Review of Waterworld (1995) by Kenneth L — 27 Mar 2009

You know what? This movie is not nearly as bad as people say it is. To hear people talk about it, you would think it's in the Troll 2 category of awful, but hardly. In fact, in a lot of ways, Waterworld is honestly kind of awesome. It's not perfect, but it's much stronger than people give it credit for.

The storyline is basically The Road Warrior except on the ocean. The tough, mysterious stranger rolls into a tiny little outpost town and is not particularly welcomed by the inhabitants, but before you know it he's doing battle with evil raiders. So, yeah, not the most original plot, but certainly serviceable, and the world in which this all takes place is interesting in its own right - a future dystopia in which the polar ice caps have melted and dry land has become a distant legend. Everyone lives on boats or, at best, shanty towns assembled out of floating wreckage. I tend to like things set on the ocean, so Waterworld gets a lot of points in that regard.

The movie boasts some truly impressive sets and costumes. I really loved the floating town from the beginning of the movie, as well as the bad guys' main ship. The main character's three-hulled boat is a pretty memorable location, as well. The costumes consist of dirty, randomly thrown together bits of clothes which somehow seem like exactly what these characters would be wearing. The special effects are often damn good by 1995 standards, and the cinematography is good at capturing all of the visual awesomeness going on. Some of the action sequences, particularly the opening raid and the climactic battle/chase, are remarkably well put-together and exciting. (Admittedly, other action sequences feel as if they were cut short due to budget constraints.).

I guess the movie's biggest problem, sad to say, is Kevin Costner. He's not a terrible actor, but he's just not the right guy for this role with his somewhat nasal voice. He's better suited to playing baseball players. This movie needed someone with more gravitas and toughness, like Mel Gibson or Russell Crowe or Javier Bardem. Even though Costner's not the best lead, the rest of the cast is pretty strong. Dennis Hopper is over-the-top amazing as the eye-patched, ludicrous villain. Jeanne Tripplehorn is fine as the female lead/inevitable love interest. Tina Majorino is funny and willful as the little girl who also provides the plot's Macguffin. The movie even has the wonderful and underappreciated character actor Michael Jeter, whom you might remember from The Fisher King, Jurassic Park III, The Green Mile, or "Elmo's World" on Sesame Street. And it even has a young, unrecognizable Jack Black as a henchman. Jack Black!

I think this movie just suffered from a case of too much hype and buildup of expectations. It's not Lord of the Rings or anything, but it is a visually stimulating and enjoyable film that did not deserve the Razzie nominations it got.