Let's be honest: this 1995 epic isn't nearly as bad as its negative publicity led us to expect. At the time it was the most expensive Hollywood production in history (it had a
Titanic-sized $200 million budget), and the film arrived in theaters with so much controversy and negative gossip that it was an easy target for ridicule. The movie itself, a flawed but enjoyable post-apocalypse thriller, deserves better.
Waterworld stars Kevin Costner as the Mariner, a lone maverick with gills and webbed feet who navigates the endless seas of Earth after the complete melting of the polar ice caps. The Mariner has been caged like a criminal when he's freed by Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and enlisted to help her and a young girl (Tina Majorino) escape from the Smokers, a group of renegade terrorists led by Dennis Hopper in yet another memorably villainous role. It is too bad the predictable script isn't more intelligent, but as a companion piece to
The Road Warrior, this seafaring stunt-fest is adequately impressive.
--Jeff Shannon
1 "Dryland's a myth!"
Of course, this action-packed film is as underrated as "Ghost Ship". Well, perhaps many people hate movies about water, or associated with water. Science fiction can {surprisingly} contain action and create a fun movie like Waterworld. Dennis Hopper is good for the main bad guy named "Deacon". The good and bad sides don't just want to find dryland, they feel they NEED to. Kevin Costner's character believes no such thing. Not too many folks enjoyed this film, but I thought it ruled for the action, and on a scale of 1 to 10, screw 11! Waterworld is 12!
2 Are those gills functional
Since there are plenty of reviews on the theme, I will discuss the transfer to dvd for the DTS version disc. The DTS 5.1 sound is very good (Nice separation of sound), but the rear speakers could have been used more, in my opinion (Perhaps I am spoiled by movies like Gladiator). The .1 low bass sounds great with the explosions and gun fire. The picture quality is excellent and one of the best I have seen for a 1995 movie on a 50 inch widescreen TV.
I picked this DVD up at a bargain bin price and would advise others to add the movie to their collection, with such a deal.
3 "THE SWEEEET FLAVOR OF DRY....LAND."
This movie is fun! There is a whole bunch of action! This is an excellent science fiction film! It might make you take land for granted.
Here's what it's about:{spoilers}
The mariner is just a guy{Kevin Costner}. Day in and day out he occasionally does business with nearby atolls if he needs to. In the beginning of the film, he gets dirt from a drifter and goes to an atoll. He tries to leave, but the people there find out he has gills behind one of his ears, so they figure, "okay so this dude is a mutant." That is where the fun action comes in. When he finally gets away from the Deacon{Dennis Hopper}, the mariner takes along 2 people from the atoll with him. From there on, the Deacon goes after him because the little girl he has with him has a tattoo on her back that is the only way to find dryland. No one knows how to read it. It just looks like a yingyang with an arrow going up on it. Although the Deacon tries to capture he little girl who's name is Enola, {Tina Majorino} nobody still knows how to read it. I doubt I should waste time telling you more.
Excellent science fiction film with Kevin Costner.
4 I am half human and half fish.
I love dirt. It is worth a lot of money because it is the most prized possession in the world. Plot spoiled.
5 its a nice movie
I cannt believe they were a lot of negative things about that movies, yes it was very expensive but its a nice futuristic thriller
Its has actions and funny things
6 SO BAD!
This is maybe the worst film ever! TERRIBLE! I have to talk about this with my psychiatry....AWFUL! I would like more to commit suicide than watch this movie again!
7 It's better than you'd think.
I don't know why Waterworld keeps getting slammed. Waterworld isn't a brainless and turbo-charged film. Instead it keeps you thinking, it makes you have to adjust to what an apocalptic world might actually be like. The people who live there have a totally different life than we have, and a different vocabulary for things in the past ("Go juice" is the gasoline smokers use for their jetskis).
Also, I found Kevin Costner perfectly easy to identify with. He's a mutant and doesn't trust humans, and he spends the whole movie trying to learn to accept them.
I thought Waterworld is also perfectly believable, unlike other futuristic films. The props and sets, down to the last detail, show a world that is so totally unlike our own and could come to exist.
Overall, the storyline is about a group of people who had lived in an Atol, one mutant (Kevin Costner), and the smokers looking for dry land, which is supposedly a myth to them. There is a lot of adventure and a lot of action that happens between the rival Atollers and Smokers as both sides search for the mythic dry land.
8 Excellent Comic Book-like Action Adventure
I own a copy of this movie on VHS and have watched it repeatedly. It is a top notch action movie with a great deal of creative inventiveness. I especially appreciate how the lead character's, the Mariner's, boat is like an extension of his body. The precariousness of human life in this movie mirrors that of the Mad Max movie's own desert-like apocolyptic world with its symmetrical opposite, a world "buried" in water.
I'm a fan of Kevin Costner's quiet characters (which remind me of Keanu Reeves' characters). The young girl played by Tina Majorino (awesome name by the way for the actress behind this character) was a hoot and a good opposite to Kevin Costner. Her being annoying is intentional and a source of a lot of great dramatic tension and intended laughs. Dennis Hopper is a comic book evil genius in this movie.
I think the movie packs a lot of great "sci-fi-apocalypse" ideas in it that make it come off as intelligent, especially after several viewings. The whole family should appreciate this exciting movie.
9 Why Costner?...He's bland!...
Kevin Costner (whose acting ability I usually compare with a bail of hay)does slightly better than a bail of hay in this movie covered in jet skis... If you like plenty of explosions and future pirates, than hold on tight, 'cause there's plenty! Also, Kev drinks his own pee in the beginning--I was hoping for the machine that purifies his pee to malfunction...but he seemed satisfied with his own (...).
Personally, I think Mr. Costner is better off doing Crest commercials or something...anything that keeps him relatively far from the human eye. How were so many roles forced on such a warehouse worker? I think if you gave him something to load onto a ship he'd feel better than doing this "acting" thing...
And be on the lookout for Costner's next film role...I'm sure he plays God, the way they cast the man...oy.
10 Don't know why this was slated so much
First of all, the length of the film put me off. I was expecting another Titanic, and boy did I get one! It passed a lot faster than I expected, with very few slow scenes. Secondly, the fact it had been slated left, right & centre by everyone didn't particularly make me want to watch it. I think I watched a completely different film to everyone else (don't worry, that normally happens).
I seem to like films that are filmed in an overly large swimming pool (Titanic, Hard Rain). Prior to Titanic, this was one of the most expensive movies ever made, going over and above the budget of $110 million to $200 million. And it got slated. Kevin Costner will never live it down, but if I could tell him it did quite a good job I would. This is also one of the films that would have scared me if I was much younger (who am I kidding, it still does!) I always think that the next plane I get on is going to explode, or that an asteroid is going to hit earth, and wipe it all just like the dinosaurs. Or maybe aliens will come to earth - perhaps I'm not so afraid of that!
As it's set in the future, and all of dry land is submerged, things are pretty much different. All the "smokers" (ie pirates, just call them that will you?) seem to have a steady supply of cigarettes, although food seems to be in short supply. Nearly everyone is clean shaven (unless you count Kevin Costner's chest and he still had the nerve to rip all the buttons off his shirt to show it off) And there's loads of jet skis. And also, the urine converter?! How sickening!!!
Dennis Hopper wasn't the greatest actor in this. I'm not saying he's a bad actor, but in this, he just seemed unnecessary, and in the way a lot of the time. Jeanne Tripplehorn (Helen) is really great, with her love/hate relationship with Kevin Costner (including offering her body to him - Kevin's character obviously didn't know what to do with it!) Kevin could sometimes be quite tedious actually - he hardly seemed to smile, and seemed to be on a massive power trip, with looking so touhg all the time. That chest hair though. Ugh! Tina Majorino as Enola is Helen's adopted daughter, surrounded by water. Who can't swim. Until Kevin's character teaches her, one of the sweetest scenes in the entire movie. Her hair definitely looks better after he chops it all off.
There's not much else to be said about this movie. It's good, and doesn't deserve the slating it get. Give it a try.
11 Everybody together now..............."My boat..."
From the opening scene where Kevin Costner drinks his own pee, you know this isn't going to be a movie you'll jump into willingly.
This movie, however, is enjoyable on a few guilty pleasure moments. For one, I love the props and sets they used, especially the "atoll" and siege weapons used to attack the latter. I also have to say if you want to see some simple action it does deliver there.
Sadly, this movie has many faults too. For example, how do the Smokers have jet-skis? Doesn't that recquire a motor, which recquires gasoline and electricity? And didn't the microphone used on the Smokers' main vessel recquire electricity too? And wouldn't the bubble Jeanine Tripplehorn rode in to see an underwater city have imploded due to the depth pressure? And speaking of Jeanine Tripplehorn, was she an immense load or what? She didn't do much except whine and get Kevin Costner in trouble. This is not touching that essentially this film fills in all the post-apocolyptic cliches in the film world.
All in all, I wouldn't call it spectacular, and the day I compare it to "Blade Runner" or "2001: A Space Odyssey" is the day I think Milla Jovovich is the new Bette Davis. But still, its basically one of those "craptastic" films that recquire you to "check your IQ at the door" (as another Amazon reviewer said). See it for dumb fun, because that's all it is is fun.
12 "Gentlemanlike Guppy"
Waterworld is a great film, but you won't understand it unless you see it several times. Kevin Costner stars as Mariner, who is despised for his amphibious mutation. Cruel treatment by humans his has made him bitter and he wonders if there are others like him in the world. Dennis Hopper plays the leader and false prophet of the "Smokers", who is searching for him and a map showing an area with dry land. At the end, Mariner finds his own version of humanity and continues his search.
13 It rules
I just wanted to put in my two cents and say that this movie absolutely rules. I love the Deacon's character as well as The Mariner's. I also like the music that's played during the opening credits it's very catchy. True fans of this movie should go to Universal Stidios in California and see The Waterworld Stunt Show it's really very good and a must-see for all Waterworld fans. On the whole I really love this movie and piis on you to all those who don't and the only reason for this is because you all lack vision.
14 DANCES WITH(out) BRAIN (part one)
Wash down this s**t down the toilet together with people who made this expensive insult to the post-apocalyptic films. What evil forces sponsored this trash which polute our minds and oceans ?
15 mad max sans desert
Sort-of a 'Mad Max' 'Road Warrior' on water, this film got too litle credit. Maybe Costner is too much an 'individual' and not a hollywood 'game player.' Maybe the similarity in premise was too 'used' (cant argue that). Regardless, Waterworld was a thrill for fantasy buffs. Great story, good casting, scenery well worth the money spent. Kevin plays a loner/rebel/mutant just trying to get by in an 'alien' world covered in oceans after the dreaded global warming. Our hero chanaces upon survivalists down to their last bit of humanity and fights a fun villain (dennis hopper) in a condensed quest for land amidst the world of water. Good movie to own and watch every few months. Okay for most kids (violent scenes) due to the morals, dilemmas, and decisions of the main characters. Its definitely top 50 in my book.
16 Mad Max On Waterskis
Kevin Costner's multi-million dollar rip-off of the "Road Warrior." Pretty much the same plot and theme except on water as opposed to desert.
Kevin Costner plays a fish-human hybrid wandering in a world now covered with water. He runs into Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a young girl (Tina Majorino)but soon realizes they bring trouble with the Smokers, a band of cigarette-smoking pirates led by The Deacon (Dennis Hopper.) Grudgingly protecting the innocent peoples from the Smokers, Costner then seeks to lead them to a solid ground paradise.
The movie's credit goes to the stunt personnel who did all the show. In terms of solid lines and performances there are none except for Dennis Hopper. The story itself reeks of pseudo science and shows the writer's obvious lack of basic georgraphical knowledge. Even if the polar caps had completely melted, it is impossible for that amount of water to rise over 30,000 feet evenly across the entire world: sorry Mr. Costner,there just isn't that much ice in the polar caps and our water supply on this planet is a closed system.
The movie is just another sad example of Costner's ever declining career as both an actor and director. I kept on wanting to fall asleep through the film but the explosions and senseless yelling kept me awake.
17 Very good entertainment!!!
Ok, perhaps this epic is a little predictable, some action-scenes are a little over the edge, but so what? Just as Lord Of The Rings this is an adventure-movie, then this is to be expected. It's not the best action/adventure I've seen, but I really enjoyed it - Dennis Hopper is fun to watch, and I think Costner is too. Though there is plenty action here, I still can't help feeling that the story is missing something, not quite sure what it is, but it strikes me every time I watch it -but the most important thing is that I keep watching Waterworld from time to time, it's a shame the critics left the movie with the reputation that it's got, I think 4 stars is well deserved =)
18 Waterworld 10 Year Anniversary
I enjoyed Waterworld very much. Next year, 2005, is the movie's ten year anniversary. Kevin Costner and Universal should consider a multi-disk DVD release which includes the extended version plus extras. At the very least a re-release which includes as many deleted scenes as possible, even if they are not included in the movie itself. I vaguely remember seeing a short feature on TV that showed construction of the Atoll and other movie sets. If that's the case, that should also be included.
19 Hello? Am I the only one that understands what Fiction means
First I want to state that I really enjoyed this movie. I liked it's post apocolypitic view of the world covered in water. The story was done well and the look and feel of a watered down Mad Max was creatively done. I enjoyed it from start to finish.
Now on to all the people that apparently do not know what ficiton is. This movie is fiction! That means it's not real or based on total possible reality! So all these people saying, it's not possible for a guy to have gills, or that one scene just couldn't be possible, go get an A&E special if you want reality. If you find yourself repeating to yourself "It's only a movie", go get an imagination too!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but sometimes I wonder how people allow their ideas to be skewed by the majority.
By the way after the 4th viewing I just barely noticed Dry Land is Mt. Everest!
20 Um... Yeah
In the scene where the little girl is in the water and Kevin Costner bungees down to get her, even if Costner had not retrieved the girl, the two water-jetting enemies would have crashed into each other anyway.
I just wanted to point out this humerous fact, I'm sorry.
21 They should release the extended version
I first saw this movie as a rental of the theatrical version. It was okay. But I liked it much better when I saw the extended version on broadcast tv. About 45 minutes of footage is added to the extended version, which actually helps the movie a great deal in my opinion. While the extended version is shown on sci-fi channel from time to time (in a four hour time slot), it is not available on video. Nor is the additional footage contained on the DVD release - to my knowledge. So they should release the extended version on DVD, which would be worth buying.
22 More like 4 and half stars
I never understood why people didn't like this movie more, When i first watched it I was entranced. When I watched again I thought it was just as good. For an aventure film it was great transfomable boats a post-apocliptic world what more do you need. Personally I think that people have some kind of gtripe against KEevin Costner for some reason I have enjoyed all the movies aof his I have seen.My only real gripe about the movie is that they burned the boat in the end.
23 I agree, it's not THAT BAD ...
Waterworld is definitely a flawed movie, but it's not awful.
Pros:
1. Dennis Hopper is clearly having a blast playing 'The Deacon' as is really fun to watch.
2. The set design (and costume design) of the a-toll villages shows a great deal of creativity.
3. The action scenes are well choreographed and creative.
... However, as (laughing) MANY reviewers have pointed out, there are glaring problems that were never addressed. Leading me to...
Cons
1. The idea to design the set on water, which was a major reason for the ridiculously inflated budget, totally backfired. It never seemed to dawn on anyone that (as opposed to a lush jungle, for example) one part of the texture-less, open sea tended to look like another.
It's not like the cast was constantly battling the weather or the sea itself either. I might have been awed watching 'The Marnier' battle his way through a hurricane or a sea-squall, but we don't see anything like that. Just flat ... calm ... boring ... water.... everywhere. Could I, at least, see a wave? Or a swell?
2. Kevin Costner's impression of Clint Eastwood's 'Man with no name' doesn't work. Instead of making him dark and mysterious, Costner, I felt, actually alienated himself from the audience to the point where we didn't care WHAT happened to him.
Eastwood could burn a hole through you with a glare and was an absolute master at acting with his eyes and facial expressions. Costner just seems to stand there with the same look on his face I get from my dog when it hears my voice coming from the answering machine.
3. Other then the villain, who we're not supposed to be able to connect with, there really wasn't a single "likeable" character. I was actually GLAD when Costner threw the little girl over-board; man was she getting on my nerves at that point.
4. The pace of the movie was TERRIBLE, and I read IT WAS CUT DOWN! WOW ... for an action movie, this REALLY trudged along at a snail's pace. I would have cut another 1/2 off, minimum. If the story's going to be a little weak, you could AT LEAST get to the battle scenes a little quicker.
To sum up, I can't POSSIBLY recommend buying a copy, but you could rent it. Just make sure you keep your finger near the fast-forward button.
24 It's not that bad
I think ppl don't like it because of the expectations it had. I think the movie is very good. The only thing i have a problem with is the lack of detail of what happened to the old world, mountains, and cities and things of that nature. I think the ending was appropriate also. I think ppl should buy it if you want someting good to watch, but if your looking for a blockbuster, this isn't it.
25 Good Film
Not a "great" film but a "good" film. If you liked Mad Max then you should like this film. It's like Mad Max on the water...:+)
26 Why do people hate this film?
I regard this movie as the ultimate escape. It's exotic, tropical and the 'seascapes' are simply stunning. I guess it's popular to hate Waterworld. But for what reason? Okay, so it never made as much money as Universal wanted, but it's all up there on the screen and it DID make a profit. It's not the flop everyone thinks it is.
I found Kevin Costner to be actually quite effective as the (fish) man with no name (they only refer to him as 'The Mariner' a couple of times) and Dennis Hopper is simply great as the bad guy, much better than he was in Speed.
The action is very exciting and tho it's far-fetched and ridiculous it never fails to entertain. Bizarrely enough, the best scenes of the film are the quieter scenes aboard the Catamaran. It's here that a certain mood takes effect and the entire pace changes. This is aided by James Newton Howard's breath-taking score. I'd seriously recommend hunting down the soundtrack CD to this one.
It's a shame the 3-hour cut is not available on DVD (explaining what became of Mount Everest) but this 135 minute version is all we have at the moment. Tho this particular DVD features an outrageous DTS 5.1 soundtrack in FULL BITRATE. The anamorphic 1.85:1 picture also looks superb.
27 Mistreated, Somewhat
"Waterworld" was Kevin Costner's "Rocky": he put everything into it, with the goal of creating a lasting epic. It went over-budget, with estimates ranging from $110 million to $200 million (in 1995), and was hyped so much that living up to its billing became impossible.
Okay, what I just said is what most people talk about when reviewing this film. But, what about the film? It tells an interesting story about a post-Apocalyptic Earth, flooded almost entirely by melted polar ice caps. Costner plays the nameless Mariner, a mutated human with webbed feet and gills, who swims like a fish and breathes like a fish or a human. He roams the seas in his complex, mechanized, pieced-together catamaran, trading and surviving as a loner. Then, he meets a woman, Jeanne Triplehorn, with a little girl, Tina Majorino. The girl has a tattoo on her back, of a map that supposedly points the way to the then-semimythical dry land. Pirates, called "Smokers", are after the girl, lead by the splendidly evil and oily Dennis Hopper, who leads his people by posing as a prophet. The scenery is magnificent, the musical score is very good, there's lots of action, and the effects are very good.
While Majorino and Hopper play their parts well, Costner and Triplehorn come off flat, aloof, and hard to identify with. Costner's character is supposed to be hard-shelled and aloof, but he overdoes it, takes too long to warm up, and never gets all the way there.
Overall, this is a highly watchable and amusing action film. It's not the great epic Costner wanted to make.
28 Waterworld sinks
this is about Kevin Costner who is part man..part fish and he can breathe underwater and he has his own sailboat thing...teh earth is now all covered in water..which was a good idea for a movie but yeesh..did it have to be this bad..with the annoying Dennis Hopper as the badguy..you'd only wonder....some..and I say some good action set pieces but it all goes for a dip early in...other actors include Kim Coates..an unrecognizable Jack Black and Jeannne Tripplehorn..if your a Costner fan thats fine if you like this but dont waste your time to see him pee in a filter and then make it into water and then having his drink it...thats just a steeraway
29 The water logged epic
"Waterworld" is Kevin Costner's (who produced it) magnum opus. It is the future, the polor ice caps have melted, and Mariner (Costner), a mutant human, agrees to take a woman and a young girl to mythic Dry-World. They are persued by the Smokers, led by the funny Dennis Hooper. This movie is not that bad folks. Yes, I thought the pirates could have been a little more mean (well, a lot more). The reason for Costner's mutation is never explined. Costner himself seems a little wooden, but with all the stuff in production, I can't blame him. I remember the problems during production, the set was destroyed during a bad storm and the film ran well over budget. But for all that, it is still an excellent action thriller. The city under water was real cool. There is so many pros that I am sorry it has got the bad reputation it has.
30 A great movie
I'm a little confused as to why this movie gets so much negative response. I personally really enjoy it and find the entire movie to be a great adventure. I Love the gadgets and advancements the Mariner (Costner) has on his awesome sea craft. It's great to see modern items we take for granted to be held in such high regards in their world.
It takes little more than a halfway decent imagination to fill in blanks the film doesn't spell out for you word-for-word. I like that there are pieces to the puzzle you're left to conclude yourself. Who knows what may have happened to cause Costner's character to mutate (for those of you who've not seen this movie, it's a slight mutation, not a freakish show of sorts. He simply has gills behind his ears and webbed feet) -- a lot of radiation and nuclear hazards exsist in the world -- who's to say he didn't run into a pile of hazardous waste at some point prior to or even during the appocalyptic glacier-melting that helped advance his evolved state? It's a great movie to get lost in and allow your imagination to go wild. 5 stars.
31 The water . . .
I like the water, . . . a lot. To me, it's the most peaceful movie I've seen.
Not only is this one of the more peaceful action movies, but it gives a sense of what it would be like once a global disaster happens.
No police, no rules, just dictators, good and bad.
I think that may be what the movie is about. Make up your own mind about it though. It's good. Watch it.
Kevin Coster's seemingly nonchalant attitude puts him very high on my cool list, even though he might have trouble with some of the intimate scenes in his movies. He's cool, and so is Dennis Hopper.
32 Time might be on its side
"Waterworld" opened in 1995 to a great deal of public curiosity, not over its quality as film, but over its budget. Widely publicized as the most expensive movie ever made, "Waterworld" was judged not by what was on the screen (which was a heck of a lot) but how much it cost to put it there.
Going on ten years later, my only question is, who cares how much it cost? No big Hollywood movie today is made for less than $100 million, and most of that goes to computer graphics designers. "Gladiator," for example, probably cost as much as "Waterworld" did, and 98 percent of it was digital. Kevin Reynolds and Kevin Costner, however, put real actors, real stunts, real sets and a real ocean in their film, and today it just feels more impressive than many contemporary films. In other words, time has been kinder to "Waterworld" than critics were in '95.
The movie is by no means a masterpiece. But don't be misled: it succeeds as an action-packed piece of entertainment, perfect for a slow night. Reynolds found interesting ways of shooting the action, and blends a lot of humor in with the bombast. He knew the whole thing was preposterous; how else to explain many of the bizarre sights and effects that are wall to wall in this movie? "Waterworld" is so weird that it's almost refreshing. How many current "blockbusters" can you say that about?
Costner took a lot of heat for this movie; I can't say that it was the smartest career move for him, though "Message in a Bottle" is by far worse. In going back and researching Joseph Campbell's ideas about the heroic myth, however, I realize that Costner's half-man/half-fish Mariner is a hero in the classic mode, on a quest for his own humanity and to (albeit inadvertantly) "save" mankind. Costner plays the role straight, with grim humor and palpable muscle, which is actually the right contrast for Reynolds' Spielberg-on-dope approach to the action.
There's a lot of fun stuff in this movie. I'm sure that most of what they spent ended up on film, and for me that's enough.
33 Waterlogged
When Kevin Costner deservedly won an Oscar for directing "Dances with Wolves," he made the same mistake that Michael Cimino did after winning for "The Deer Hunter" -- he let it go to his head. Cimino went on to direct the notorious "Heaven's Gate," while Costner's next (albeit uncredited) directorial effort was the not-quite-as-notorious "Waterworld."
The film takes place centuries in the future, where global warming has melted the polar ice caps and drowned civilization beneath the rising waters. (There is not nearly enough water locked in the ice caps to make this possible, but it's only a movie.) The few surviving humans mostly live in floating communities called atolls, while a band of marauders called Smokers armed with gasoline-powered jet-skis and airplanes prowl the endless seas looking for settlements to knock off. (One would think that with their extremely finite fuel source, they would have long since run out of gas in the hundreds of years since the waters rose, but it's only a movie.)
Enter Costner as the Mariner, a mutated human sporting gills and webbed feet who travels the world in his boat. Stopping at one particular atoll to trade dirt (which he dredges up from the ocean floor) for spare parts, he meets Enola, a little girl who just happens to have a map to Dryland, the world's sole remaining above-water location, tattooed on her back. The Smokers, led by a particularly wide-eyed Dennis Hopper, want Enola and her map so they can despoil the last remaining bit of land on Earth. (Now, if someone else drew the map, wouldn't that mean someone else knows where this place is? I know, it's only a movie.)
Eventually, the recitations of "it's only a movie" begin to pile up to the point where they threaten to swamp the whole film. "Waterworld" had a then-record budget of $175 million (the current record-holder is the $200 million "Titanic"), and most of it was seemingly spent turning the dilapidated sets to avoid having land appear in the background -- which didn't always work, as land is very visible in several scenes. Costner spends most of his on-screen time grunting, snarling, and generally making himself so unpleasant one almost roots for the Smokers to just kill him and get it over with. (He reportedly interfered so much with production that director Kevin Reynolds walked off the set with two weeks of filming left to go, leaving Costner to finish the film.) Jeanne Tripplehorn is utterly lost at sea as Enola's friend Helen, who despite her role as the girl's substitute mother seems to have no idea how to get her through the experience.
While it's far from the worst film ever made (there are enough halfway decent action sequences to barely make this a 2-star movie) and isn't even bad enough to make for nicely brain-dead fun, "Waterworld" is instead a preachy, dull and waterlogged vanity flick. See it at your own peril.
34 Lighten up...it's a movie
I have heard so many people trash this movie. I went in with no pre-conceived notions of what it was about and LOVED it. It's a movie people. So many take movies too seriously. It's drama, it's funny, it's action packed, it's what movies are supposed to be. And, there are little subtle humorous things like the fact that Dennis Hopper's idol is the former captain of the ship he's on...The Exxon Valdez!! That's funny. I agree with one of the other reviewers. I also saw the extended version on Network TV and am anxiously waiting for it to come out on DVD.
35 Better than it's given credit for
Waterworld drowned in its own negative pre-release hype, which I along with pretty much everyone else bought into at the time (a similar set of circumstances rightfully crushed Gigli, which is so much worse than this film as to be in its own category). Upon age and reflection, Waterworld stands on its own as a coherent, enjoyable apocalypse film. It simply doesn't look like something that $200+ million was spent on (much of which went into rebuilding set pieces after a storm, so it had no effect on the look of the film). If you can get past whatever expectation that budget might have placed for you in terms of shiny effects, this is a pretty darn good movie. Costner is believable and entertaining as the Mariner, and the supporting cast does a good job. Hopper has fun chewing the scenery as the Deacon, leader of a huge pack of scavengers called Smokers due to the fact their vehicles and industry run off crude oil carried in their massive mobile oil tanker home.
Most people bash Waterworld because of either its huge price tag, which didn't "deliver," or because they feel it is simply a rehash of Road Warrior but on the ocean. I believe there are strong counterarguments to both these claims. I love Road Warrior, but I hardly believe it invented the genre; there were films coming out 25 years earlier that had the same theme. An apocalypse film is usually the only way to posit an alternative reality movie without having to bloat up on futuristic robots and/or aliens (the other possibility is a caveman film, which we all know will be a resounding success). Costner's film parallels Road Warrior really only to the extent both involve a lone warrior in a savage post-apocalyptic world, which is how every single other film in the genre is also set up. It basically IS the genre.
Waterworld takes its place in that genre quite adeptly. It has plenty of interesting but disposable side villians, neat gadgets and surprises, a cynical central adventurer with lots of deadly skills, and surprisingly good dialogue. Heck even the annoying child actor gets thrown overboard when she becomes too annoying. If only The Phantom Menace writers were taking notes. Likewise, the action in this film proves satisfying, as it is CGI free.
Waterworld was a failure at the time, but it has aged well and deserves another look. It's not as good as Road Warrior, no, but what is? I'd take a screening of Waterworld over most of the recent "summer" action films (Hulk, Daredevil, S.W.A.T. etc) of this past summer any day of the week.
36 The Amazon review is wrong....
This movie really is as terrible as the reviews and it's poor box office performance shows. It showcased Costner's weak acting and direction skills. The movie had no script, no good performances, and lousy editing/production design, and music score. Universal should destroy all copies of this film.
37 A GREAT MOVIE!!
One of the most criticized and underappreciated movies of the 90s. If you like apocoliptic thrillers then you will love this movie. It gets better every time you watch it.
38 WE NEED THE EXTENDED VERSION RELEASED!!!
Hi folks, i just love waterworld, but i love the longer three hour version MUCH MUCH BETTER! and so does everyone that has scene it! Now i think it is a crime that universal has not released the extended version on dvd yet!! ...
39 Begging for Special Extended Edition DVD
I just want to say that I loved this movie. Most of the other reviewers have given in depth synopsises, so I won't bore you with any of those details. I know there were some areas that dragged a bit, but most movies have that. I have to say that I am very surprised and extremely excited to hear there were longer versions shown on tv and cable. I really hope that Universal is actively pursuing making an extended special edition for this movie. If anyone needs it, it's this movie. I know there must be tons of behind the scenes footage, and I would love to see the building of the sets and maybe some of the problems they had with the weather. I, myself am a mariner, and love everything about being out on the water, and that's probably one of the reasons I love this movie so much. I don't really care whether the water would have covered all the earth or not, it's just part of the movie. I even don't mind Kevin Costner as the lead. I know he can be a little dry sometimes, but overall I think he is a good actor. I enjoy most of his films, and since the studios have released extended special editions of his other films: ie -"Dances With Wolves" and "Robin Hood", I really hope Universal is on the ball with this movie and they can't release it soon enough. I would really love to see the other 2-2.5 hours I have heard about.
40 Begging for Special Extended Edition DVD
I just want to say that I loved this movie. Most of the other reviewers have given in depth synopsises, so I won't bore you with any of those details. I know there were some areas that dragged a bit, but most movies have that. I have to say that I am very surprised and extremely excited to hear there were longer versions shown on tv and cable. I really hope that Universal is actively pursuing making an extended special edition for this movie. If anyone needs it, it's this movie. I know there must be tons of behind the scenes footage, and I would love to see the building of the sets and maybe some of the problems they had with the weather. I, myself am a mariner, and love everything about being out on the water, and that's probably one of the reasons I love this movie so much. I don't really care whether the water would have covered all the earth or not, it's just part of the movie. I even don't mind Kevin Costner as the lead. I know he can be a little dry sometimes, but overall I think he is a good actor. I enjoy most of his films, and since the studios have released extended special editions of his other films: ie -"Dances With Wolves" and "Robin Hood", I really hope Universal is on the ball with this movie and they can't release it soon enough. I would really love to see the other 2-2.5 hours I have heard about.
41 "Nothing's free in WATERWORLD."
First and foremost, that quote above. I just couldn't help but notice the irony. How the film's hero specify's that "Nothing's free in WATERWORLD", and he couldn't be more right. WATERWORLD was, at the time of it's release, the most expensive movie ever made, at...near $200 million. That record was broken by TITANIC in 1997 (which had nearly TWICE that digit), but still, few movies have ever neared such a gloriusly expensive cost.
Now, to my real review. WATERWORLD takes place at some point in the fairly distant future. Global Warming has melted all the ice and snow in the world, covering it with water (hence, the title, WATERWORLD.) People now have crummy establishments known as "Atolls" to live on, as well as surviving boats. The Mariner (Kevin Costner) is a drifter who seems to be the flesh and blood embodiment of Aquaman, since he has webbed toes and gill slits behind his ears, affording him a significant advantage in the high seas.
The Mariner's adventures occur when he agrees to protect Helen (Jeann Tripplehorn) and her adoptive child Enola (Tina Majorino) from the "Smokers", pirates who, unlike everyone else in WATERWORLD, speed across the seas on gas-powered boats, are led by the infamous Deacon (Dennis Hopper, fresh out of the action-classic SPEED), and who want Enola for the tattoo on her back.
And, oh, this is no ordinary tattoo. It is supposed to be a map to the mythical "Dryland", and the Smokers would do anything to rule it.
And off the plot goes. It's full of action, and alot of sticks-to-you-like-glue-images, particularly in the scene where the Mariner takes Helen on a trip benath the sea to see the ruins of the "ancient" world. The particular city the see is, of course, Denver. And the filmmakers must've felt compelled to stuff the movie with as much action as possible. The Mariner rather quickly is involved in a fight with the inhabitants of an Atoll when they discover his gills.
There's plenty of CGI visual effects work to give the movie the perfect look of the post-apocolytice future. In one of the action scenes, the Mariner shoots some kind of cannon on his boat that launches a very cool looking kite into the sky to make his boat go even faster.
The Mariner's boat, by the way, has to be one of the most elaborate movie sets I've ever seen. It has outrigger fittings to keep it from tipping over (now that's a good idea), a cool wind chime to get the boat still while not sailing, which can then be converted into a massive sail, and a net on either side that can double as a trampoline.
You may even find a dash of humor here and there in WATERWORLD. Some of it is intended, like in the scen where The MAriner offers Heln the eyeball of a giant fish, before eating it himslef, or when the Deacon has reconstructive surgery for his eye, which ends up looking "like s---." Then there's some unintended comedy, like in the scene at the Atoll where the Mariner is trapped in a cage while the Smokers are attacking, and Helen agrees to let the Mariner out only if he takes her and Enola with him.
Like he was really gonna say no, just to stay in that cage and die.
For people looking for post-apocalytic adventures, WATERWORLD is a perfect piece of non-stop fun, right in the ranks with the TERMINATOR epics, and even one or two MAD MAX's.
42 Awsome movie,cool, Bad luck
It seems odd to me that this movie didn't get top reviews. It deffinetly deserves it, and should fit next to Mad Max Road Warrior and Thunderdome on any sci fi fans shelf. The film makes up ten times over for some of the reported cheezey acting with some awsome full out ship battles, Gun Fights, effects, scenery, and very original photography, and neo pirate story line. To top this all off the Deacon (Dennis Hopper) is awsome and the Marrinor (Kevin Costner) is equily cool. Like I said this is a full out fx show and really can't be taken as Shakespear. The film dosn't deserve all the bad reviews it got and i think it should have gotten some sort of award for set and makeup design. A winner film with a losers reputation.
43 Deep Ones and the Movies They Love
Imagine an Earth where both the landscape and the cities dotting it have been swallowed by the seas, existing below a world of tides where only the Deep Ones of Lovecraftian fame could enjoy of those benefits, and where the tattered remains of humanity are forced to barter for simple things like fresh water and the gold dust know as dirt. Further envision Kevin Costner as something of an oddity with gills, webbed fingers, and the apparent ability to thwart and sort of reproductive urges when dealing with women, existing upon a diet of recycled "biological waste" and the fruit of a little tree he treats like a baby. Then think of what would happen if he, discovered as a mutant while bartering with a veritable Fort Knox of dirt and then plunged into the exploits of a woman and her child as he finds out she is supposedly the key to dry land, were asked to be a mentoring model in the life of two people that don't really know the mistress known as the sea and further - in the child's case - cannot swim. Yes, Father Dagon would be pleased.
Despite its balding plotline that seems to literally thin and stretch as the viewer watches, its plethora of bad acting and uninspiring performances, and the use of enemies that are known as the Smokers because they like to smoke, it still isn't as bad as people try and make it out to be. There are some pros in the storyline that someone can find, including: object lessons on humanity, trust, and the webbed fingers they ask to bail them out whenever things get too bad, special effects that are interesting in certain places where the world of water has claimed its fair share of a world it already owned a ruling stock in anyhow, a scene with some sort of monstrosity that lurks beneath the waves and almost feasts on our supposed hero as he find himself working out the chumming instincts in his genes, and that many and many an actor that I wanted to meet their fate below the waves in fact does. There are also portions that are touching in their own rights, especially those when Costner tosses this golden child into the water where I later find out monstrosities world and that he actually knew about them, thinks about trading his female companion for some tidbits that he seems to find shiny, and seems to love his boat more than is healthy for an individual.
The problem suffered by this movie is a little disease we call critics, though, that seem to think that Costner should be making Dances With Wolves with every stellar budget he decides to sink into a project. Fortunately, though, he doesn't and is allowed to play with ideas that are a little Sci-fi meets Seaworld, sharing with people something they could possibly enjoy if they took time to simply look with unfettered eyes.
44 One of the Greatest!
I remember watching this movie when it first came out on video, and loving it. Recently I saw it again, twice. While it might not have been popular, it shows one result that could come from current environmental destruction. There is a lot of action as well, which keeps the viewer from getting bored.
45 Kevin Costner before he went goofy
... Just about every piece I read about this film when it came out dwelled on how much money it cost to make. This somehow automatically translated into it being a bad film, and therefore was already judged before it even came out. Shame on those who took this road.
... "Waterworld" has it's flaws, but I found it to be an ambitious project that has loads of imagination. And what was probably a director's nightmare turned out to be pretty good considering that 99% of the movie is shot entirely on water.
It has been also criticized as being a rip-off of "The Road Warrior" movies. This mostly deals with the clothes and gadgets that the characters employ. Well, I think there are plenty of stories that can be gleaned from "future" stories where things have not turned out so well. In these situations, people are going to have to scrounge around for what they can use, and it's pretty much going to look like it's portrayed in all of these movies. Would certain people be more happy to see them in designer outfits?
But I'm not totally rah-rah for the film, and my small problem with it is the Costner character itself. If he wants to be sullen the whole film, I guess it's his choice, but the movie provides absolutely no information on his background. All we see are his goofy gills and webbed feet, but no explanations beyond this. Also, his final decision is his own, but once again, no explanation.
But this only takes away a but from what is a very watch able story. My boys liked it for the action, and my daughter is just about the age of the girl in the movie, and identified with the character. For two hours it took into a different world, which is one thing movies are supposed to do in the first place.
46 Oh come on this is an action film you dont need brains!
Well, apart from the boring bits (like... 65%) the action scenses are really well made. I think they made a good job with this film, i tried to think what else could have been done to make it better but i couldnt find because there are not much things you could do on water! Oh come on this is an action film you dont ask for brains in this!
The musical score is exellent, I never heard of this guy (James Newton something) but hell, he writes some good music!
47 Not as bad as some people would have you believe...
3 to 31/2 stars
I guess this is one of my "guilty pleasures" I feel guilty because everyone I talk to, just love to disparage this film. Often without having seen it for themselves.
It isn't THAT bad. There are problems, I think I would have casted some of the characters differently. And there are some inconsistencies in the dialog, but I think you'll only notice them if you LISTEN for them. Dennis Hopper is good in his role as the Deacon, because he's good at being maniacal & I think that's a definite character trait of the Deacon!
One problem that people bring up is where do the smokers get their cigarettes, and why does the deacon have cleaner teeth than the rest of the smokers? Well, it's a pretty big ship that the smokers live on, maybe it was chock full of cigarettes and matches. And maybe the deacon has a toothbrush. :-) What does it matter?!
The relationship between the little girl and the mariner, is central. The girl Enola has a tattoo on her back, that resembles a map. Rumor is, that if decrypted it will lead to dry land. The smokers want to get their hands on Enola. And upon finding dry land, they no doubt will strip mine or cut down all the forest or kill all the animals or something. :-P
The mariner happens on the "atoll" where Enola and her guardian Helen (a very beautiful Jeanne Tripplehorn) live, while there the people at the atoll find that the mariner (who doesn't seem to have a name) is a "mutant", he has webbed feet & gills! They lock him in a cage, which they intend to lower into their "graveyard" a yucky swampy section of water. The smokers then attack, but Enola and Helen miss their way out on a newly invented new hot air balloon. Enola suggests they rescue the mariner and together with him, they escape the deacon.
The mariner and Enola take a major disliking to each other, but as they continue on their trek they are soon forming a bond. With the smokers hounding them throughout, they soon find a way to capture Enola, while Helen & the mariner are underwater examining the ocean floor that is lined with skyscrapers and streets of the old world beneath them. The survivors from the atoll have regrouped together, but they still distrust the mariner, they don't believe in dry land & they really don't seem to care about Enola. So it's up to the mariner to save the day.
I really enjoy post-apocalyptic films. Waterworld is better than the "Postman" :-P. But I think Kevin Costner is very brave to attempt these films, the subject is very interesting.
And I like the characters, Tina Majorino is cute and charming ,Jeanne Tripplehorn is pretty solid and likable in her part as Helen, Kevin Costner is believable & Dennis Hopper does great as the crazed maniacal deacon ( & I liked that wierd trader guy! :-P). The music is also very stunning (especially during the scene where the mariner teaches Enola to swim) and the locations are of course beautiful. Although flawed, the dialog has more than some engaging moments, and I thought the ending was touching...
48 where's the special edition?
OK, all you have to do is read all the other 100 or so reviews to see what the movie was about. I read it was too long, blah blah blah but when it comes to a DVD, I don't mind the "uncut" version. At home, I have plenty of time to absorb myself in a movie. There must have been a TV version to this movie because I recently caught "Waterworld" on the premium channel Encore and it was over 3 hours long, no commercials. The difference being some of the violence, nudity and language was cut but there were a lot more scenes that I thought were good an explained alot, yet they weren't in the original theatrical release. It's true, you see those scenes in the trailer then not in the movie. Most notable was the portable discman with the light jazz softly playing on Mariner's boat mid way through the movie, Mariner at first deciding NOT to go back to rescue Enola from the smokers but changing his mind, Helen naming the mariner "Ulysses" after the Greek explorer and finally Helen and Enola discovering that they were in fact on Mount Everest at the end of the movie.
49 good movie
since i had nothing better to do i wrote this.First of all i wanted to point out 1 thing, this was a good movie. Heres something i noticed, in the scene weres hes fishing he is atttachked by some kind o 5o ft crocidile fish monster.It takes at least 10,000 years for a completely new species to develop even if it is a subspecies of another fish. it supposedly takes place centuries in the future.Just wanted to point that out. its really a good movie.
50 A Very Good Futurist Movie
If you enjoy science fiction and/or futurist speculation, you will love this film. Ignoring the Hollywood backbiting about the budget overage and production problems, there is very little negative to report. The futurist work is brilliant and detailed. I pesonally can't stand kids on screen or cutsy subplots structured around them, but the rest of the acting is competent and more than competent - the scene with the other crazed trader is fabulous, who is this guy? - the script is very good, the direction and editing miraculously are very fine. The special effects are superlative - and give those guys credit, a lot of it isn't "special" - it was good hard work by every water stunt person in the world. Costner has never gotten much respect in ths business, maybe he insists on doing everything his own way.
51 good movie, needs more extras
I like the movie, picture and sound are good, but the DVD version is lacking in extra features. If this disc had extra features I'd rate it as a 5 star product.
52 somebody goofed editing this one
Ya I admit it, I love trailers, and I get really [mad] when someone puts movie clips in the trailer that is not in the movie. Jeanne Tripplehorn belly-acking to the elders about dry land in the trailer and not in the movie. Vary bad move.
Maybe someone should mention to the editers, when you put mention of a music box in the the mid part of the movie you should put one in befor not at the end.
Perhaps it would have done better at the box office if more of the movie was left in or do we get to look forword to a remix of this when someone needs a little extra fair publisity.
53 Greatest Movie Ever
This movie is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It has an excellent plot and shows an example of how the world could be in thousands of years. For those lucky to see the original (4.5 hour) version on the TV special it really shows you what this movie could've and should've been. It is a shame they cut so much.
54 ~~Waterworld~~
Waterworld in my opinion, is an excellent movie. The acting is very well done, and I think that Kevin Costner was an exceptionally good choice for the lead role.
It has very interesting elements included in the story. For example it has a sense of originality, but added are touches of creativity. The story is also appealing for many different reasons.
The brief summary is that the world that we know has been flooded with water. Global warming has finally come, with the melting of the polar ice caps, and the bodies of water across the globe have risen above all civilization.There is only vast miles of ocean in sight. The disinegrating buildings, cars, and skyscrapers are drowned deep beneath the expanding seas...
You would have to watch the movie to see what else happens with the characters of the story, but I will assure you that it is suspenseful and entertaining.
55 Not As Bad As You May Have Heard
In "Waterworld" Kevin Costner stars as Mariner, a gill-equipped loner living in a post-apocalyptic world. In this future the polar ice caps have melted and made Earth a giant ocean. Mariner has an advantage over most others in that he can breathe under water.
It's unclear exactly what Mariner is up to. He doesn't have an identifiable purpose when we meet him. He just seems to be hanging out trying to survive.
Mariner takes under his protection a woman named Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her daughter Enola (Tina Majorino). A group of bad guys known as the Smokers are after the young girl because they believe she's the key to finding dry land. The Smokers are led by Deacon (Dennis Hopper), a comic-bookesque villain with a patch on one eye and a maniacal laugh to boot.
"Waterworld" is often an entertaining film with several lapses. One serious problem with this movie is Hopper's over-the-top performance. I found myself wanting to laugh at him more than dread him. I had no fear that Mariner wouldn't beat Deacon because Deacon was an idiot.
Another issue I have with the movie is its length. Long movies aren't necessarily bad, they just need to be able to fill in the time. "Waterworld", at about 140 minutes long, does not do a good job of filling in this time. The movie would have had better pace by lopping off about 15 to 25 minutes. This is not the type of movie that does well with long periods of inaction and quiet contemplation. This is not a dialogue movie, but an action one.
I will give Costner credit for taking chances like "Waterworld" when he could safely hide behind his star status and pluck out easy, big money roles. "Waterworld" may have done more damage to Costner's career than any other movies he's done to date. However, I don't think it quite deserves the amount of ridicule that gets heeped upon it. Had this movie not starred such an easy target as Costner, it would not have gotten the bad press that it did.
I would recommend "Waterworld" to those people who like the post-apocalyptic genre. It's not in the ranks of the Mad Max movies; but, it'll do for a couple hours of entertainment.
56 many missing pieces.......
Yes indeed, much left to be desired. Costner's film,
Waterworld, holds a permanent address in my "reference"
section of viddy's because of a number of unexplained
scenes in the VHS release.
The Mariner's trimaran in paticular. Not far along we
find the three smokers in the idling ski-do's waiting
to nab the goodie bag floating nearby when one stands up
and sez: " that's Joey's boat! " Great... who is Joey?
What an amazing set-up for a single seafaring defiant of
the depths. A little heavy handed with Helen and Enola,
the Mariner seems to be truly hiding some dark secrets.
The Deacon's lines are a nice breakup of the ongoing
choppy film plot. I'm certain the sceenplay was
influenced by a book about water covering the globe and
if anyone is aware of this connection, please advise
casamarcos @ juno.com. And don't forget to don your
lifejackets!
57 A great movie worth watching! Take the plunge
This is a really good movie. I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi movies, but this movie rocked my waterworld. There's loveable characters, a good storyline. It's suspenseful, and spiced with action and heroics, fun for everyone. The towns, and ships and scenery thats not composed of water are well put together, and the costumes are really neat. You'll find yourself wanting an explanation for where all the metals and materials came from in a world swallowed by water and you'll feel like you're on the boats with the people in a desperate search for the myth of dry-land.
It's just a different kind of movie all together, but its fun to watch all the way. If you feel you've watched all the best movies out, but haven't seen this one yet, i reccomend trying it, its worth the two hours and nineteen minutes it takes to watch it.
58 A great movie worth watching! Take the plunge
This is a really good movie. I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi movies, but this movie rocked my waterworld. There's loveable characters, a good storyline. It's suspenseful, and spiced with action and heroics, fun for everyone. The towns, and ships and scenery thats not composed of water are well put together, and the costumes are really neat. You'll find yourself wanting an explanation for where all the metals and materials came from in a world swallowed by water and you'll feel like you're on the boats with the people in a desperate search for the myth of dry-land.
It's just a different kind of movie all together, but its fun to watch all the way. If you feel you've watched all the best movies out, but haven't seen this one yet, i reccomend trying it, its worth the two hours and nineteen minutes it takes to watch it.
59 Mad Max On H2O
WATERWORLD was released in the mid-nineties to great suspicion in the world-wide press: "What? A motion picture cost $200 million to make?"
While the flick certainly doesn't look like a $200 million film on the screen, WATERWORLD delivers precisely what it promised: a loner meets girl, girl falls in love, loner performs some heroics, and girl stays on dry land because the loner can't stand the feeling of solid earth under his webbed feet.
It's popcorn film time, people. Don't take anything in WATERWORLD seriously, and you'll have a whale of a time!
60 Where's the Director's Cut???
Many of you are probably saying, "Huh, wha, Director's Cut?" Yes, there is more footage and so where is it? The additional footage I speak of was shown on a network TV broadcast of this film back in '97 or '98 I believe. And in my opinion, it made the film much better by fleshing out some of the characters and some of the plot lines. I remember one scene where Dennis Hopper's character was interrogating the 2 or 3 Smokers who had let Costner get away after attacking the Atoll. This scene was not only funny, but it also helped develop some minor characters as well.
But as for the movie as a whole, I enjoyed the concept albeit somewhat unrealistic as some other reviewer has pointed out that the melting of the ice caps would have only raised the ocean levels a couple hundred feet, so anything that was mountainous in any way would have been above water, let alone even higher elevations of plains such as the Central Great Plains of the US as their elevations are several thousand feet in elevation. Denver is a mile high and it's more or less on a plain. But anyway, unrealistic ideas aside, the post-apocalypic world is always an interesting one every since the Mad Max movies.
Actually I think the only really thing that made this movie a box office bomb was because of Costner's bland acting and just the fact that HE was in it! Had it been another actor, hell even Ray Liota, (ie No Escape) the movie would have done better. But other than that, if you like post-apocalypic movies, then Waterworld is a good one to check out. Just try to overlook the unrealistic ice cap thing and enjoy the film for what it is, a post-apocalyptic action movie.
61 Waterworld
Let me start with this; I liked WATERWORLD. Lots of action, special effects and a story with a good premise. Did not deserve the bad press that it received. I don't have to explain anything because all the previous favorable reviews have already stated it all. I just wanted to add my two cents. Do yourself a favor and watch it many times.
62 Very entertaining, but worth it?
I will answer some of the technicalities raised by previous reviewers at the end, please bear with me :-)
It is too bad that "Waterworld" became the butt of jokes upon its release. Its budget (a record high at the time) and the resulting buzz created unattainable expectations for what is a pure action film, and a pretty good one at that.
The money spent on the battle scenes and special effects was put to good use as they were well-executed. Flooding the Earth used in the Universal logo at the movie's beginning was a slick segue.
The characters ran the usual gamut from engaging (such as Dennis Hopper's Deacon-of-the-Deeds) to the bland (as in Jeanne Tripplehor's Helen). Can Kevin Costner play anything but an emotionless drifter? I will give the benefit to the possibility that such wet conditions would wash the emotion out of anybody, though.
Action flick plots are never too deep (no pun intended), and this one is no exception. It does, however have enough turns and bends to keep things interesting, although it can drag slightly at times. One neat things is that the Smokers (the Deacon's gang) are never shown to actually be on the remains of the Exxon Valdez supertanker until the last battle scene.
Yes, there are many technical errors, some gross (see below). Hey Helen, do you really know what plexiglass is? Also, apparantly this film is set a few CENTURIES in the future, how can any of our current stuff (especially the metallic stuff), survive that long in corrosive salt air? The list goes on and on.
Overall, an entertaining film that couldn't live up to it's budgeted billing. Too bad, but not entirely undeserved.
*****
Now for the technicalities and SWE (script writer engineering):
- If the polar icecaps completely melted, they would raise the sea level by 500' at most. The beginning of the film shows Alaska being completely submerged by the ocean. That would require covering Mt. McKinley at 20320'.
- If it became warm enough to melt the icecaps, the snow on Mt. Everest would be gone, too, turning it into a tropical zone.
- Speaking of Hawaii (which is where I believe the "Everest" scenes were shot), the highest point, Mauna Kea, is over 13000' high, and yes, it does snow there!
- I can't resist taking a shot at this piece of SWE: Interesting that the Mariner and Helen dive down to the "lost" city of Denver (that one was easy to figure out). By my calculations, they would have to descend 3 MILES down to find it. That's 4000' deeper than the Titanic wreck, and real-world divers have to use massive submersibles to reach that depth. Helen's plastic bubble shreds the laws of pressure!
Any others?
63 "Waterworld": It could have been a lot better
"Waterworld" stars Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, and Jeanne Tripplehorn in this post-apocalyptic movie. The polar ice-caps have all melted and the earth is all covered with water. Of the few survivors that are left live on boats or small villages made out of scrap metal and boats. They are constantly terrorized by a group called Smokers who are lead by the evil villain, Deacon (Dennis Hopper). They kill everyone and steal all that they can find. Kevin Costner plays Mariner, a mutant man with gills so he can breath under water and webbed feet. He lives on his very amazing boat and lives by himself, a complete loner. He comes to a small village where he trades in real dirt for water. The people are suspicious of him, of how he came by to have real dirt when there is not dry land on Waterworld. They detain him from leaving then find out that he is a mutant. They capture him then put him in a cage, deciding to execute him. Before they can though, they are attacked by Smokers. A young woman named Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn), makes Mariner promise that if she frees him, he'll take her and her foster child, Elona (Tina Majorino), to safety. Having not choice he agrees and takes them far away from the village and Smokers. At first he despises Helen and Elona, thinking them troublesome and noisy but after a while he starts to become friends with them. But after they are attacked by Smokers and get away, he begins to wonder why they keep coming after them. Helen admits that the reason is because of a tattoo which is on the Elona's back which is said to lead to Dry Land. But before Mariner or Helen can decipher the tattoo, Elona is captured by the Smokers while Mariner and Helen are left for dead. It's now up to Mariner to rescue Elona from Deacon and his followers before they can find Dry Land, thus becoming the most powerful people on Waterworld because of their control of Dry Land.
As I said, "Waterworld" could have been so much better. It was a real neat movie, especially Mariner's boat which has everything. The acting was also pretty good, with Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, and Jeanne Tripplehorn. I didn't think much of Tina Majorino. I agree with some people who wrote that though the beginning and the end of the movie was really exciting and great, the middle dragged on a bit. They could have skipped some scenes, like the scene with the crazy trader and added more exciting scenes.
So for those who want to watch "Waterworld", I suggest you rent it first to see if you will like it. There's another movie with Kevin Costner which is a post-apocalyptic movie, "The Postman", but unfortunately I haven't seen it yet. But if you want to watch a good Kevin Costner movie, I really recommend you see "Silverado", which is one of my most favorite movies of all time.
64 A fun movie full of poetic license
Imagine the entire world covered with water, save for a small area called "dry land" by the handfull of survivors, a patch of land that none of the survivors have ever seen. So the basic plot of the movie is the search for this mythical "dry land".
Where does the poetic license come in? Most of it is in the form of the bad guys, called "smokers", led by Dennis Hopper. The "smokers" get their name because they smoke cigarettes. So...where does the tobacco come from? Naturally there is no explanation, plausable or otherwise. The "smokers" ride the waves on (of all things) jet skis! Where do they get their gasoline? Hmmm, well, obviously not at the local gas station, which is now several hundred feet below the surface. In one of the early attack scenes the "smokers" have what appears to be a twin .50 caliber armor piercing machine guns. Any guesses as to where the amunition comes from? Didn't think so. Later in the movie the "smokers" are seen flying a Piper Cub or some such small aircraft. The world's only Air Force, flying on the same mythical fuel that powers the jet skis. Finally we learn that the "smokers" live on (ready for this?) the Exxon Valdez!! And of course Capt. Joe Hazlewood is the patron saint of the "smokers". Whoever thought that one up must surely be a top executive by now.
There are others things that just don't make any sense in a world covered by water, they are rather easy to spot. But don't let my sarcasm about the smokers fool you. In SPITE of all of these things, "Waterworld" is an entertaining movie that is fun to watch.
65 In Response to the Mt Everest Comment
This is a great movie and the land described in another review on this site is indeed Mt Everest.
There was a special edition with additional scenes shown on NBC a while back and at the end of the film they find the plaque that was placed there when Everett was first climbed. If the ice caps melt then that would no longer be 29000 ft so therefore it would not be frozen.
Great movie with some of the best action scenes ever filmed. Costner is great also, everyone loved his acting until his movies started to tank.
66 the best movie ever!!
I am very picy about moves but this one i have no probles with. It has every thing a good movie shold have, acton, comdy, a little love. It's the best!!
67 I liked this movie
In 1995, just about everybody was looking forward to the HUGE budget film named "Waterworld." Unfortunately, to hear the critics talk, the film wasn't worth half the money that was spent on it. In other words, very few, if any, of the movie critics thought "Waterworld" was a good, if even a decent, film. Like I usually do when it comes to the critics' opinions, I beg to differ. Earth has been totally engulfed by water, or has it? Nobody really knows, but everybody knows that there is a myth that could possibly be a fact, that dry land exists. A mysterious, amphibious man (Kevin Costner), who sails along on a magnificent boat and who can really get around to say the least, is the target of evil and greedy human beings called 'smokers.' Is there a such thing as dry land? I mean in the movie, not real life. I 100% recommend watching "Waterworld" so you can find out the rest of the storyline, everything in between, and the answer to my question. I thought "Waterworld" was a great movie. It has good special effects and scenery, great acting (especially by Kevin Costner), and a very interesting storyline. The whole time I was watching this movie, I didn't want to get up and miss a single second of it. The only thing I didn't understand about it is how there's canned foods and so many cigarettes if nobody has ever seen dry land. Other than that, this is a must-see movie for anybody who likes fantasy films, or just interesting movies. In my opinion, "Waterworld" is one of the best fantasy movies in recent years, if not of all time. If you haven't seen "Waterworld" yet, do yourself a favor and don't listen to the critics that say this movie sunk, watch it for yourself and make your own opinion. You just might turn out to like it.
68 Much better than expected
Like may people I'd been discouraged from seeing Waterworld by the very bad press reports when it came out. However, when I bought a DVD system I saw the DVD in the shop and thought I'd give it a try. Imagine my surprise when I found the film to be as good an all-action film as I've seen in a long time, with very good special effect --- and I loooooove that boat of KC's. So, give it a try. Like me, you'll probably like it!
69 great movie, bad DVD
Before I talk about the DVD itself, let me just say that the movie is great. It has great acting, plot, and action scenes and I reccomend watching it at least twice.
As for the DVD, don't buy it. Although the movie is worth owning, wait until Universal releases an ultimate edition or at least a collector's edition (they always do)
In this review, I gave the DVD 2 stars: 1 for the picture and 1 for the sound (they're both fantastic transfers) but the dvd has absolutely NO special features, which is really bad because a movie with such a huge scale like waterworld deserves some. Wait until the film gets its full treatment on a collector's edition.
70 Excellent sci-fi action
I rented Waterworld, assuming I would at least end up with a few good laughs. After all, everyone hated it, right? Well to bad for those that avoided it due to bad publicity, because they missed out on an excellent movie. Waterworld tells the story, obviously, of a future world covered by water. (Yes, we know it wouldn't happen, but this is a movie. Accept it and shutup!) Kevin Costner plays the Mariner, a loner who gets pulled into helping a Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her foster daughter escape a bunch of bad guys led by Dennis Hopper. The daughter, Enola (played excellently by Tina Majorino) is believed to hold to secret to Dryland on a tattoo on her back. Acting is all up to a good standard; Costner does an excellent loner who (very) gradually warms up to his passengers, and amazingly keeps the movie from turning into a load of sap while doing it. Dennis Hopper is hilarious as the Deacon, the Smoker's (<- Bad guys) leader. Special effects are great, though the star is the Mariner's boat, which is an insanely cool vessel that could make MacGyver jealous. Cinematography runs a second to special effects; the camera shifts above and below water perfectly and the below water shots are stunning. Action is well done; you get everything from an attack fought between fifty boats and a large floating fortress to the Mariner sneaking through a huge boat killing what gets in his way, and the climax, his slide via wire across said boat, is exhilarating. There's really almost nothing wrong with this movie; the aforementioned part about water covering the world, some time scale problems (hundreds of years? It would a million for the Mariner's little secret to develop) and the fact that pure water wouldn't be so valuable, since salt water really isn't that hard to purify. A final note; the music, by James Newton Howard, is some of the best ever to grace a movie. I highly recommend the soundtrack. If you want great action with a touch of sci-fi, Waterworld is a top choice.
71 I enjoyed it
The little girl in the movie, well, she made the whole movie. This is a good story, something we don't think about. It has it moments, but overall, an enjoyable film.
72 Lighten up, already...it's a FUN MOVIE.
I'm not sure I understand why so many people (mostly critics, who are all full of fish rot anyway) seem to so feverishly dislike this movie. The original complaint was the budget, although the movie did turn a slight profit after worldwide release (and deserves to do well as a DVD issue) and of course we all know that James Cameron's overblown chick flick outspent Costner's film (and everone else's, too) by leagues. Then there was the complaint that it was unoriginal, a "Road Warrior" rip-off, casually ignoring the fact that the plot behind "The Road Warrior" was basically the same as Sergio Leone's "A Fistfull of Dollars", itself a Western interpretation of Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo". Besides, these days we're subjected to cinematic releases of TV shows (BAD TV shows, at that) and "films as franchises" that spawn multiple sequels on a regular basis...so complaints of unoriginal material must go unheeded in the case of this movie. The movie itself is something to behold...it's difficult to remember that it was NOT filmed in the middle of the ocean but instead on a colossal soundstage. It makes an unbelievable situation seem very realistic, which I feel is the mark of a good movie. Can a trimaran outrun a jet ski? Perhaps not under today's civilized conditions...but during a time when gasoline may have to be synthesized using elements that we don't have to consider in the 21st century, who can predict what sort of performance can be expected from an internal combustion engine? Is the dialogue a bit wooden at times? Constantly...Dennis Hopper's villain role gets all the best lines, but that's par for the course for many action movies, which is ultimately what "Waterworld" is...and a very good one, at that. My advice: Suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and watch it. Try to forget everything you've heard (except maybe for this review) and let the movie flow (no pun intended) over you. "Water, water, everywhere/but not a drop to drink".
73 good movie
The movie was very enjoyable,I don't think it is the best of all but the plot was kinda different from other movies.The only think that is wrong with the story is that they didn't orginize most of the scenes very well and some of the characters remaind almost unknown.The whole movie,is based on water which make it very interesting.Other thing that I don't really like about the movie is how the characters develop in the story,the main character is rude and savage and I don't like that.There is so few things to know about the rest of the crew,I hope thay make a sequence of this movie.It was cool,it has many action scenes.
74 It's not that bad, honest!
OK, let's just give this film a break! For some reason that I don't understand, everyone seems to bash this movie as being terrible and a waste of money. It's not terrible! It's wasn't a waste of money! (well, maybe it was kind of a waste of money, but hey; take a look at Star Wars Episode I!) I saw this movie, bought it, and I watch it every few months because I LIKE IT! Sure, none of my friends or family will watch it with me anymore, but I still like it. Sure, the plot is thin, the dialogue is sometimes anachronistic (why does Deacon call the Mariner "a turd that just won't flush" in a world without toilets or running water?). Despite all the problems with this movie, I still enjoy watching it over and over again. It is my personal, and not quite humble, opinion that that is definitely worth something. I don't care how odd it might make me seem, but yes, I LIKE WATERWORLD! Just don't tell anybody.
75 Good entertainment.
The reasons for Waterworld's bashing tends to be more because of the big-budget and anti-hype than the film's actual quality. I mean, let's be honest. How can summer blockbusters like Gone in 60 Seconds and ConAir be considered good films (which they most certainly are not) while a genuinely entertaining action/adventure film like Waterworld gets a whipping from audiences. As a matter of fact, it seems mostly audiences who disliked this film because it received overall decent reviews from critics.
Waterworld exists purely for action and stunts. Yes, the story has plot holes abound, but the action is great, just enough to overlook the script's problems. By now, it's a film that a lot of people have already seen due either to curiosity or those who just want to bash it. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it, especially to those who are unfamiliar with the anti-hype surrounding its prerelease.
76 Great for music and action, but otherwise a terrible movie.
The first half-hour of the movie opens strong. We are presented with Kevin Costner's strong, rogue character who doesn't take anything from anybody. He's strong as both a character and Costner himself pulls off the job superbly. And then comes the action! GREAT stunts and special effects! And the movie is accompanied by a superb score by wizard James Newton Howard. But, then the middle comes: Dennis Hopper (one of my least favorite actors) appears as the bad guy, the lady (whatever her name is) shows not only her bad acting skills but her completely cheesy character. The little girl is bearable, but still unnecessary.
As far as costumes, action, and music go, this movie is pretty good. You won't find much better for shear scale of action! But, as far as story, plot, dialogue, and acting (except for Costner) goes, this movie leaves you wishing it were something more. The ending is bad and sappy and towards the middle the movie slows down almost to a snails pace and begins to do nothing more than bore the heck out of the viewer with ridiculous and unnecessary additions to the already paper-thin story (the crazy seamen who will trade his maps to Costner just for a half hour of sex with the woman was stupid, stupid, stupid).
All in all, rent this on DVD once and if you like it, fine. But, my opinion stands. This movie is one of the worst I have ever seen in my entire life. Avoid buying it at ALL costs.
77 Apocalypse Wow!
Kevin Reynold's is obviously a student of Coppola's work. KR's films (The Beast, Rapa Nui, Waterworld) are all reminiscent in one way or another of Coppola's Vietnam War epic. Yet, WW is original. The idea of setting the action almost entirely at sea is a previously unused concept. Jeanne Tripplehorn is excellent in her role as the lonely damsel-in-distress type. Deniis Hopper's performance is forgettable, except for its Apocalypse Now reference, once again. But, the picture has utterly spectacular stunt scenes, the watery horizon helping out there. Too bad the film got so much bad pre-release press its box-office days were numbered the day it premiered. Because of the film's failure, Hollywood's going to wait a long time before it invests another Fort Knox budget into an epic film that's purely action . . . ((sigh)).
78 From disappointed to fascinated...
When I first watched the movie I thought - what's this?? I was utterly disappointed! Then I watched it again, nice... and a third time - WOW. It's true, it is absolutley underrated and according to my own experience becomes better and better each time you watch it. One customer wrote: Buy the DTS version. I can only agree: It is really worth it. I think that Kevin Costner pays special attention of how his movies appear in public. The movie has NO extras (subtitles, making of, etc.) but picture and sound quality is one of the best. The story has action, suspense and humor and gives you the good feeling of being entertained very well. Get it for your collection - the DTS one - it's worth it.
79 Great Movie even better in DTS!
Do yourself a favor get the DTS version of this movie. WOW Very good.
80 Rommel - DVD collector
This is an excellent movie! All the negative reviews of this film before it came out were grossly undeserving. Waterworld has an excellent story, good action and much humour. For those of you with a vivid imagination, the premise of this movie - living in a world where the ice caps have melted and inundated the earth - forcing mankind to adapt to survive in a 'waterworld' is engrossing fantasy and quite fresh.
I have bought this dvd and it continues to be one of my favourite movies by Kevin Costner. The premise of this movie is what makes it exciting and engrossing. For me this movie is best viewed when I am alone and want to engage in a bit of escapism. Entertaining, buy it!
81 Amazing visuals with an interesting story
This is one of my favorite movies, mainly cause its unlike any other movies that I have seen. I've read some other reviews sayings its a rip off of various other films, but none of those were filmed completly on water, which makes this movie more impressive.
I found the story to be good overall, but if anything I would of liked to of seen a little more than the small mention of how the polar ice caps melted. Then again, if the characters knew what happened in the past there wouldn't be that mythism about dry land. I just found this very interesting, almost as if it were a fantasy world.
As for the DVD itself, I would of liked to seen more extras included in this, however it is an older dvd, and this is just starting to catch on with newer releases, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Its a great movie to add to your collection.
82 Dances with whales
Waterworld is a riot! It surges along at thirty plus knots from the start and the pace slackens only long enough to allow us to catch our collective breath. The action sequences are among the most exciting in filmography. The cinematography is outstanding and the soundtrack (James Newton Howard) is very good. The movie offers an interesting premise (an inundated earth) with the added adventure of a quest for the mythological "Dry Land". Along the way we are met by mutants, sea monsters, comely maidens, and a host of marvelously deranged characters; most notably the despicable "Deacon of D's", (Dennis Hopper) the leader of the Smokers, a tribe of sea-faring, post apocalyptic Hell's Angels. Hoppers' hilarious portrayal of the over the top Deacon is one of moviedom's shining moments. One could fault Costner's misanthropic "mariner" for being two dimensional but one would be wrong. I can easily recall many scenes involving the mariner, and Costner's transformation of him from cranky hermit to hero is, in IMHO, convincing. Oh, and then there's that neat ship of his... What Waterworld lacks in intellectualism or originality it more than makes up in fun and excitement. Kick back and enjoy!
83 Rip-off of The Road Warrior, though entertaining
Reasons why The Road Warrior is a superior film to Waterworld despite almost astoundingly similar plot.
1. First and foremost, the biggest reason is because of the difference between Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner. Both are no doubt big movie stars (though Mel is the proven box office draw) but only one delivers a good performance in every one of his films and it isn't Costner. You might notice the similarities between the characters Max Rockatansky and the Mariner but Costner is really acting like his bland self (though a little better than usual).
2. Both films have incredible stunts but the ones in Waterworld stretch credibility, even in a sci-fi pic.
3. Kevin Reynolds is no George Miller. Miller was able to make a whole lot of something almost out of nothing (i.e. VERY low budget and a dry, desolate desert setting). Reynolds doesn't too much out of a LOT of money along with a very interesting premise and setting.
4. Dennis Hopper is fine as the villain but he's nowhere near as menacing and searing as the pure force of destruction that was portrayed by Kjell Nilsson and Vernon Wells.
5. The Road Warrior is a serious film that has moments of humor but never gets campy. Waterworld wants to be a film that is serious but gets campy quite a few times.
6. Tina Majorino was extremely annoying as the kid the loner hero befriends in Waterworld. Emil Minty's Feral Kid was an interesting and entertaining character (not to mention the fact that the friendship he develops with Max feels a lot more genuine and honest).
Okay, from what I listed above it may seem like I hate Waterworld but the truth is it is entertaining. I saw it before The Road Warrior not knowing at the time how unoriginal the film was. Taking Waterworld for what it is-an escapist acion/adventure-the movie is well worth renting and viewing, but as a sci-fi epic that has an interesting premise, it fails. The filmmakers don't bother to explore the interesting ideas that are brought up and this leaves a sense of dissatisfaction.
The action sequences in the film range from decent to even spectacular. There attack on the atoll is one of the better action scenes I've seen. A couple of the supposedly energetic moments in the film do slack, though. The chase scenes on water aren't quite as exciting as it should have been.
The acting is adequate enough for this sort of picture. Costner and Majorino are mediocre but Dennis Hopper and Jeanne Tripplehorn act with some emotion and Hopper gets some of the film's best lines.
If you had to choose between this film and The Road Warrior, definitely go with the latter unless you prefer a more Hollywood style film. The Road Warrior is a bit more offbeat than the usual Hollywood action film and some of the mad characters in that film might be a little off putting for some viewers.
84 A Well Thought Out Film!
I don't understand why people don't like this movie, maybe because it stars Kevin Costner. Well to tell you the truth Kevin played an excellent role in this movie. I thought that it was an interesting and different movie. Many of you people who disliked this film should give it a second chance, because there is nothing bad about this movie. I know that Kevin Costner is not a great actor, but for some reason he really did a great job acting in "Waterworld". Just imagine how life would be if there was no land. 5 stars all the way!
85 A BOMB? Or Explosive?
Waterworld is very much like Mad Max: The Road Warrior on water. Is that bad? I don't think so, since I like both movies. Yet Waterworld has some beautiful cinematography that gets easily overlooked by those who think this movie wasn't worth their time. What do I like about it? The setting, music, and even the story. Costner's independent and tough character actually carries a level of humor and charm.
I think the greatest visual disappointment was when the underwater city was shown; very bad CGI/background effects; I think I'd rather leave that scene to my imagination. At any rate, eveything else was a roller-coaster of fun and adventure.
The DVD has NO special features (I think the non-DTS has a promo), so don't expect beautiful menus, but all-in-all it's a great film, give it a chance.
86 Still waiting for the sequel
This movie made me a Kevin Costner fan. I watched it ten times in ten days. Action from beginning to end. Funny at times, you can't help but like the bad guy (Dennis Hopper). The little girl did a great acting job. It took you away to a different time. Don't listen to the critics it's a good science FICTION adventure, I thought well worth the money. Bittersweet ending, I know they did that on purpose to make a Waterworld Two, I am still waiting? Anyone knowing where I can buy the full version please e-mail me.
87 Still waiting for the sequel
This movie made me a Kevin Costner fan. I watched it ten times in ten days. Action from beginning to end. Funny at times, you can't help but like the bad guy (Dennis Hopper). The little girl did a great acting job. It took you away to a different time. Don't listen to the critics it's a good science FICTION adventure, I thought well worth the money. Bittersweet ending, I know they did that on purpose to make a Waterworld Two, I am still waiting? Anyone knowing where I can buy the full version please e-mail me.
88 Still waiting for the sequel
This movie made me a Kevin Costner fan. I watched it ten times in ten days. Action from beginning to end. Funny at times, you can't help but like the bad guy (Dennis Hopper). The little girl did a great acting job. It took you away to a different time. Don't listen to the critics it's a good science FICTION adventure, I thought well worth the money. Bittersweet ending, I know they did that on purpose to make a Waterworld Two, I am still waiting? Anyone knowing where I can buy the full version please e-mail me. gifideas@i1.net
89 Great flick which was killed by critics.
This movie was a total blast. Great score, and great action. The plot was bad some say? Don't watch many action movies do you? I think the plot blows away most other action movie plots out of the water, which are usually pretty thin in the first place. Critics blasted this movie, yet it was awesome! Mad Max on water!
90 I'm blown right out of the water by this movie!
Awesome film, dudes! I mean the effects, story and characters were water-tight. I thought Dennis Hopper's Deacon was excellent. I've seen this movie a thousand times, but I once saw a Special Edition on the Sci-Fi Channel which had loads of extra footage and overall made the story make more sense and complete...scenes like when the Mariner fights the trackers and ignites their fuel trail to lead the way to the Deez, and we learn more of the society in Waterworld, like how each member of the Atoll is allowed one offspring to keep down population. I would really like it if there is anyone else who has seen this edition and if a VHS or DVD is available because the full version is far superior to the original release! e-mail me with comments please!
91 A DVD review
OK, this film has plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon and an overly used post apocalyptic theme, but I still like it for what it delivers. I liked the action sequences, the cinematography, sound and performances. The DVD picture and sound quality were excellent. I was disappointed with the lack of extras; this movie would have been a great subject for a `Making of' documentary. None-the-less a DVD I have in my collection because I love sci-fi.
92 An sci-fi action movie that takes place in the future!
Kevin Costner stars in this sci-fi action movie in the future where the earth is covered by water! This movie is action packed and still fun despite the critics bashing it! To think this movie at the time was budget as much as Titanic(and we know what happened with that movie! ) This movie should be for fans of Dennis Hopper and Kevin Cosnter! The only problem I have with the movie is too much water gets me seasick! Plus were are the delated parts that were on the tv broadcast of this movie!maybe it's time the studio reissues this movie with all the missing parts from the tv broadcast!
93 Waterworld DVD
If you are looking for a constant movie filled with action Kevin Costner definitely produces along with the supporting cast. Don't listen to the critics as this is a classic movie to own.
94 Great Sound
This DVD has amazing sound on the DTS track. The scenes that are shot on the boat are incredible. This is DVD is a must for people who have a DTS decoder.
95 VERY underated
Waterworld is a fine example of a perfectly good, perhaps great, entertaining movie that was done in by the *critics*. Fortunately it still exists on tape and DVD so one can judge for themselves. One reviewer states that it was originally supposed to be 4.5 hours. I would loved to have seen that, but must be satisfied with what is available. This is worth buying just for historical reasons. Just think of the movie that Bill Gates or others of his value could fund and produce!
96 A movie that is rated bad by those who don't understand it.
This movie is not meant to be a blow-em-away Die Hard movie. Kevin Costner is a loner and very deep in personality because of his "gills". He is not meant to be a Bruce Willis type macho man. That is the biggest mistake most people make. All in all, this is not the very best movie ever made; but in it's genre (post-apocalyptic) it is one of the very best. Get this movie, and watch with your mind set in their time. Thanks
97 Give it a second chance
Like so many people, the first time I saw Waterworld I had much trouble sitting through the movie and preventing my mind from wandering off and entertaining fantasies of blowing up my television and never watching movies again. That was a few years ago, when it first came to video. But a few months ago Waterworld was on tv and, for some inexplicable reason, I decided to give it another chance. And let me tell ya I'm glad I did because it was excellent. Maybe I was too young to fully appreciate the subtle satire that pervaded the film. Before, everything about the movie seemed riduclous, over-the-top. But now I got it. It wasn't supposed to be good. It was a brillant satire of its self. This satire was so good and so suble that the producers didn't even realize that it was a satire. Neither did Costner apparently, who, I believe, wrote the screenplay and might have been one of the producers. If you approach the film in this manner, as though you're about to watch a great satirical comedy and not a serious post-apocalypse movie then you should enjoy it. If not, then yes, Waterworld will be one of the worst movies of the ninties.
98 Excellent Movie
I first saw the movie when it was on ABC a few years back. At the time, I thought it was the best I had ever seen. I loved the ending. I was hoping for a sequal but to no avail. I still give it 5 stars!
99 Awesome! มมม
I loved the movie! It has a great theme and the whole story is beautiful. It shows how two diffrent people can attract to each other and that way overcome obstales. I think it's a good way of learning somethign new. Setting and the special effects were very good and so I truly reccomend this movie!
100 Don't listen to "Big Brother"!
Lately I have been getting sick and tired of the media/critics telling us what movies and music is good. When most of the time, they are bass-ackwards. With recent examples like Blair Witch Project, which I heard was stupendously stupid! and the Sixth Sense, what a joke..only the ending of that movie saved it from being a flop.
I always said that why Waterworld was so expensive to make was that they had to pay for all of that WATER!! Ha Ha! I've had the movie every sense it came out and thought it was a good modern '90s version of the Mad Max theme. Although it did drag a bit in the middle of the ocean, but only to be saved with Smokers on "slightly used" Jet-Skis!
I did see part of ABC's Director's Cut version and wished that they would release it on video. I personally like the long epic movies.
