Review of Waterworld (1995) by Glenn L — 12 Nov 2011

It doesn't make for much of a story, but it's technically impressive as hell. Almost the entire movie was actually built full-scale and shot in-camera; the costuming and production design, set pieces and stunts -- all performed live action, with minimal FX work. And Aussie cinematographer Dean Semler exhibits some of his best talent as a capable outdoorsman DP.

It's a pretty dumb but fun movie. Kevin Costner never looked more physically fit and Dennis Hopper hammed up his role as if it were is very last. But, again, I'm just impressed with how well they actually built all the rusty looking ships and sailboats and the atoll. I know this movie was considered a total box office bomb, but I can't help but long for the days when filmmakers such as Kevin Reynolds shot for the moon with such a sense of scale and ambition. A movie like this, even with a stellar script, would likely never be made today... today, we have Immortals, which I wager is just as lousy, if not more so, but also entirely flattened with green screen artificiality. Now, I'm one who thinks there's a place of extreme digital filmmaking, but epic Earthly adventures like Waterworld are best served with real sets and whatnot.