A rare very negative review

My review of Poseidon from June 2006.

A remake of the 70’s disaster flick, Poseidon (12A) tells the story of an ill fated cruise liner hit by a rogue wave on New Years Eve, interrupting the celebrations of those on board and capsizing the ship. A group of passengers including stars Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss and Josh Lucas, refuse to wait for help and instead try and find a way out of the doomed vessel.

Director Wolfgang Peterson’s Poseidon is a fast paced action-led disaster movie, though this is just where its’ problems start. The film moves too fast leaving no time to set up the action nor to develop the characters.

The action and effects are undeniably impressive, and the images of the carnage caused by the rogue wave are surprisingly graphic, considering the films certification.

This, however, is not enough to save the ship as the lack of interesting characters, average acting and the, at times, ridiculous dialogue begins to distract and annoy. So annoying in fact that I didn’t even bother to ask the two giggling girls sat behind me to quiet down, because frankly, their conversation was much more interesting than any of the cheesy one liners offered by the characters. In one instance, one of the passengers when faced with walking down a corridor lined with victims of the disaster comments that they are ‘only dead bodies, right?’, how astute and humane of her!

A disaster movie may not demand in depth character development, however, it is vital that the audience at least get to know and care about the characters to some degree. If Poseidon’s already impressive action scenes had been paired with this kind of character development and a better script it may have kept its nose above the water. As it stands, however, wait till you can watch Poseidon in the comfort of your own home where you can concentrate on the at-times exciting action and make a cup of tea whenever a character speaks!