Poseidon (2006 movie)

The story centers on the S.S. Poseidon, a luxury ocean liner, named for the Greek god of the sea, in the midst of a transatlantic crossing.

The beginning focuses on a brief introduction of the main characters, as they go about their activities and business on board the ship. Jennifer Ramsey (Emmy Rossum) and her boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel) are a young couple hoping to soon be engaged, but her father, former New York City Mayor Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), harbors doubts about their relationship, and Christian in particular. Elena (Mía Maestro), travelling to see her ill brother in New York, is a stowaway in the cabin of Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez), a waiter in the ship's dining room. Dylan (Josh Lucas) is a smooth-talking professional gambler and Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is a distraught, homosexual architect who has recently experienced a break up with his boyfriend.

Later in the evening, Captain Michael Bradford (Andre Braugher) welcomes everyone to the New Year's party in the ship's ballroom as Gloria (Stacy Ferguson) sings before the crowd. On the upper level of the ballroom, Dylan and Robert are playing a game of poker with "Lucky Larry" (Kevin Dillon) and another passenger. Jennifer stops by to say "hi" and her father tells her to fasten the top button of her blouse, embarrassing her in front of the crowd. She does what he asks, but reveals his cards to the other players - "a pair of fives". Dylan, walking away with his winnings, bumps into a boy, Connor James (Jimmy Bennett). Dylan is introduced to Connor's mother, Maggie (Jacinda Barrett), when she comes up looking for her son. Down in the disco, Jennifer and Christian are dancing, and Elena maneuvers her way through the crowded disco by herself. In the ballroom, the countdown to the new year ends with streamers, balloons and cheers.

Nelson is so depressed he decides to jump off the boat and commit suicide. After he throws his phone in the water, he sees the moon is covered suddenly. As he looks closer, he sees a rogue wave. As he starts to run away, an officer spots the wave as well. He warns the captain and puts in an order to turn the bow to the starboard in order to avoid a side-on hit, but it's too late.

The wave hits the ship on the starboard side, causing it to roll over. As the ship capsizes, scenes of destruction are shown around the liner, the bridge crew are thrown into disarray while the crowds in the ballroom slide along the floors, walls and ceiling. The kitchen staff are overwhelmed by falling storage units and the disco collapses, electrocuting the passengers. Elsewhere on the ship the main atrium overturns, with the lift tubes collapsing against the opposite walls, and the water of an indoor swimming pool gushes onto the deck as the occupants are seen falling out of the glass housing and into the sea. Finally a flash fire engulfs a maintenance corridor as the ship settles bottom side up with much debris floating to the surface.

After some calm is restored in the ballroom, the captain assures the people that when the ship was hit, a signal-beacon was released and rescue teams would be on the way in several hours. Robert fights with the captain over his desire to go search for Jen, while Dylan, who opts to save himself rather than wait for help, is spotted leaving by Connor. This draws attention to Dylan, first by Maggie, and then by Robert and Nelson. After questioning and arguing, Dylan explains that they will probably be able to get out through the bow thrusters, now above the water line. Joined by Valentin, the group sets off and the Captain orders the water-tight doors sealed behind them.

Making their way to the disco, the group travel through the fiery kitchen and climb a deck via a service elevator shaft. In the shaft, the group use a bench as a makeshift bridge and Dylan, Connor, Maggie, and Robert make it safely to the other side and up. However, as Valentin tries to help Nelson, the elevator cab suspended above them begins to shake loose, causing their makeshift bridge to fall, and Valentin is left clinging to Nelson's legs. In order for Nelson to save himself, he reluctantly kicks Valentin off, who falls all the way to the "top" of the shaft. There he is impaled on metal debris and then crushed by the falling elevator. Though visibly shaken, the group recover and head on.

In the nightclub, Elena, Jennifer, and Larry manage to free Christian from under a girder just as the other group arrives from the ballroom. The assemblage then head through the passenger corridors and into the main atrium, where the fallen elevator tracks form the only bridge to the other side. After most get across successfully, a large piece of machinery, torn loose from its moorings, falls through the floor above striking the bridge, with Lucky Larry on it, followed by a waterfall of fuel which ignites into a stream of flame. Without the elevator tracks to cross, Dylan grabs a nearby fire hose, dives into the water, swims across, and climbs up to where the others are, making a rope bridge. With Jennifer and her father alone on the one side of the atrium, she shows him the engagement ring, to which he offers little surprise. The two, using a piece of broken brass railing, slide across the fire hose bridge together.

Back in the ballroom, the glass of the exterior windows begins to crack, and the rivets pop out, spraying water into the room. It doesn't take long for people to notice and start panicking and looking for an exit, but the corridors beyond the water-tight doors are now flooded. The Captain and Gloria calmly hug each other just before all the windows shatter and water comes pouring in, drowning everyone. The screams of those trapped in the ballroom are heard by the survivors in the atrium, and the group head off once more, realizing the water is on the way. The flaming lake in the bottom of the atrium begins to rise quickly.

Robert finds a shaft which he thinks might lead up to the next level. Despite Elena's claustrophobia, everyone makes their way into the duct, with the water now rushing into the corridor behind them. Once Robert reaches the grille at the end of the shaft, he finds it screwed shut from the outside, his fingers too big to manipulate the screws on the other side loose. To make matters worse, Nelson slips, trapping Elena and a drowning Dylan underneath him, but Elena manages to free him in the nick of time. Using his small hands, and Elena's cross necklace as a screwdriver, Connor releases the grille, allowing everyone to climb out of the rapidly filling duct.

They eventually find themselves in a ballast tank, with the only exit being through the sealed portal into the next tank beyond, and only flooding the tank will open the portal. By manually operating the external ports, the tank is flooded, the vent opens, and the bunch swim through. They exit the tank and swim through completely flooded corridors towards a set of stairs. However, Elena gets caught on loose wires, and while trying to free herself hits her head. Nelson tries to save her but does not succeed. Noticing they are missing, Dylan and Robert swim back to attempt her rescue, but it is too late. With Nelson distraught over her death, the group clips Elena's cross back on her, and move on. The remaining ballast tanks continue to fill one by one, bringing the ship closer to sinking.

Beyond the stairs, the path to the bow thrusters is discovered to be under water, as the ship is sinking by the bow. Discouraged, the survivors regroup and try to think of another way out when suddenly the engine room explodes, blowing out the stern decks below, and causing the ship to tilt towards the rear. This forces the water within the ship to shift, draining towards the stern, and thus clearing the way to the bow thrusters, though also knocking everyone down in the rush of water flowing down the corridor. Before they all head off on their original route, Maggie notices that Connor has gone missing. She and Dylan search for him while the others secure an exit, and find him trapped behind a screen in an area rapidly filling with water. He is rescued by Dylan, and the trio rapidly swim towards the other four, who have made it into the bow thruster room.

In the bow thruster room, Nelson, spotting the hatch that gives access to the propeller shaft, opens it, only to get blown back by wind caused by the still-active propellers. Christian proposes jamming the propellers with debris, but Robert points out that the blades are turning the wrong way, and need to be stopped, or reversed in order to create suction. The two argue about who should make the hundred and fifty foot swim to the underwater control room. They know that the one who makes the swim will certainly drown. They are uncertain whether either man will be able to hold his breath long enough even to reach and operate the controls; they know there is certainly no chance of the man then continuing to hold his breath long enough to swim all the way back to safety. Nonetheless, each man argues that he should be the one to sacrifice himself.

Reluctantly, Robert agrees that the plan's best chance at success is for Christian to go, as the younger man's lungs have a greater capacity. Robert thanks Christian for his sacrifice and Christian then turns to say his goodbyes to Jennifer. However, when he turns back, he finds that Robert has already jumped into the water and begun the swim.

Robert is able to swim to the bridge, only to find the emergency engine stop button broken. He frantically searches for another button as he runs out of air. He finds himself no longer able to hold his breath, and is finally forced to inhale. He convulses as water fills his lungs, and begins to drown. Moments before death, he spots the propeller reverse button and manages to press it.

Dylan, Maggie, and Connor arrive in the bow thruster room and are told what has transpired. It is noticed that the blades are now turning the other way. Dylan moves to throw a pressurized tank into the shaft, but the tank gets caught crosswise in the narrow door frame, held in place by the strong suction of air. He manages to kick it through, causing an explosion that blows out the propellers on both sides of the ship. The survivors pick their way through the shaft, jump into the ocean, and swim for a nearby life raft that was inflated upon the capsizing. As they clamber in, the Poseidon keels over in their direction. Luckily, the raft clears the ship. Poseidon flips back right side up, then slides beneath the surface as the shell-shocked survivors watch. Jennifer urges everyone to paddle the life raft away from the backwash, which threatens to drown them. They escape, and Dylan then fires off a flare gun. After a wait of unknown time, a pair of SH-60 Seahawk helicopters arrive to pick the six survivors from the water.