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This will go into a few spoilers, so if you haven’t seen Poseidon… well, you probably already know that ship happens.

Poseidon is a loose adaptation of the novel The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico. Previously adapted for the screen in 1972, that film cost $5 million to produce, starred Gene Hackman and managed to earn $84 million at the US box office, an amount that the latest version failed to reach. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who had previously helmed Das Boot and The Perfect Storm, he saw Poseidon as the third of his trilogy of boat films. Audiences had already seen Peterson deliver a huge wave in The Perfect Storm and that film managed to earn over $300 million worldwide. For Warner Bros. it seemed fitting to have him direct Poseidon, which appeared to be offering the same thing, except this time there’s a bigger boat and a bigger wave. Many of you probably already know that bigger does not necessarily mean better.

It is New Year’s Eve and plenty of people are seeing in the New Year on the luxury liner Poseidon, which is on its way to New York. However, just moments after the clock hits midnight, the ship is hit by a 150 foot “rogue wave”, causing it to turn upside-down. The Captain (Andre Braugher) advisors the survivors to stay in the ballroom and wait for rescue. However, gambling loner Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas) senses the worst and decides to make an escape. Joining him are former fireman and ex-mayor of New York Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), his daughter Jennifer (Emmy Rossum), her boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel), the somewhat suicidal Richard (Richard Dreyfuss), the waiter Marco (Freddy Rodríguez) the panic-stricken stowaway Elena (Mía Maestro) and the single mother Maggie and her son Conor (Jacinda Barrett and Jimmy Bennett).

Adapted by Mark Protosevich, he revealed that he also viewed the original film as well. Director Peterson wanted to make it clear that his film was not a remake of The Poseidon Adventure. “We didn’t want that,” said Peterson. “We only use the basic idea of the gigantic big luxurious ship being caught by an enormous wave.”

On the whole, Poseidon is your classic disaster movie scenario, with an abundance of special effects. Somewhat unfairly compared to Titanic, whereas James Cameron’s epic spends half the running time in building up a love story and allowing the audience to know the assortment of characters before disaster hits, Poseidon doesn’t faff about. The “rogue wave” hits about 17 minutes in. It’s just enough time to say hello to the characters who will be our guide through a topsy-turvy ship, but not enough to really care about whether they’ll ever eat breakfast again. What’s unique about the characters is that they’re normal everyday people and we get to see how they handle a disaster, probably so that the audience can better identify with them. It also happens to be the film’s failing, in that on their own, there’s really nothing unique about them.

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