When a rogue wave capsizes a luxury cruise ship in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, a small group of survivors find themselves unlikely allies in a battle for their lives. Preferring to test the odds alone, career gambler Dylan Johns ignores captain's orders to wait below for possible rescue and sets out to find his own way to safety. What begins as a solo mission soon draws others, as Dylan is followed by a desperate father searching for his daughter and her fiancee--a young couple who hours before couldn't summon the courage to tell him they were engaged and now face much graver challenges. Along the way they are joined by a single mother and her wise-beyond-his-years son, an anxious stowaway and a despondent fellow passenger who boarded the ship not sure he wanted to live but now knows he doesn't want to die. Determined to fight their way to the surface, the group sets off through the disorienting maze of twisted steel in the upside-down wreckage. As the unstable vessel rapidly fills with water each must draw on skills and strengths they didn't even know they possessed, fighting against time for their own survival and for each other.

When you look and see how this movie is tanking both at the box office and as far as the reviews it has been getting it makes you wonder what people went in expecting and what they felt they got when everything was said and done. Because going in I was expecting your typical disaster flick where everything that can go wrong does all the while the movie qould have a nice shiny coat of special effects and cool shot sequences and guess what that’s exactly what I got. The movie by no means is anything spectacular heck it doesn’t even have the charm of the original or the eye popping special effects the original had in it’s day because back in 1972 these kind of movies with realistic effects that were very believable disaster movies were very unheard of. The movie doesn’t have the jaw dropping effects like it once would have because yes we have seen it better from movies like Titanic that I despised because of the storyline but loved because of the realism of the ship actually sinking.

But how does that effect how you are going to feel seeing a movie like this because everything that happened does seem realistic which is great for a disaster film which I always like to be based in reality rather than some far fetched scheme that has me shaking my head the entire film because of how outrageous the idea is. So what I guess it boils down to in the end is what your expectations are for the movie before you see it and if the movie can manage to meet them. For me my expectations were moderate to quite low and it met even my moderate expectations as an enjoyable disaster flick with some cool FX sequences, so in the end I did like the movie and if your not expecting something grander than that so should you.

Most of the characters changed and that is why I think the movie lost some of its charm that the original had. Gone is the priest who in his goodwill tries to save all that he can, in the remake he is replaced by a more cynical former mayor who is not the leader this time in Kurt Russell, Kurt does a good job but he is no Gene Hackman and its good they changed his character but by doing so the movie does lose a little of its charm like I earlier stated. Instead our leader this time is the smarmy Josh Lucas who is just out to save his own neck and if he saves a couple people along the way so be it. That’s typical modern day Hollywood gone is the do-gooder he has been replaced by the reluctant hero who’s first concern his himself who softens a little bit as the movies goes on. Its played out and its part of the reason I think maybe some people didn’t like the movie, too clichéd, too cynical, too run of the mill. Keep your expectations low, enjoy the movie heck it’s a disaster flick after all and you should be ok and feel you got your money’s worth.

Grade: B-