While "The Poseidon Adventure" wasn't "Citizen Kane," It was a well-crafted thriller filled with interesting characters essayed by a group of great actors. No one chewed scenery as believably as Ernest Borgine.
The sequel brings a host of good actors in their own right, including Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, and Karl Malden, but the spark just isn't there. The situations are bizarre, to the point of comical. Aside from the engine room, which looks really close to the set of the original film, the rest of the set looks like it's from an entirely different film.
At one point, the group enters the ship's galley. In the original film, it was a burned-out mess with the dead bodies. In the sequel, it looks entirely different, not burned at all, and there aren't any bodies to be found. This is a pattern throughout the film, where the upside down passageways have an upended chair or two lying around to try and mimic the original sets. It looks like set dressing, and it's obvious. Also, it's VERY brightly lit, far more than the sets in the original film, which stretches realism to the breaking point. Since the ship is on back-up power from the initial capsize, it should be getting darker, not lighter.
The cast does a decent job in the acting department, but are heavily let-down by the script and inane dialogue. Also, the sequel tries to drink from the well of the original film. Since we don't have Rogo, Peter Boyle's Frank Mazetti becomes the stand-in. Since there's no Belle Rosen, she's replaced by the blind Harold Meredith.
I watched it to the end, but I have no rush to see it again, unlike the original film, which I've seen countless times.
Paul Gallico, who wrote the novel the original film is based on, wrote a sequel novel based entirely off the film. Even modified character descriptions to match the actors who played them. It's not his best work, but it's an enjoyable read, and even brings Mike Rogo, James Martin, and Manny Rosen back to the ship, where they end up working together with new characters, part of a salvage crew, to face off with a character who shares traits with Telly Savalas' role. Rogo was always my favorite character, and I would have enjoyed seeing Borgnine return.
Granted, by the time this movie went into production, Borgnine, Buttons, and Albertson were all years older, and it probably would have showed, but one can't help but wonder if the sequel had followed Gallico's novel more closely, and brought those actors back, if it would have been a better final product. One thing is for sure, it couldn't have been any worse.
Borgnine and Caine, competing to see who could chew the most scenery. That would have been something I'd have enjoyed watching repeatedly.
The sequel brings a host of good actors in their own right, including Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, and Karl Malden, but the spark just isn't there. The situations are bizarre, to the point of comical. Aside from the engine room, which looks really close to the set of the original film, the rest of the set looks like it's from an entirely different film.
At one point, the group enters the ship's galley. In the original film, it was a burned-out mess with the dead bodies. In the sequel, it looks entirely different, not burned at all, and there aren't any bodies to be found. This is a pattern throughout the film, where the upside down passageways have an upended chair or two lying around to try and mimic the original sets. It looks like set dressing, and it's obvious. Also, it's VERY brightly lit, far more than the sets in the original film, which stretches realism to the breaking point. Since the ship is on back-up power from the initial capsize, it should be getting darker, not lighter.
The cast does a decent job in the acting department, but are heavily let-down by the script and inane dialogue. Also, the sequel tries to drink from the well of the original film. Since we don't have Rogo, Peter Boyle's Frank Mazetti becomes the stand-in. Since there's no Belle Rosen, she's replaced by the blind Harold Meredith.
I watched it to the end, but I have no rush to see it again, unlike the original film, which I've seen countless times.
Paul Gallico, who wrote the novel the original film is based on, wrote a sequel novel based entirely off the film. Even modified character descriptions to match the actors who played them. It's not his best work, but it's an enjoyable read, and even brings Mike Rogo, James Martin, and Manny Rosen back to the ship, where they end up working together with new characters, part of a salvage crew, to face off with a character who shares traits with Telly Savalas' role. Rogo was always my favorite character, and I would have enjoyed seeing Borgnine return.
Granted, by the time this movie went into production, Borgnine, Buttons, and Albertson were all years older, and it probably would have showed, but one can't help but wonder if the sequel had followed Gallico's novel more closely, and brought those actors back, if it would have been a better final product. One thing is for sure, it couldn't have been any worse.
Borgnine and Caine, competing to see who could chew the most scenery. That would have been something I'd have enjoyed watching repeatedly.