Those too young to remember the 70s probably can't appreciate the significance of the "disaster movie" genre to moviegoers of that decade. The canon of this genre included "Airport", "Earthquake", "The Towering Inferno", and of course the original "Poseidon Adventure". These wowed audiences with big budgets and state of the (pre-CGI) art special effects, but at heart, the central disaster and exacerbating obstacles were really just a vehicle to drive the interaction of the all-star casts, resulting in pithy dialog, personal revelations, budding romance, and noble sacrifice.
Because of the epic, apocalyptic nature of these movies, there was generally a solid sense of closure and finality at the end. This made sequels an even more dubious concept than usual for movies. There were two progressively worse sequels to "Airport", and this movie follows a similar pattern. It's characterized by a lower budget, lesser "stars", and a much more contrived plot than the venerable original.
The contrast between the two movies is stark from the beginning. Whereas the first opens in the grand ballroom of a luxury cruise ships, this opens with Michael Cane piloting his teeny tugboat across the Atlantic through a the same storm that is capsizing the Poseidon not far away. I laughed out loud when the "waves" broke over the deck, clearly thrown from buckets just off camera. The storm causes him to lose his cargo, which consists of three crates lashed just behind the wheel house. Desperate for money, he stumbles onto the capsized Poseidon and decides to loot it under the "international laws of salvage". Luckily for him, after rescuing the surviving cast of the original movie, everyone else left, without making any attempt to recover anything from the ship or locate additional survivors. Simultaneously, another, nicer boat arrives, carrying Telly Sevalas and his sinister looking, white-clad crew. He claims to be be a doctor looking for survivors. If it's a "spoiler" to tell you he's lying, then you've never watched *any* movies.
They all enter the boat and, yada yada yada, survivors, setbacks, revelation, romance, betrayal, sacrifice, pretty much everything on the checklist. Disaster movies are never particularly believable, but this one doesn't even try. It starts with the absurd premise that the original rescuers left after picking up just the folks who happened to be standing under the hole at the time, goes on to the fact all the lights are still on, and includes contrived obstacles and magic water that floods some decks above other decks which are dry. At one point, they're crawling through a ventilation shaft and not only is it inexplicably lighted, but the lights are *upright* on the upside down ship!
Not to say the movie didn't have a few redeeming features. Michael Cane can usually elevate a role, and Sally Field was at the peak of her "spunky" period. There was an interesting pairing of Mark Harmon near the beginning of his career with Agnela Cartwright ("Lost in Space") near the end of hers.
So, an interesting distraction for people of a certain age, but don't go out of your way to see it.
Because of the epic, apocalyptic nature of these movies, there was generally a solid sense of closure and finality at the end. This made sequels an even more dubious concept than usual for movies. There were two progressively worse sequels to "Airport", and this movie follows a similar pattern. It's characterized by a lower budget, lesser "stars", and a much more contrived plot than the venerable original.
The contrast between the two movies is stark from the beginning. Whereas the first opens in the grand ballroom of a luxury cruise ships, this opens with Michael Cane piloting his teeny tugboat across the Atlantic through a the same storm that is capsizing the Poseidon not far away. I laughed out loud when the "waves" broke over the deck, clearly thrown from buckets just off camera. The storm causes him to lose his cargo, which consists of three crates lashed just behind the wheel house. Desperate for money, he stumbles onto the capsized Poseidon and decides to loot it under the "international laws of salvage". Luckily for him, after rescuing the surviving cast of the original movie, everyone else left, without making any attempt to recover anything from the ship or locate additional survivors. Simultaneously, another, nicer boat arrives, carrying Telly Sevalas and his sinister looking, white-clad crew. He claims to be be a doctor looking for survivors. If it's a "spoiler" to tell you he's lying, then you've never watched *any* movies.
They all enter the boat and, yada yada yada, survivors, setbacks, revelation, romance, betrayal, sacrifice, pretty much everything on the checklist. Disaster movies are never particularly believable, but this one doesn't even try. It starts with the absurd premise that the original rescuers left after picking up just the folks who happened to be standing under the hole at the time, goes on to the fact all the lights are still on, and includes contrived obstacles and magic water that floods some decks above other decks which are dry. At one point, they're crawling through a ventilation shaft and not only is it inexplicably lighted, but the lights are *upright* on the upside down ship!
Not to say the movie didn't have a few redeeming features. Michael Cane can usually elevate a role, and Sally Field was at the peak of her "spunky" period. There was an interesting pairing of Mark Harmon near the beginning of his career with Agnela Cartwright ("Lost in Space") near the end of hers.
So, an interesting distraction for people of a certain age, but don't go out of your way to see it.