Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

While not the worst film ever made, there is after all 1973's Lost Horizon, this sequel to 1972's water and cardboard(character)epic is not a disaster film, but a disaster itself. Actually, there is no disaster here; it's a modern day pirate film. The original had five Oscar winners and no performances of any note while this has four Oscar winners and atrocious, unconvincing performances. Field in particular as would be comedy relief is embarrassing;the idiotic dialog would sink anyone, but she could have turned down the role. Directed by Irwin Allen, this is a tedious, uneventful, unimaginative waste of time with no purpose other than to hopefully cash in on the original's popularity. It doesn't even rise to the level of camp or so bad that it's good status which actually makes it less memorable and/or watchable than Ross Hunter's musical remake of Lost Horizon.

This film is more of a remake than a sequel, having virtually the same plot and sets but different characters. This time the filmmakers have an advantage though, because they don't have to spend their budget on creating the moment that Poseidon strikes disaster (already established in the previous film); and there are opportune moments when money is saved by reusing shots from the first film: from time to time showing the Poseidon upside down in the ocean and exploding continuously (how many explosions can the ship sustain?).This is a laughable and lackluster film. All the prestige and excitement from its precursor have disappeared. Unlike the first film, there is hardly a moment of genuine tension or invention. I never feel that the characters are in any peril. In fact, there are surprisingly few deaths and lots of wasted opportunities for thrills and tension. The action set pieces are very drab and routine. Also, the sets and special effects are cheap and unconvincing.Like the first film, there's a large all-star cast, but they hardly do or say anything exciting, intelligent, meaningful, original, and that isn't laughable. Pretty much all of their character traits, back stories, and motivations are paper-thin and stereotypes. Some characters are annoying, useless, and unnecessary, and should have been cut from the film or rewritten. The only interesting character derives from the performance of karl Malden, and even his character is underdeveloped and underutilized, let alone adequate to save the picture.Just like the characters, the plot is paper-thin. It's also very predictable. insipid, and hard to believe. For example, I find it hard to believe that there are still so many survivors left on the ship. Also, there are so many gaps in logic, unanswered questions, and unresolved plot points. As if realizing that there are only so much they can do with a capsized ship the second time, the filmmakers have added an unnecessary and derivative subplot involving Telly Savalas and his crew in a futile attempt to spice up the action.I sat in my chair being mostly bored and unamused. In fact, I became quite restless. This is not how I reacted to the first Poseidon film.

it took awhile for me to get into this movie.but somewhere along the line,i actually started to enjoy myself.once you get around the wafer thin plot,it's not half bad.the trick with this movie is to not take it too seriously.for instance,as soon as the bad guys show up,you know they're bad long before they reveal their intentions.the only other thing they could have done to telegraph they were bad would have been to have been for them each to have a neon sign over their heads saying villain.it's that absurd.and there's some cringe worthy dialogue.however,the are some very witty one liners mostly courtesy of Sally Field,and their was an interesting,and(mostly)likable mix of characters.there were actually even a few exciting moments.of course,there are endless explosions.this movie doesn't hold a candle to the original Poseidon Adventure.it was actually fairly pointless,when you think about.but it was fun,and actually quite entertaining.for me,Beyond the Poseidon adventure is a solid 5/10

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) ** (out of 4) I've been wanting to see this turkey for at least a decade and after all the bad stuff I heard about the film, it really wasn't all that bad. Yes, the storyline is stupid as hell and makes for several laughable plot lines but if you can laugh at how dumb it is then you might enjoy yourself somewhat. Scavenger hunters (Michael Caine, Sally Field, Karl Malden) come across the sinking ship just minutes after the survivors from the first film were saved. Caine, about to lose his own ship, decides to enter the Poseidon in hopes of reaching the "purse room" where he can get all sorts of money. Along the way he counters some survivors (Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, Mark Harmon, Shirley Knight, Slim Pickens) as well as a terrorist (Telly Savalas). As you can tell, the story is pretty much all over the place but it leads to some mild entertaining, which includes a machine gun fight with the terrorist and another subplot with one of the survivors being a blind man! Caine, Malden, Warden and Pickens actually come off with good performances but Boyle and Field should really be embarrassed. The special effects are rather laughable and again, the story is crazy but God knows this is no where near as bad as The Swarm or When Time Ran Out....