Kevin Costner has a knack for making tedious versions of films I like. Waterworld is obviously Mad Max on water, and he's not exactly riveting in it, nor is it devoid of padding, but it's not all that bad. A famous flop that spent more money than it could ever recoup, I can still give it props for building all those structures on water and achieving several involved (and exciting) water action set pieces. We don't see a whole lot of those because they're extra complicated, so successfully making a movie that's almost entirely waterlogged is an achievement. Its biggest problem for me was the choice of music, believe it or not. If you're doing Mad Max (and I'm sorry, but you are), the music should rock a lot more, punk maybe, or some strange concoction these people might have produced. Instead, they give us grand, sweeping orchestrals that evoke wonder and swashbuckling. The dissolves preferred by the editing also make it seem like they thought they were making a shipwreck romance like The Blue Lagoon or Black Beauty. Which is of course at odds with the jet ski pirates and Dennis Hopper cartooning it up with his orange-skinned villain. And well, it takes much too long for us to like Costner's Mariner. He's a badass, fine, and grumpy, okay, but he's soon being violent with his love interest and throwing a little girl overboard, an attitude that only goes away in the third act where magically, he's a father figure and someone to love as a different formula takes over. So in the end, it's not a nautical disaster, sometimes it's even good (certainly before the girls board his sailboat), but after everything done, I can only call it okay.
I'm a sucker for excellent set design and the examples in this movie are one for the books. It's an entertaining romp in the dystopian Mad Max style, but in a more cheesy action sense like a theme park's stunt show. It's one of those films that in an odd way I think Hollywood might resurrect for either a remake or a series.
I assume the entire budget was spent on cigarettes - It's really distasteful to look at chain-smoking for 2 hours. There must have been much coughing during production ...
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Comments 1 - 11 of 11
Bigalrick
Two words: Moist MaxSiskoid
Kevin Costner has a knack for making tedious versions of films I like. Waterworld is obviously Mad Max on water, and he's not exactly riveting in it, nor is it devoid of padding, but it's not all that bad. A famous flop that spent more money than it could ever recoup, I can still give it props for building all those structures on water and achieving several involved (and exciting) water action set pieces. We don't see a whole lot of those because they're extra complicated, so successfully making a movie that's almost entirely waterlogged is an achievement. Its biggest problem for me was the choice of music, believe it or not. If you're doing Mad Max (and I'm sorry, but you are), the music should rock a lot more, punk maybe, or some strange concoction these people might have produced. Instead, they give us grand, sweeping orchestrals that evoke wonder and swashbuckling. The dissolves preferred by the editing also make it seem like they thought they were making a shipwreck romance like The Blue Lagoon or Black Beauty. Which is of course at odds with the jet ski pirates and Dennis Hopper cartooning it up with his orange-skinned villain. And well, it takes much too long for us to like Costner's Mariner. He's a badass, fine, and grumpy, okay, but he's soon being violent with his love interest and throwing a little girl overboard, an attitude that only goes away in the third act where magically, he's a father figure and someone to love as a different formula takes over. So in the end, it's not a nautical disaster, sometimes it's even good (certainly before the girls board his sailboat), but after everything done, I can only call it okay.IreneAdler
I don't get why it was such a flop... I did like it - not among my favorites, but still not bad.akuma587
Whenever I think of this movie, I think of the Simpsons Waterworld arcade game that just ate your money.greenfinch
I enjoyed it overall, especially the world for itself. But I did watch it with the premise of some kind of lighthearted Mad Max on water.They definitely missed out a big chance.
DisneyStitch
I'm a sucker for excellent set design and the examples in this movie are one for the books. It's an entertaining romp in the dystopian Mad Max style, but in a more cheesy action sense like a theme park's stunt show. It's one of those films that in an odd way I think Hollywood might resurrect for either a remake or a series.Falkhorn
The world has become a giant ocean, better drink my pee!Earring72
Underrated sci fi action movie with some great setpieces and action scenes. Have seen it countless times and it still holds upUnfortunate Synopsis
Meh. At least you get to see Jeanne Tripplehorn's butt.Realenur
I assume the entire budget was spent on cigarettes - It's really distasteful to look at chain-smoking for 2 hours. There must have been much coughing during production ...Nilofarish
One of the worst movies I have ever seen!