POSEIDON

The MS Poseidon, a luxury cruise ship, is on a year-end transatlantic crossing. An ex-Navy man turned professional gambler, Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas) is having an evening workout. In one of the cabins, Jen (Emmy Rossum) is with her fiancé, Christian (Mike Vogel); they discuss telling Jen’s father, former New York City Mayor Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), about their engagement. In the galley, stowaway Elena (Mia Maestro) searches for her friend, a waiter named Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez), whom she later finds in the kitchen. Elsewhere, architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is making a phone call to his estranged lover.
In the Grand Ballroom, Captain Michael Bradford (Andre Braugher) delivers a New Year’s welcome speech before introducing the onboard singer, Gloria (Stacy Ferguson). Dylan and Robert play Texas Hold’em, together with Lucky Larry (Kevin Dillon). Jen, Christian and Elena are partying in the nightclub. Nelson is with his friends, talking about his heartbreak and later excuses himself. As Dylan walks with his winnings, he bumps into Connor (Jimmy Bennett), who seems to like Dylan. Maggie (Jacinda Barrett), Connor’s mom, arrives and chats with Dylan.
On the bridge, officers see a 150-foot rogue wave coming towards them, while everyone celebrates New Year countdown. As Nelson is about to jump overboard, he sees the wave and rethinks his suicide. As the crew make their efforts to prevent a side-on collision, the wave smashes the starboard side of the ship, killing everybody outside. The ship capsizes in a matter of seconds.
In the panic-stricken ballroom, Robert, Dylan, Nelson and Maggie become conscious, realizing that the ship is now upside down. Maggie sees Connor inside in the piano, which is now on the ceiling. Robert and some officers rescue Connor. In the nightclub, Jen looks for Christian, who was pinned by a fallen light, and they meet Elena and witnesses everyone being electrocuted. Captain Bradford reassures the passengers by hinting that a set of GPS beacons were launched during the collision and rescue is coming. Dylan disregards the Captain's orders, concluding that the bow thrusters of the ship are the key to survival. He is joined by Robert, Nelson, Connor, Maggie and Valentin. As the group flees, they find themselves in a service elevator. They attach a table across the other side and successfully find an exit. The elevator car drops and everybody survives except Valentin who was impaled and crushed.
Back in the nightclub, Elena and Jen struggle to rescue Christian, but are later helped successfully by Lucky Larry. Robert and Jen reunite, together with the other survivors. As the group reaches the lobby, a damaged elevator serves as the way across. As it was Lucky Larry's turn, a engine falls and kills him, leaking fuel and causing a fire. Dylan finds a fire hose and jumps into the flaming water, making a zip line and managing to save Robert and Jen successfully.
Windows in the ballroom began to break due to pressure; the room floods and all the passengers, including Captain Bradford and Gloria, drown. As the surviving group is chased by the rising water, they venture into an air vent which leads to the ballast tanks. Elena struggles to go due to her claustrophobia. Robert tries smash the cover of the vent but fails, so he calls Connor to assist. Elena successfully gets inside the vent and offers her necklace to be used as a screwdriver. The cover opens and everybody climbs through. They get into the ship's ballast tank, where a hatch is located. Robert and Dylan realize that only great pressure can open the hatch and they flood the chamber. The hatch opens and they swim through to the next chamber, however Elena catches her dress on some loose wires as she swims through and she bangs her head on a sharp beam, which kills her.