Movie Review: Poseidon

Like any good disaster flick, Poseidon is full of desperate people taking crazy chances, bonding with strangers and fleeing dangers aplenty. The effects in Poseidon are excellent, most notably the giant "rogue wave" early in the movie which (and really, this shouldn't be considered a spoiler by now) flips the cruise ship upside-down. You can easily imagine the work required to build a set that flips over.

It's been years since I saw the original, which I remember watching in front of a TV with knobs on it and you had to wait for a commercial break to go to the bathroom! But it was one of those hypnotic movies chock-ful of notable names. This one isn't much different in that regard, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Andre Braugher, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Kevin Dillon and Emmy Rossum all ride the ill-fated ship and we get (very) brief glimpses of their pre-disaster lives. The characters are somewhat stereotyped and predictable (young couple in love, scoundrel with a good heart, single mom with cute kid).

As exciting and interesting as some of the near-misses are (and uh, not misses?), it does get a bit repetitive. "Ho hum, another fireball, another rapidly approaching wall of water". There are your basic themes of self-sacrifice and trusting strangers with your life.

It's worth watching once, though, I'd say you can wait until it's on HBO. It's a good movie you don't need to think much about, and there is plenty of action. My one-year-old found some of the random disasters hilarious, so if you enjoy hand-clapping and a good three word book (Cat. Dog. Cow), this might be the movie for you.

Three out of five stars, which I what I seem to give most movies, sorry.