Poseidon

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Rating: I Liked It

I have absolutely no idea if the scientific principles behind this film are anywhere near accurate or even acceptable.  I don't know anything about a ship capsizing due to a massive wave in the middle of the ocean.  My knowledge of maritime physics is limited to what I learned watching Titanic.

With that said, I thought the movie was OK.  You can't focus on how the characters got into the situation they're in currently; you just have to watch them evolve as characters in the situation.  That's really what this film is about: a group of people working together in a horrible situation to survive.

The movie came out several years ago, and I actually bought a copy from Movie Gallery when I was working there.  It sat on my shelf, unopened, for several years.  I'm glad I took the time to watch it.

The Good:

• The group dynamic was good.  Lucas and Russell played really well against each other, and the other actors all found their places pretty well.  
• I really cared when characters died.  That's not nearly as easy of a task to accomplish as one might think.  
• The FX were pretty good all around.  There were a few cheesy scenes, but overall, they were good.  
• The movie held a pretty quick pace in keeping with the suspense.  One scene in particular was good, where the group is trapped in a ventilation shaft as the water rises around them.  

The Bad: 

• The movie's pace was good, as I mentioned above.  However, I didn't care for how quickly the movie got started.  I think the film could've been stretched a little long and taken a little more time to introduce to everyone before their harrowing encounter.  
• It blows my mind that there were so few people on the ship that felt like staying put in a ship that's upside down in the water was a bad idea.  

The Ugly: 

• Even though he had a very dramatic scene toward the beginning of the film, I didn't care of Dreyfuss much in this movie.  It wasn't really his performance, though, I don't think.  It was more the character that was written for him.  I don't think he was the right person for the role.