Better Late Then Never

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"BEYOND THE POISEIDON ADVENTURE" was actually anything,but a good follow-up to the 1972 movie! Irwin Allen had just moved to Warner Bros'Burbank location,after being at Twentieth Century Fox for some 14 years-and his direction to his hit disaster movie,which put him on the map as "The Master of Disaster" in the mid 1970s,just began to lose steam,and badly! and after seeing this movie,it was such a disappointment! i would've thought that Fox and Warners,who teamed up with "THE TOWERING INFERNO" in 1974,would've joined forces again-since the original movie was shot at Twentieth Century Fox,,but that wasn't the case! and after the huge failure of this 1979 production,despite it's impressive cast,Irwin Allen just landed on flop after flop,which was a cruel way to finish his master of disaster status,,he even tried to return to his "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA" roots in 1978,with the CBS mini-series "THE RETURN OF CAPT.NEMO",which Warner Bros.Television produced,nor did "THE SWARM" do much Box Office damage in Summer 1978. overall,the bottom fell out for Irwin Allen,before his 1991 death,,but although he had a string of costly failures,his two major disaster movies in the mid 70s did quite well for themselves,and grossed plenty of big money! but much of "BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE" just reused stock footage clips from the 1972 movie,with great SPFX of L.B. Abbott's miniatures-that was about it!

Irwin Allen's "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" does the unthinkable in this follow-up to his blockbuster 1972 film. Instead of people trying to get off the sinking luxury liner, he has two crews trying to get on to it for different reasons. Michael Caine leads one group into it to claim salvage rights to what's been left behind. At the same time, Telly Savalas heads up a team of murderous plunderers in search of a cargo of plutonium. Along the way, they both happen upon survivors frantically trying to get off the ship. Will Caine and Savalas find their treasures and a way to get back off the ship before it plummets to the depths of the sea?I have to give props where they're due, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. The fact that Irwin Allen had the audacity to attempt a sequel to "The Poseidon Adventure" deserves a strange amount of reverence. Can you imagine the power of suggestion he must have controlled. He walked into the offices of studio executives six years after the original left theaters and said, "Hey, I have an idea for a sequel to that movie where the ship sinks. What if people tried to get on the ship instead of off of it?" "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" is proof he convinced them to do it!"Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" is nowhere near as bad as you'd think it would be. It has everything a great disaster movie should. An ensemble cast fighting for their lives as water levels rise. Escape routes becoming blocked as the people fight their way back to the surface before the ship's hull becomes completely submerged. People who you don't want to die do and others you wish would but don't. I wasn't disappointed in it by any means.A PG rating was given to "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure." It contains violence, language, and intense sequences of peril."Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" is one of those movies that never should've happened. All I can say is thanks to all the studio executives with dollar signs in their eyes who greedily greenlit this wonderful piece of cinema history. For those of us who love unnecessary sequels and crave a little 1970's cheese, it's a rare gem that's been found and preserved for us to enjoy over and over again.

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure starts in a ferocious storm as Captain Mike Turner (Michael Caine) sails the open Ocean on his way to Marseille in France in his tug boat Jenny, however his cargo falls overboard & is lost. The next day Turner sees a French coast guard helicopter & decide to investigate, Turner finds the capsized upside down luxury cruise liner the S. S. Poseidon. Captain Turner now has the salvage rights to the Poseidon & together with his friend Wilbur (Karl Malden) & plucky young lady Celeste (Sally Field) decide to board her, while doing so a yacht with several doctor's show up & Captain Stefan Svevo (Telly Salavas) claims they can help any injured passengers. Together they all venture inside the Poseidon but soon become trapped themselves as the ship continues to sink while certain people aren't who they seem & have ulterior motives for being on the Poseidon & will kill to keep the secret...Produced & directed by Irwin Allen this is the silly sequel to the classic disaster flick The Poseidon Adventure (1972) that has a very bad reputation but I will freely admit that I did actually quite enjoy Beyond the Poseidon Adventure despite it's absurdities. In a way Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is the opposite of the original, it's silly with bad dialogue & bland character's unlike the original which was a terrific piece of action drama with people you cared about & related to. At almost two hours long I was never bored by it, it entertained me & I was always interested in what was going to happen so at least I had fun with it. However the script is silly, the idea that Captain Turner (or anyone for that matter) would board a sinking ship & get trapped inside like the Poseidon is ridiculous & two people follow him aboard as well like they are going to the cinema or something mundane (& safe) like that. The script throws in the usual disaster film clichés like blocked doors, lots of bad luck which traps a group of people in a dangerous situation, fires, explosions & lots of water. While the character's in the original were great here they are bland, from a blind man to a guy & his daughter to some comedy relief woman who remains surprisingly cheerful despite the situation she finds herself in. Character exposition & background is bad with some really strange timing, while looking for a way out in a metal shaft Celeste decides to cry her eye's out while when people die there's no great emotional impact & none of the other character's seem that bothered so why should we be? The plot about terrorist Svevo doesn't really go anywhere & the murder mystery angle could have been played a little better but at least it's another odd part of a silly film. By the way, how long does it take three guy's to stack some boxes on a yacht? Overall I liked this film, it's silly & overblown & a bit camp & doesn't make much sense but it entertained me & that's all that matters really. The novel by Paul Gallico who gets a credit is actually completely different than the filmed version, in Gallico's novel the original survivors go back to the sinking Poseidon at gunpoint.Released theatrically in 1979 running nearly two hours (the British cinema version was slightly cut for bloody gunshot wounds) the US network TV version that premiered in 1981 contained an extra twenty two minutes of footage which i would have loved to have seen but only the theatrical version is available on DVD. The widescreen cinematography is great & I can't imagine how bad Beyond the Poseidon Adventure would have looked pan and scanned, the whole film has a lavish if slightly over produced look & I loved the upside down sets. There's some nice action & set-pieces too, from shoot-outs to flooded rooms to fiery dangers to underwater scuba diving. Some of the special effects are poor, the opening scene in the storm looks terrible as buckets of water are randomly thrown against the boat prop while the Poseidon exploding at the end also looks awful but would CGI been any better?Shot in California the production values are nice & Irwin Allen always knew how to put on a show even if he didn't know much about storytelling. The original The Poseidon Adventure started the whole disaster flick craze while Beyond the Poseidon Adventure arguably ended it. There's a fun cast here, Michael Caine is slumming it, Sally Field is a bit annoying, Slim Pickens is annoying while Telly Savalas is fun as the villain even though he puts in his James Bond bad guy performance.Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a guilty pleasure, it's not a good film & when compared to how great the original is it's a bit insulting but I had a lot of fun with it & liked it. Make sure you get hold of the widescreen DVD, despite not having those deleted scenes on it the disc looks great.

This movie is about a group of actors who's paychecks/royalty fees are in the hull of an upturned cruise liner.Michael Caine wants his pay packet/royalty checks but must enter the Poseidon to get it.Sally Field, Karl Malden and Telly Savalas are also seeking their pay cheques/royalty fees and must also board the capsized bank.A few gunfights later and they reach the vault. Each actor loads up the cash and puts it away for a rainy day. They must then exit the ship and try to return to Hollywood for further work.This is a pretty exciting Irwin Allen epic and it's nice to see actors receiving a good pay packet in the name of entertainment.