The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

* * *

This action/adventure film does well to create unlikely action heroes out of its characters and believably so. The horrific event is shown magnificently during the tipping scene and the set (with the occasional dead body) keeps the audience reminded throughout. These positives I can attribute to the actual making of the film while the rest seem to lie in the story, which was created by Paul Gallico and not someone involved in the film and therefore makes them seem somewhat irrelevant.

The story was told in a stop-and-start way where it seemed to move from talking about what the characters are going to do, to them doing it; this repeats for 2 hours. There is also too great a juxtaposition between the strong and the weak characters; everyone is either having a breakdown or shouting for control. The latter was particularly true of the main hero, played by Gene Hackman, and this made him unlikeable.
I have not read the book but after watching this film I feel as though the book might have been the better option.