Die Explosion

Talk about a misleading title! Given the sensational English title and the fact this is a European-produced early 70's disaster flick, naturally everybody assumes it's a shameless imitation of the popular Gene Hackman classic "The Poseidon Adventure". But it's not, in fact, in any way related to this movie except that the ships have the same name. This production actually has a lot more story elements in common with "The Towering Inferno", but that movie didn't get released until 1974 so you can't call it a rip-off of that one, neither. "The Poseidon Explosion" re-enacts the supposedly true events that occurred near a Romanian harbor in the year 1970. An all-ravaging inferno breaks out on board a massive cargo ship carrying thousands of bags of explosive fertilizer. Despite of the devoted labor of professional fire-fighters as well as multiple courageous volunteers, the immense fire can't be extinguished and the inevitable explosion is guaranteed to destroy the entire harbor town of Galati as well. It was quite a surprise to find this movie in the Grindhouse Collection box-set. Granted it's an exploitation feature, but primarily this is a genuine and full-blooded 70's disaster movie. Everything that could possibly go wrong on board the Poseidon does go wrong, there's a realistic diversity between heroic characters and people that just intend to save their own butt, there's barely any time for sentimental sub plots and certain people you root for die a horrible death! That's simply the way it should be in this type of films. Superficially speaking, "The Poseidon Explosion" appears to be a poorly produced movie, but that's simply because the transfer to DVD looks cheap and the English dubbing was done by a bunch of illiterate amateurs. If you look beyond these aspects that are typical for Grindhouse flicks, you'll notice an eminent Romanian film with astounding special effects (the fires are menacingly real), devoted actors (Gheorghe Dinica is superb) and convincing set-pieces. Director Mircea Dragan maintains an atmosphere of non-stop suspense and the fire-fighters face a new type of deadly ordeal in every new scene. Now, that's cinematic excitement! "The Poseidon Explosion" is probably one of the most misunderstood movies ever made.

Surpringly good obscure movie about a ship catching fire off the coast of Romania. The ship is carrying hundreds of tons of fertilizer and oxygen tanks, which, if ignited, would explode and take out the entire coastline shipping community. A small band of people (including an oil well firefighter) board the ship to try and put out the fire, but when it proves to be burning out of control, a group of about a dozen local dockworkers join in and try to unload the cargo before it ignites- three of them, however, are merely petty thieves out to loot the ship.

This is a surprisingly well done movie, most under-appreciated and unrecognized. I was happily surprised after watching this in the "Grindhouse Collection" DVD box-set. It's a great action/ suspense movie, with a bit of well timed comic relief. The pacing was good, it moved along well, and even the effects showing the ship engulfed in flames with plumes of thick black smoke pouring out were well done. The climactic explosion looked good, especially for a presumably lower budget movie like this.

A film for see for actors. political mark is obvious and the desire to propose a catastrophic film gives a decent solution but far to be an impressive one. a film about the efforts to save a Romanian city against a predictable explosion and to stop a freighter . dramatic. and real convincing if you saw it in the last decades of Communism. directed by Mircea Dragan, it is a fresco, like each film by him. impressive. for the actors, for the good intentions, maybe , a little, for script.

a movie who can be blamed very easy. but this reaction is only a childish attitude in contact with Explozia. because the film represents reflection of a period reality. not only the event who inspired story or the great actors , the tension or the shadows of ideological command but the admirable work. it is a good film for its precision and for the force to present a case with minimum concessions , using a memorable cast, create credible frame for each part. it is not a blockbuster and this is basic sin. but it is decent and fresh. it is a special proof for a director science to do a movie about a crisis situation. and this fact is important. the rest...silence or only insignificant details.

A movie before times. A real drama was source of inspiration. A good script and catchy acting. Too bad is a real lose to listen the voices dubbed because you lost o lot of acting. Story from movie is an opening picture for a lot of other movies involving accidents and dramas. For 1973 this was a misunderstand and undrafted movie and he foreseen what future has rezerve to humans.