Poseidon (2006)

Elevator Pitch: When the luxury transatlantic liner Poseidon is upturned by a rogue wave during the New Year’s Eve celebrations the surviving passengers in the main ballroom are reassured by the captain that help is on the way. But a small group, led by a former submariner, more or less accidentally band together to make their own way to safety. They are forced to negotiate a variety of hazards including fire and flood as they make their way towards salvation, and their numbers are gradually reduced, sometimes as someone sacrifices themselves for the greater good.

Content: No sex or nudity. When the right way up we see the pasengers enjoying the various entertainments available, including gambling dining and dancing. The ship overturns and there is confusion, but gradually a youngish exsubmariner, a politician with his daughter and her boyfriend, a suicidal architect, a single mother and her young son and a steward and a stowaway band together. Thereafter in scenes which could be parts of a video game, the group are faced with challenges which they have to overcome, including crossing dangerous spaces and swimming underwater.

A View: Being a former mariner I was ready to identify faults; there were many, starting of with a lack of navigation lights. Some of the group have special skills to help them along, the single mother’s appearing to be the ability to remain respectable in a strapless dress throughout the escape. We know the whole thing is nonsense, but even so the escape route taken by the survivors is particularly questionable, and they end up being faced by operating propellers even though the engines have fallen through the hull. Despite all of this it could be a watch for nothing with a couple of beers.

Additional Info: When I was a young man  I was a crew member on a new passenger ship on its way across the Pacific and on a calm day it was hit by a rogue wave. The ship rolled, but reverted to a stable state. Many people were shut out of the cabins by moving furniture.