Movie Review by Vivienne Messenger
Starring: Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett, Richard Dreyfuss
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
A worthy remake of producer Irwin Allen’s 1972 classic disaster movie THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, this updated version with a stellar cast from veteran director Wolfgang Petersen, is certainly packed with tense action and very believable terror as a group of passengers attempt to survive the life threatening situation they find themselves in shortly after welcoming in the new year aboard the luxury cruise ship Poseidon.
When Poseidon is overturned 180 degrees by a rogue wave the ship suffers catastrophic destruction and a massive loss of life inevitably follows as the ship floats upside down on the surface of the ocean with the passengers trapped inside. Survival becomes a sheer lottery but a breakaway group quickly forms led by ex-navy staffer/professional gambler Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas) and ex-firefighter Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell).
There’s plenty of edge-of-the-seat drama as fears and emotions surface. Along their tortuous route to the hull and eventual exit through one of the propeller shafts, seemingly insurmountable obstacles at every corner literally one after the other, befall the group and crucially claim lives. You’re never sure who is going to survive!
The ensemble cast turn in strong performances and director Wolgang Petersen cleverly keeps the pulse on the intensity of their perilous predicament and race against time, as the overturned luxury liner is increasingly disintegrating from the pressure of the surrounding ocean. With explosions ripping the ship apart from the inside the Poseidon’s demise draws closer to a watery grave on the ocean floor.
