Short description
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
Long description
In a flooded future Earth, people cling to manmade floating islands for survival. When a tyrannical madman (Dennis Hopper) driving a supertanker over the world in search of 'dry land' invades one of these islands, a mysterious wanderer named the 'Mariner' (Kevin Costner) rescues a woman and her adopted daughter from the slaughter and together they embark on a quest that could save mankind.
A fast-paced adventure set in a future time where Earth is covered in water and the human race struggles to survive in dilapidated boats and makeshift floating cities.
Review
...as Liar Liar proves one more time, there is probably no more consistently funny performer working in film today.
2010-12-14 06:01:00
Kenneth Turan
"Highlighted by some action scenes unlike anything seen before and effective in creating a unique landless universe in a perilous future..."
1995-07-24 00:00:00
Variety