Randeman2

Sure, it's soapy, but what show like this isn't to one degree or another. Reviewers compare it to the original very fine 911, which is also soapy and can have some weak and lame dialogue along with plenty of wooden acting. I looked through a lot of reviews and one common theme among many of them are a disdain for "Hollywood morals," political correctness, the "liberal agenda", politics, and it's inclusiveness. I'd like to remind these reviewers that no one is forcing them to watch anything from Hollywood. While I don't have cable or satellite, I know most cable services offer all kinds of fruit loop religious fairy tale channels and plenty of hateful, closed-minded, bigoted nonsense channels out there. All they have to do is point themselves in the direction of Fox and go from there. Otherwise, go into either 911s knowing they're not perfect but an easy way to spend an hour.

Really cute, well acted and written. Wish they'd make more of these.

At the point where the First Officer on the bridge inexplicably looked through his binoculars, saw the approaching wave and groaned, "No!... No!" I asked myself, "Is it really any more effort to make a good movie then it is to make a rotten one?" The answer to this one is a loud, resounding, "No!...No!" Frankly, I would be embarrassed to have my name attached to this film and Wolfgan Petersen should be ashamed of himself. "Poseidon" opens with long, sweeping shots of a gigantic, modern cruise ship smoothly cutting through the surface of a calm sea. Anyone who has ever been on a passenger ship, or even seen pictures of one, will probably agree that there is nothing especially remarkable about the new "Poseidon". When the opening credits conclude, we are introduced to Josh Lucas' character, Dylan, a former US Navy man (convenient), out for an afternoon jog; nothing interesting there. Followed by, in no particular order, Robert(Kurt Russell) a former mayor of New York (and also, conveniently, a former fire fighter); his daughter Jennifer, (Emmy Rossum), and her fiancé, Christian (Mike Vogel); a stowaway, Elena (Mia Maestro); a dining room steward, Marco, (Freddy Rodriguez); a wealthy architect, (who happens to be gay, as kind of an afterthought) Richard, (played by Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss); a single mother, Maggie and young son Connor, (played by Jacinda Barrett and Jimmy Bennett, respectively); an obnoxious, one-note gambler and ship's drunk, Lucky Larry (Kevin Dillon). None of these people are particularly interesting in any form or fashion. In fact, they are all pretty much totally boring individuals. About fifteen or twenty minutes after we are introduced to these and a few other minor characters, "Poseidon" is struck by a rogue wave, and capsized. A great many of the celebrants in the ship's ballroom survive being tossed ass over teakettle when the ship overturns and, once most of them discovered they are pretty much unharmed, begin to search for loved ones, assist with the injured, while others generally scream and wring their hands in fear and despair. One deck below the ballroom, a couple of hundred other passengers in the disco, including Jennifer, Christian, Lucky Larry, and Elena are also picking themselves up off the ceiling. Remarkably, on this vast ocean liner, no one else seems to survive the disaster or it's aftermath. What are the odds? Everyone else (except the few featured players in the disco or the few hundred remaining in the ballroom) are either incinerated by flash fires, crushed by machinery or other falling objects, drown, electrocuted, tossed into the sea, fall from great heights, or, I guess, eaten by sharks. The captain also survives the capsizing. He announces authoritatively that it was decided that "Poseidon" was turned turtle by a rogue wave. He informs them that when the wave hit, electronic beacons attached to the ship were released and began transmitting distress signals via satellite. He also tells them that the air bubble that is essentially the ballroom is all that is holding this massive liner afloat. He concludes that help will come and that "this is not the last moment of your lives." Many of our principle players feel they know better, (perhaps knowing that the big windows of the ballroom probably can't withstand the pressure of the water outside and will implode pretty much any time) and decide to climb to the bottom of the ship where they will attempt to get out through the ship's bow thrusters. These thrusters are essentially propellers in transverse shafts located in the bow that are used to assist in docking and even turning "Poseidon." Reluctantly, Dylan agrees to assist Maggie and Conor out while Richard, who just a few moments before had decided life was no longer worth living and was going to leap from the boat deck in suicidal despair, decides to tag along. Robert joins them in an effort to find his daughter. Finally, steward Marco is brought along as a living map/successor to Roddy McDowall...and the escape begins.

Throughout the course of their harrowing adventure, a few of the characters meet their Maker in a variety of ways, one of which is incredibly funny when what appears to be a large air conditioning unit crushes him to death. Sadly, none of these deaths are even remotely touching. This is because we really don't care about them. They are all clichés. We are given no reason to care about these people. We know them only somewhat better than someone we may share a brief elevator ride with every day on our way to work, or sit three rows away from in class. We only know why one of them, the stowaway, is even on the ship, and we are never given in reason empathize or in any way identify with any of the other characters in any significant way. It's as if the only reason these people are around is to react to the disaster and subsequent attempt to climb out of the rapidly sinking vessel. They are fodder for the CGI destruction and the death and injury that they encounter during their escape. The dialog is simplistic and even eyeball roll-inducing. The only thing worth spending the money to see "Poseidon" for is, perhaps, the special effects. Although the effects are nothing spectacular, they are somewhat visually dazzling, however brief. There is nothing really remarkable about the sets, costumes, music, production design, direction, or make-up. It's 100 minutes of special effects and their impact on people you don't care about, saying things you have no interest in hearing. I read somewhere that the only reason Richard Dreyfuss was in "Poseidon" was because they offered him a boatload of money (no pun intended). An excellent actor, I hope that in the future he will give more consideration to projects than the water-logged clunker now at your local multiplex called "Poseidon."