Rent Waterworld on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Peter Rader and David Twohy
Directed by: Kevin Reynolds
Starring: Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
In a future where the polar ice-caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, a mutated mariner fights starvation, outlaws, and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land.
Verdict
This is one of those movies where you're just running out the clock, assuming you can make it to the credits. The action is stale, leaving you to focus on all the discrepancies. This world doesn't make any sense, and worse than that there's no sense of discovery as there's nothing to see on the ocean. This needs to cut at least thirty minutes. It wouldn't fix the movie, but at least it would ease the suffering.
Skip it.
Review
At the time, this was the most expensive film ever made. While it was one of the highest grossing films of the year, it didn't recoup it's budget until video sales. Steven Spielberg warned Costner and Reynolds not to film on open water. They didn't heed his warning, and that decision led to budget and schedule overruns.
This is Mad Max on water, and the original movie was direct inspiration. From the very first scene, this movie makes you wonder. This starts with Costner's character, The Mariner, peeing on his boat. We get a direct butt shot. Of all the ways to open a movie, that's an odd choice, almost prophetic.
 |
| Kevin Costner plays the Mariner |
The Mariner scavenges from the sea floor, but that would have to be quite deep. It's a a clue about this guy. The Mariner trades what he finds with the local sea fortress. His most valuable commodity is dirt, as you can't get that anymore. I like the idea that the icecaps melted, but a world that's all water isn't very interesting. I'm not sure how the Mariner found this sea fortress. They don't like him, which would indicate they don't know him. Did he randomly stumble upon this place? Conveniently for the plot, this base locks him up and plans to dump him into sewage.
The villains of the movie have a supply of gas that's never explained and defies credibility. This is silly, but logic wasn't the focus in this movie. The focus is a map to dry land that's tattooed on a child's back. That generates a lot of questions, but don't dwell on it. You won't get any answers. The problem with the movie is that it's too much of a stretch with too many questions. Where do they get food? How is everyone not starving? And this girl with a map; where is she from?
The Mariner ends up on back on his ship with the kid and her guardian Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn). He's playing disgruntled, but you know he's going to turn which is why the movie has him play so mean. The action isn't interesting, and it's so long and boring. Cutting thirty minutes would help, but there's also no sense of discovery other than one visit underseas. All of the sets have a dystopia vibe of repurposing past objects, but how would they even get the items? Is it all from scavengers? If they have this stuff, it implies they're trading or there are other bases. We don't see them. This is a movie where I kept checking the time. I couldn't believe how slowly time passed.
The search for dry land drives this movie, but they find it so easily. How did no one find it before when the Mariner has been sailing around for years. If he had sailed just a few more days, he would have found it. On top of that, how is the land uninhabited? All this time, no one has found dry land?
There's nothing to like about this. It's a bad copy, and this ending feels like a mercy.
No comments :
Post a Comment