BOTTOM LINE: “Poseidon” is a woefully bad movie from start to finish; the only entertainment one can find here is a good laugh as the plot moves from one ridiculous moment to the clichéd next.

THE GOOD: Trying to find something good to say about a film like this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. However, to be fair, director Wolfgang Petersen has assembled a solid cast, led by the always dependable Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas, the latter giving the most interesting performance in the film as the ruthless career gambler who finds a heart as he changes from only saving himself to helping to save the others that follow him out of the disaster. Richard Dreyfuss always does well with what he is given, despite been given a two-dimensional clichéd role that in someone else’s hands would have been completely laughable. It’s hard to see why this assembled cast would want to do a film with such a bad script but they are the only ones who make the film watchable. That said, they must have been cringing during certain scenes, particularly Dreyfuss and his introductory scene. The only other good thing I have to say about the film is its dramatic opening shot of the Poseidon ship; it lasts the length of the film’s opening credits and seamlessly combines fantastic computer generated images with live action shot on the boat set.

THE BAD: It is amazing that a film with a budget of $160 million did not devote any of those financial resources to the script. One would think that was the foundation of any film, and the makers of the original 1972 “The Poseiden Adventure” were able to do this without an issue and for much less money in churning out what is considered a classic disaster film. The characters are shallow and predictable (with the exception of Josh Lucas’ Dylan Johns character). There is no story, only silly moments stringing together the supposed tense action as the characters try to escape the capsized luxury liner. Take for example the actual capsizing; the captain sees a CG wave approaching the ship and exclaims a very corny, “No…” before the wave in all its CG glory cracks in to the ship, leading to much destruction and passenger deaths which are needlessly graphic (people getting impaled, burnt in fireballs, having lifts fall on top of the them, and that’s all before the water gets in to the ship). When everything calms down, one of the other crew announces to everyone they were hit by a “rogue wave”; whether or not this is scientifically accurate I’m not sure, but it was the first of many moments that made me burst out in laughter due to its dreadfully stupid delivery. The film then shifts in to disaster mode with a group of individuals led by Lucas and Russell trying to make it out to safety, riddled with all the typical devices such as the ‘close-to-drowning’ escapes, a couple of ‘tragic’ death scenes and the exclamation of love between two young hopefuls. In the end when a decision has to be made, the boyfriend of Russell’s daughter insists on engaging the deadly task as he is the best qualified. However, with precious seconds being wasted, he wants his girlfriend to tell him she loves him before he goes. In the mean time, Russell goes and does the deed himself which leads to his supposedly tragic demise. Maybe in the hands of a director who wanted to make all this work all of these clichés and disaster devices would have worked but for some reason none of the direction in this film will do anything except make you laugh at what you are watching. Wolfgang Petersen came in to this film with some directing credibility and he has effectively torpedoed his career with this film; he would have to direct one hell of a film before he could get rid of the tag: “the director of Poseidon”.