This film totally lacks the fire of the 1972 original.

Rutger Hauer, cast in the Gene Hackman role of the priest, is definitely miscast here. Based on his past performances, you would expect Hauer to be dressed up as a terrorist since a terrorist act has been committed on the boat. That is not the case here. In fact, Hauer lacks the emotional impact of Hackman who questioned his faith after witnessing so many horrors on the boat.

The same may be said for Sylvia Syms, who has the Shelley Winters role of Belle Rosen. In this version, Manny Rosen, who was played by Jack Albertson so beautifully in the original, is already dead when the picture begins. Syms gives a totally lackluster performance. Even when she turns over her jewelry to be given to her grandson, there is so little emotion shown.

To qualify for the modern scene, this time around a terrorist bomb goes off on the ship creating the havoc. You needed more than that here.

What a disappointment! I really like the 1972 film with Gene Hackman, not so much the bloated remake, but this is by far the worst of anything to do with The Poseidon Adventure. Granted, the production values are great on the whole, but everything else sinks faster than you can shout anchor.

Pace is a huge problem with this. The Poseidon Adventure(2005) is incredibly dull, with over an hour of sluggish pacing and little else. It does try to liven things up towards the end, but in the process trying too hard and trying to do too much. The story is very hackneyed, at first it seems as though it never leaves the deck then later on it feels bloated, also it is completely devoid of suspense, poignancy and foreboding. I would blame some of the plot additions for this, especially the terrorist one, which was stupid and added nothing to the story.

The Poseidon Adventure also feels very under-directed. Never in a TV series/movie have I seen a more soulless and clumsy directing job. And the dialogue is dreadful, often convoluted, very silly and unsure of which direction it wants to go. The acting doesn't fare that much better, Adam Baldwin and Steve Guttenberg are decent actors but because of the material being so poor not to mention their badly written and thoroughly unlikeable characters they and all the actors for that matter deserve much better than this.

Overall, had potential but ended up being a shipwreck. 1/10 Bethany Cox

This television version of the classic POSEIDON ADVENTURE(1972)is really not as bad as one might think. The SS Poseidon luxury liner is in the Indian Ocean on a New Years cruise, when it succumbs to a terrorist attack. The first of three well placed bombs on board turns the ship topsy-turvy. A homeland security agent(Adam Baldwin) and a priest(Rutger Hauer)guide a small group of survivors through the upside down, sinking cruise liner. F/X in the large part is the real star of the show. The cast may be better looking than talented. Notables being: C. Thomas Howell, Bryan Brown, Steve Guttenberg, Amber Sainsbury, Natalie Boltt and Alex Kingston. This sinker is not a total stinker. Throw it a lifeboat though.