Watch carefully... immediately after the luxury liner Poseidon has been hit by a huge tidal wave and capsized, an inflated life-raft can be seen inexplicably floating by the upturned vessel. Surely the makers of this slick big-budget disaster flick won't bring this conveniently into play at the end of the film, will they? Well, yes, they do. And this is the problem with Poseidon: throughout the film, the audience is expected to accept far too much without question.
When the survivors of the accident, on their way to the surface, face a flooded compartment, they swim underwater aimlessly until they happen upon a pocket of air. Convenient, huh?
When they are trapped in a rapidly flooding air conditioning shaft and need to undo some screws in order to escape drowning, a necklace makes a handy screwdriver. How fortunate is that?
When the only escape route is totally flooded, the ship shifts and the passageway becomes clear. What a stroke of luck!
Now don't get me wrong; I didn't hate Poseidon. In fact, I actually enjoyed Wolfgang Pieterson's update of the 70s classic quite a bit. I just had to completely suspend my belief for an hour and a half in order to do so. Sure, the film is cheesy, full of one-dimensional characters, has a flawed script, and lacks a soul, but it is spectacular, has more than its fair share of white-knuckle moments, and features some superb visual effects.
Let's face it, this remake was never going to outdo the original (and did anyone really think it would?), which benefited from REAL star power and a decent script. But as far as dumb popcorn adventures go, Poseidon is worth a watch-if only for the amazing moment when the wave strikes the ship and all hell breaks loose.
When the survivors of the accident, on their way to the surface, face a flooded compartment, they swim underwater aimlessly until they happen upon a pocket of air. Convenient, huh?
When they are trapped in a rapidly flooding air conditioning shaft and need to undo some screws in order to escape drowning, a necklace makes a handy screwdriver. How fortunate is that?
When the only escape route is totally flooded, the ship shifts and the passageway becomes clear. What a stroke of luck!
Now don't get me wrong; I didn't hate Poseidon. In fact, I actually enjoyed Wolfgang Pieterson's update of the 70s classic quite a bit. I just had to completely suspend my belief for an hour and a half in order to do so. Sure, the film is cheesy, full of one-dimensional characters, has a flawed script, and lacks a soul, but it is spectacular, has more than its fair share of white-knuckle moments, and features some superb visual effects.
Let's face it, this remake was never going to outdo the original (and did anyone really think it would?), which benefited from REAL star power and a decent script. But as far as dumb popcorn adventures go, Poseidon is worth a watch-if only for the amazing moment when the wave strikes the ship and all hell breaks loose.