3 of 3

from Film Forum, 05/18/06
Like Failure to Launch and Stick It, Poseidon seems like a gift from film studios to film critics. After all, an enormous blockbuster about an enormous ship that, despite its promises of greatness, crashes and burns? The potential for bad shipwreck jokes is endless.

Of course, Poseidon has a historical pedigree that those other films lack. A remake of the classic 1972 disaster flick The Poseidon Adventure, Hollywood's latest big-budget parade of explosions and general carnage also boasts a big-name director; helming this ship is none other than Wolfgang Peterson, the man behind such previous deep-sea disaster flicks as Das Boot and The Perfect Storm. The setting is New Years' Eve, onboard a colossal luxury cruise ship. The passengers are having a doozy of a celebration, at least until some giant waves crash the party. The ship is capsized, and only a few passengers survive.

Those that do survive, though—including characters played by Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, and Emmy Rossum—are urged to stay inside the safety of an air bubble at the bottom (i.e., top) of the ship. Needless to say, this advice is quickly discarded, and a gang of survivors—led by renegade Dylan Johns (Lucas)—head up (i.e., to the bottom) of the ship in search of safer ground.

Christian critics aren't terribly impressed.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) calls the film "a reasonably effective but inferior remake of 1972's fondly remembered, and already remade for television, disaster film, The Poseidon Adventure," adding that Poseidon "is far from a great film, but it's got enough escapist value to keep it afloat."

Meanwhile, Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) calls the film "an update that doesn't just abbreviate the original title, it hacks off virtually any semblance of meaningful plot established in that version's opening half hour. It's as if the director said, Hey, we've got CG now, let's cut straight to the big wave."

Giving the film an unfavorable comparison to Titanic, Christa Bannister (Crosswalk) says "there's just not enough of the human-interest element in Poseidon to balance out the tragedy, which ultimately makes the film sink even when the boat was still above water."

Kenneth R. Morefield (Christian Spotlight) also criticizes the film's characterization: "In Poseidon we get establishing characteristics rather than character development, so when the rogue wave topples the ship a scant fifteen to twenty minutes in, we are left with one long chase sequence. As well as being flat, the characters are relatively static; they do not change much during the film nor respond to what happens to them. The simply run from one room to the next."

Mainstream critics say Poseidon sinks.

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