Waterworld (1995)

If you're looking for something to satisfy that Mad Max tooth, this will definitely be the film you're looking for. Although it hasn't aged well making it not as graphically pristine as up to date cgi, the film carries loads of practical effects proving it's intricate worth. Sometimes it feels a bit empty but what can we expect from a world that has been covered up by water leaving sparseness. Everything is brilliant in this film from set design to the acting. The makeup is a little shoddy and the sound is very average with a backup for an ordinary adventure soundtrack but overall it is worth the watch!

When one starts with a premise that is so ludicrous and so lacking in any scientific basis, a society where economics are so contrived, it takes everything one can forgive to get through it. Yes, there are lots of close calls and adventures. The people who populate the world seem to be managing. They all seem to be well fed and have clothes to wear. This, despite a place where grain can't grow and there are no trees. Where fossil fuels are bound to run out in a short period of time. I don't know. Maybe I think too much about stinkers like this. In the old days, there used to be Saturday morning serials at movie theaters, like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, or others where everything was assumed to be fine because these people never had to face the realities of daily life. Kevin Costner is such a fine actor. He must have gotten a lot of money to do this.

Released in 1996, "Waterworld" chronicles events 500 years in the future after the polar icecaps have melted where people live in ramshackle floating communities called atolls. Kevin Costner stars as the Mariner, a loner who travels the 'waterworld' in his makeshift multi-hulled watercraft; that is, a huge trimaran. After visiting an atoll, the 'village' is attacked by a gang of 'Smokers,' led by Deacon (Dennis Hopper). The Mariner escapes with a woman (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a smartaxx little girl with a curious tattoo on her back (Tina Majorino). Can they escape Deacon's wrath and find the mythical 'Dryland'? R.D. Call and Gerard Murphy are on hand as Enforcer and Nord respectively.My title blurb is the best succinct description: "Waterworld" is basically Mad Max on the high seas, but with Costner as the protagonist rather than Mel Gibson. If you like the comic booky tone of the original Mad Max trilogy you'll like "Waterworld." If not, you probably won't. I was never a big fan of the nigh-goofy style of those apocalyptic movies, which explains my initial lukewarm feelings about "Waterworld." But if you can adapt to the tone there's a lot to appreciate: There are a lot of interesting props, including miscellaneous sailing and flying machines and medieval-like futuristic arms. A little past the hour mark, though, I was starting to get bored by the one-dimensional setting & happenings but, thankfully, the story segued into a couple of nigh fascinating interludes accompanied by an awesome score. As for the cast and their characters, Costner is stalwart as the laconic drifter with aberrant mutations, but is otherwise uninteresting. Tripplehorn looks great, but the movie fails to show off her beauty, like Beth Rogan in 1961's outstanding "Mysterious Island." To be honest with you, by the end of the movie I didn't care much about the main characters. As for Hopper, he's entertaining as always, but his comical approach diminishes any seriousness and realism. The movie is basically a live-action cartoon. It is common infamy that "Waterworld" was the most expensive movie ever made up to that time. It had a whopping budget of $100 million, but ended up costing almost twice that (not including marketing). It cost so much because it was hampered by a series of cost overruns and production setbacks, including the collapse of the multimillion-dollar set during a hurricane. As such, additional filming was required off the coast of Southern California. Further complications include Costner almost dying when he got caught in a squall while tied to the mast of his trimaran. Not to mention an epic soap opera disaster highlighted by the end of Costner's long-time marriage because of an affair on the set. Costner at the time was the superstar Golden Boy of Hollywood, an all-American hero who could do no wrong. "Waterworld" put an end to that. Notoriously referred to as "Kevin's Gate" and "Fishtar," "Waterworld" was actually the #1 movie at the box office when released and even broke even, eventually making a profit years later via video sales. The film runs 135 minutes and was shot almost entirely in a large artificial seawater enclosure located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii similar to that used in the film "Titanic" two years later; the ending was shot in Waipio Valley on the Big Island of Hawaii.GRADE: B- (6.5/10 Stars)

In the early 1990s Kevin Costner struck gold four times in a row with Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood, JFK and The Bodyguard. With Waterworld, however, he submerged himself entirely and hasn't really been able to rise above the surface ever since. This 'Mad Max on water' cost an enormous amount of money, but gained only modest success. (Though it was still better received than Costner's next post-apocalyptic vision, The Postman, which he directed himself. That movie was an undeserved box office bomb and a critical failure, though I personally found it thoroughly engaging, and overall a much much better film than either Waterworld or any part of the Mad Max franchise.)The lukewarm reception of Waterworld might be attributed to several factors. The mutant hero with gills and webbed feet or the bleak (and wet) vision of the post-apocalyptic world were probably not attractive enough, and despite the huge sets and the multitude of extras, much of the film is devoted to the Big Blue. The ocean is beautiful, no doubt about that, but it is a bit monotonous for nearly two and a half hours. And the happy ending is not so happy either. Our heroes do discover the coveted land, but the Mariner, being half water creature, gets sick of it, so he leaves his prospective family on the shore, and returns to the sea, his real home.The plot and the Mariner's character are, however, decently developed. (The weakest point is the illogical final confrontation, as the one person our hero truly jeopardises there is the child he tries to save.) The costumes made of fish scales look great (the Mariner's earrings are especially memorable), and Dennis Hopper in the role of the main antagonist is as wacky as always. Life after the great flood, as presented in the movie, seems more or less plausible, and there are no major problems with the dramatic structure or the pacing of the film either. It just doesn't grab you — probably because it really is nothing more than Mad Max 2 on water.