Who Dies Next Game

Poseidon is of course a remake. No not of the made for tv movie that came out last year but the 1972 film starring Gene Hackman. The original also starred Ernest Borgnine which is for me pretty close to carte blanche to do whatever you want. This movie stars Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss. Mr. Russell was in Escape from New York (1981) with Mr. Borgnine but that isn't enough for carte blanche. Sorry.

So it's a remake. Hollywood likes remakes, I've grown hoarse screaming that Hollywood needs to get an original idea, so I won't bore you too much with that here. Our movie begins with an overview. Literally an overview. We see a whole bunch of the boat and the different areas. We meet every key character in a single scene defining character moment and with that minimal development out of the way...bam. Rogue wave hits the boat and boat flips over. The ship's captain advises everyone stay put and wait for rescue.

Richard Dreyfuss conveniently is an architect who knows the boat cannot sustain the pressure upside down. A recluse hero emerges because that is exactly what the situation calls for. He leads a ragtag group of passengers up to the surface. There are numerous f/x laden sequences and of course there are some deaths in the works. If you have seen even a few disaster movies, then you can pretty much guess which characters will die. I knew almost from minute one, which ones were fish food.

There will be sacrifices and noble gestures not to mention ethical delimmas, although this last one is brushed over pretty quickly. It is fairly mindless so if you are just looking for something to veg out on this might be the film for you. And if you are really committed you might try to figure who will die next. It could be some fun.