On New Years eve a massive luxury liner is crossing calm seas as the passengers prepare to make merry. On board is the ex-mayor of New York, Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), a former fireman who is trying to be cool about his daughter Jenny (Emmy Rossum) spending time with her boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel). They are secretly engaged, but can't pluck up the courage to tell him.

Meanwhile, professional gambler Dylan (Josh Lucas) is cleaning up at the tables whilst a feisty stowaway (Mia Maestro) has sneaked aboard to get a free trip to visit her sick brother. A suicidal gay architect, Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is heartbroken and preparing to jump over the railings. Elsewhere, a young mother Maggie(Jacinda Barrett) worries that her son Connor (Jimmy Bennett) will wander off.

These are the principal eight characters who will leave the supposed safety of the ballroom after the ship has been turned turtle by a rogue wave. Surprisingly, this comes early on with little chance at character building, and so we are plunged quickly into the disparate and desparate group's plan to reach safety. This means negotiating through piles of bodies and clambering through and into odd parts of the ship. They have to climb liftshafts, swim underwater and take incredible risks. Not all of them will survive.

Helmed (sorry couldn't resist it) by Wolfgang Petersen this is the first disaster movie set on a boat since Titanic, and perhaps audiences are ready for some more soggy adventuring. A remake of Poseidon Adventure from 1972, this benefits from advanced CGI and the absence of Shelley Winters. Amazingly short (just 98 minutes) it shows what can be achieved with adroit editing. There is desperation, self sacrifice and even acts of cowardice. At times there is some clunky dialogue, but at least nobody says 'My God' when the wave approaches. Amusingly, it makes Nelson think twice about plunging into the briny.

Petersen hardly has time to let you root for this or that character as they climb ever upwards, or should that be downwards with the water fast on their heels. He also sticks to the unwritten rule that you don't kill pets or children, but that's as far as I will reveal about the survival rate, but there are some twists and turns along the way.