History Film / Poseidon

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:While Connor survives, he couldn't possibly have been the only child on the ship.]]

* IdiotBall:
** Dylan allowing Elena to be the last person to swim through the flooded corridors, even when he explicitly made it a point not to do this earlier in the vents due to her claustrophobia. Unsurprisingly, she dies. What could have possessed him to forget about such a vital fact about Elena is a really good question.

** Maggie becomes a real idiot by not bothering to help Robert and Dylan pull Richard and Valentin up to safety as she's too busy with comforting her son Connor. This leads to Valentin's horrific demise.

-->[[spoiler:'''Valentin''']]: "I got this."
-->[[spoiler:'''Lucky Larry''']]: "You don't just get the nickname [[spoiler:Lucky Larry! You gotta be lucky]]!"

* HistoryRepeats: According to promotional material, the ''Poseidon'' is on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, possessing the name of the God of the Sea (which is considered a BlasphemousBoast by sailors). In the middle of the Atlantic, the ship is met with disaster and sinks with massive loss of life. Thinking about a [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic certain other ship]] yet? At least the Titanic had an estimated 700 survivors (out of 2,224 onboard people). Assuming Poseidon has, and is carrying, the near-maximum amount of crew and passengers that its visual basis, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2 the Queen Mary II]], that means the Poseidon is possibly carrying 3800+ people, [[spoiler: with a total survivor count of ''SIX''.]]

Starring Creator/KurtRussell, Creator/JoshLucas and Creator/RichardDreyfuss, the film was nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for visual effects (lost to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', though), and was mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most detailed CGI model - the ship.

** Dylan allowing Elena to be the last person to swim through the flooded corridors, even when he explicitly made it a point not to do this earlier in the vents due to her claustrophobia. Unsurprisingly, she dies.
** Maggie not bothering to help Robert and Dylan pull Richard and Valentin up to safety as she's too busy with comforting her son Connor. This leads to Valentin's horrific demise.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Valentin is nice enough to let Richard go first in the infamous elevator scene. Sadly, when their makeshift bridge falls, he is left clinging to Richard's leg and Richard has no other choice but to kick him down, otherwise they would have both died.

* CoolClearWater: Let's not even get started on how disgusting and murky that water inside the ship should be, having filtered through rooms and rooms full of God-knows-what.
** Averted in in RealLife - the cast often dealt with infections from spending so much time in the water even though the water ''was'' pretty clean.

* HistoryRepeats: According to promotional material, the ''Poseidon'' is on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, possessing the name of the God of the Sea (which is considered a BlasphemousBoast by sailors). In the middle of the Atlantic, the ship is met with disaster and sinks with massive loss of life. Thinking about a [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic certain other ship]] yet?
** Heck, at least the Titanic had an estimated 700 survivors (out of 2,224 onboard people). Assuming Poseidon has, and is carrying, the near-maximum amount of crew and passengers that its visual basis, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2 the Queen Mary II]], that means the Poseidon is possibly carrying 3800+ people, [[spoiler: with a total survivor count of ''SIX''.]]
* IdiotBall: Dylan allowing Elena to be the last person to swim through the flooded corridors, even when he explicitly made it a point not to do this earlier in the vents due to her claustrophobia. Unsurprisingly, she dies.

** No one else from the group bothering to help Robert and Dylan pull Richard and Valentin up to safety. This leads to Valentin's horrific demise.

* IdiotBall: Dylan allowing Elena to be the last person to swim through the flooded corridors, even when he explicitly made it a point not to do this earlier in the vents.

Starring Creator/KurtRussell, Josh Lucas and Creator/RichardDreyfuss, the film was nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for visual effects (lost to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', though), and was mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most detailed CGI model - the ship.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: Realizing that there's no escape, Captain Bradford and Gloria tearfully embrace as the ballroom floods]].

* NobodyOver50IsGay: Averted with Richard. The actor was in his late 50s during production, and his white hair clearly shows that he's the oldest member of the party.

* Expy: The Poseidon herself is one for the Queen Mary 2. the design in this version having taken inspiration from the real life ocean liner.

* {{Expy:}} The Poseidon herself is one for the Queen Mary 2. the design in this version having taken inspiration from the real life ocean liner.

** Connor to Robin, being the youngest who develops a friendship with the leader.

* Expy: The Poseidon herself is one for the Queen Mary 2. the design in this version having taken inspiration from the real life ocean liner.
** Robert can be seen as one for Lt. Rogo from the original film.
** Nelson isn't that similar to Manny, but they both are the oldest of the group in their respected films.
** Conner can also be seen as an expy of Robin.

* AdultFear: Conor stuck behind the grating.

* GoingDownWithTheShip: Captain Michael Bradford. though it's not like there was a choice in the matter.

* {{Jerkass}}: Lucky Larry is an obnoxious asshole who antagonizes Robert at the most inopportune time, including throwing his wife's death in his face.

* GoingDownwiththeShip: Captain Michael Bradford. though it's not like there was a choice in the matter.

* AdultFear: Conor stuck behind the grating

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Subverted; despite preparing to commit suicide just before the wave hits (he's despondent over the end of his relationship), Richard is one of the final survivors.]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:The helpful and friendly Valentin suffers an absolutely horrific, completely undeserved death -- after the table they are using to cross an elevator shaft collapses, he is left clinging to Richard's leg while Dylan and Robert attempt to pull both of them up, to no avail. Realizing the elevator is about to give way, Dylan orders Richard to shake Valentin off or they will both die. Valentin falls and is impaled on a piece of metal at the bottom, then crushed by the falling elevator, which explodes, setting the entire elevator shaft on fire.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:All but six people onboard the ship perish.]]

* An equally nefarious example is [[spoiler: Elena's death. Just after surviving a series of back-to-back near-drowning encounters, a stray wire traps Elena underwater behind the group right as she's on the cusp of freedom. She subsequently panics, suffers blunt-force trauma on a piece of shrapnel, drowns, and is unable to be revived.]]