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The Poseidon Adventure Movie Review

The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 disaster film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine and Shelley Winters. It’s a silly, but solid flick.

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“You took from me the only thing

I ever loved in the whole world, my Linda“

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It follows the fictional SS Poseidon, an aged luxury liner on her final voyage from New York City to Athens before being sent to the scrap yard. On New Year’s Eve, she is overturned by a tsunami. Passengers and crew are trapped inside, and a rebellious preacher attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety.

The plot itself is nothing to write home about. This is a disaster movie we’re talking about, and this was basically the beginning of this subgenre. It was released in 1972 at the height of this subgenre’s popularity both at the Oscars and at the audiences, the movie is quaint nowadays for featuring solid, but odd characterization and a big cast.

I am talking about the characters being silly and maybe overwritten. I am all for character development and this one has that in spades, but maybe too much as some are too silly, especially the women who are either weak or annoying stereotypically so. I also disliked the typical preacher character.

I found the central relationship in the film a lot of charming fun. Ernest Borgnine plays this cop who arrested, and then married a prostitute. That was hilarious, but also definitely memorable. And that’s this film in a nutshell – most of its plot points are too silly, but undeniably very entertaining.

The Poseidon Adventure is ultimately much more engaging in its drama and character moments than in action sequences, which themselves are okay, but nothing particularly memorable. Some scenes are undeniably thrilling, but many others are boring, and the film’s second act became your standard ‘Titanic’-like catastrophe that lacked originality and true spectacle.

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The movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, which is a ludicrous number, but most are technical in nature, which was to be expected. The cinematography and score are good as are the special effects, but the film is probably best remembered for the introduction of the song The Morning After, which is very memorable and so good.

The Poseidon Adventure is a fun, but silly 70s disaster flick that has interestingly strong character development, but some characters are too silly as are their arcs. The action is solid, but nothing particularly memorable, though it is engaging most of the time. Technically speaking, it’s very effective, especially in terms of cinematography, score and VFX. It also benefits from a strong cast of actors playing these admittedly odd characters.

My Rating – 3.5

You can get this disaster flick on Amazon.