Poseidon Review

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Ships)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

Poseidon is not a good movie. In fact, it is a pretty dismal one. The lead actors try their noblest to generate life from their limp characters, but even that cannot raise this ship above water. The special effects enter on cue, do their damage, and disappear without a hint of originality or artistic flair. This movie is no The Day After Tomorrow…and what does THAT say? The Poseidon Adventure pulled this story off in a vastly superior way back in 1972.

It isn’t in my nature to simply shred a film’s quality to bits. And I must be honest that I was entertained on and off throughout this film. But the failures of Poseidon are possibly the most spiritual points to discuss. And being that spirituality is the focus at Hollywood Jesus, I would be remiss to leave my complaints out.

First off, there are some disturbing racial undertones to Poseidon. I must admit that I did not pick up on them at first, but only realized them after reading some other reviews around the web. I count it as part of my white privalege that I missed these undercurrents, and would value feedback from any minority readers on this subject.

I spoil very little (but do spoil some, so be warned) by noting that the survivors of the disaster are very white, and they live only by defying the captain, who is black, and even by choosing to allow the death of another minority character. Titanic (wherever your opinions lie on that deep sea disaster are for another time) at least did justice to the idea that poor and minority passengers had very different struggles and situations than the others aboard the ship. James Cameron delved into some of the class and race struggle aboard that ship. Yet Wolfgang Peterson seems content to relegate the minority characters to the ship’s galley, where essentially none survive the “rogue wave�. Only the rich, white, and presumably more resourceful people are able to hatch a plan.

This plan brings me to my next disturbing observation. As soon as our small band heads out of the ballroom to make their trek to safety, bad things begin to happen to the ship. Elevators begin to fall, which set fires, which spark explosions. I couldn’t help but wonder if the very actions of our protagonists weren’t the catalyst behind the ultimate sinking of the ship and the deaths of thousands?

For Poseidon to work, the audience would have to embrace the “ragtag� group of survivors at the center of the story. Yet this is nigh upon impossible if this group of people either abandoned the rest of the ballroom without even hinting to the others that they have a better plan, or began a chain reaction which killed all but themselves.

[Major Spoiler Below]

The most profoundly human moment in the film, which is in turn the most spiritual moment, is when one of our protagonists actually kills another character to save their own skin. (Should I even ask what race the survivor was?) The scene has been done many times: Two people are hanging on for their dear lives, and either they’ll both fall to their deaths, or one must sacrifice themselves. But this is Poseidon, so one character is happy to literally kick the other in the face until they plummet to their death. A moment is given to pass tortured looks of guilt around…but then the show must go on!

I think there are some legitimate spiritual questions to draw from this film. First, we might ask ourselves how disturbed we are by casual (not overt) racism making its way into modern Hollywood films. Secondly, an important question we must all ask ourselves is how much we value our own survival. Would we risk the deaths of others, contribute to the deaths of others, or even directly cause the deaths of others, simply to save our own skin? I believe most of us would do almost anything to claw our way the top of the boat. This is a deeply human and deeply spiritual question. There once lived a man who asked if He would have to die so that others could live. His decision to sacrifice his own life has changed the world inside out, whether you believe in that man as your Savior or not!

— Overview