Beyond the Poseidon Adventure - A Movie Review

We have to get out of this ship before it sinks.

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a 1979 sequel to the classic 1972 disaster film. A group of treasure hunters returns to the capsized ship to seek fortune. While on their mission, they discover more survivors in the wreckage. Getting to safety is not an easy venture.

The Poseidon Adventure is my all-time favorite disaster film. A sequel did not stand the chance of ever living up to this epic story of survival. Picking up right where the events of the first film left off, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a low-production value film that didn’t research its previous setting.

What made The Poseidon Adventure an excellent film is the exceptional mixture between characterization and the disaster components. The characters are underdeveloped, making it difficult for the audience to connect with them and care about their fates.

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure stars several top stars of the 70s. Some stars to name are Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, Peter Boyle, Shirley Jones, and Slim Pickens. The cast was believable as their characters and in their interactions. The characters in Beyond the Poseidon Adventure feel flat and one-dimensional, with little depth or nuance.

I have mixed opinions about the characters, but that’s more on the director’s part than the actors. Sally Field purely did this movie for this money. Field is comical in most of her deliveries, rambling on in random stories.

Just like in the original, the characters spend time in dialogue sequences getting to know one another and revealing their deepest secrets. The dialogue is so clunky and it was unconvincing what subjects arose.

We could have delved further into their backstories. I wanted to connect with these characters, like Theresa and Larry. Theresa could have undergone a stronger character arc. What was Wilber’s health issue? How long and when did Susanne start working with Svevo? Susanne has a much deeper story and yet it is not touched upon.

One unexpected addition to the story was a blind character. Beyond the Poseidon Adventure reflected a positive message about blindness for its time. Jack Warden did a splendid job in the role, assembling a strong performance. No matter the disability we can conquer any tremendous challenge.

One of the biggest problems with this film is that it lacks the tension and excitement of the original. The plot is thin, and the action scenes are poorly executed, failing to generate any real suspense or excitement.

Unlike how the characters were dangerously balancing over fires or escaping from a flood of water in the original, that’s all ignored. Most of the action is climbing up ladders or watching each character jump across a hole in the floor.

Irwin Allen watched The Poseidon Adventure before going about filming this sequel, right? The ship capsized. And yet, the characters walk into a wine cellar-type room where all the wine bottles have miraculously survived! I will always get a kick out of that when I describe this movie to people.

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is not as exciting compared to the first. It’s slow, and meticulous and sets could have undergone more wreckage to emphasize the previous events. The script was all over the place. Writers actually thought about having a wild lion lose on the ship in the original script!

Watch The Poseidon Adventure first. Beyond the Poseidon Adventure fails to capture the magic of the original. As mixed as my opinions are on the sequel, it is still worth the watch for the actors and suspense.