t want to watch it was because it was another disaster movie which typically has one plot thread: survive. Given the lack of quality choices (M.I. III, Just My Luck, RV, and Scary Movie 4), Poseidon seemed to be the best bet. Actually, Season wanted to see United 93 but I couldn’t watch something like that. I’ll admit it. It touches a raw nerve and I would be completely uncomfortable. Like Doug said, it’s “stomachachey.” Poseidon ended up as the compromise movie.

Basically what happens is that a luxury ocean liner gets hit by a rogue wave and is turned upside down. A small group of survivors decide to make their way up toward the keel of the ship in hopes of exiting through the propeller tubes. They have to make their way through various obstacles… yadda, yadda, yadda, until they succeed.

The positives of this movie are that it is suspenseful and keeps you alert for almost the entire movie and that it does move along pretty quickly. But then again, going too fast is not always a good thing. The set-up to the disaster was short. The introductions of the characters were just enough to let the viewer know the basics: who they are, why they are here, and such. Yet, it wasn’t enough to establish a connection. So I didn’t care if someone lived or died nor did I respond well to the character interactions.

Unlike Season, I wouldn’t say that this movie is like Titanic. Not that I would know, since I’ve only seen bits and parts of Titanic. The only similarity I see was the sinking of a ship and a fight to survive. Poseidon focused on survival. Titanic, in my view was a sappy love story interrupted by a disaster. For Poseidon, I recommend passing it up. It’s not worth the price of admission. It is however, worth a rental. It’s one of those zone-out movies that you can watch on a slow Sunday night.