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Waterworld - DTS
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by Universal Studios
Sales Rank: 91809
Price: $14.99
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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 <i>Titanic</i>-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. <i>Waterworld</i> 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 <i>The Road Warrior</i>, this seafaring stunt-fest is adequately impressive. <i>--Jeff Shannon</i>
Viewer Reviews
I got interested in Waterworld after seeing the Angry Video Game Nerd attack the Waterworld game for the Virtual Boy (he'd attack the VB along with the movie itself). I finally went to the local Family Video this weekend to see how bad it was for myself and much to my surprise, it wasn't the abomination legions of people make it out to be, but that's not really saying much.
The plot is that the polar ice caps melt and flood the entire world, creating the setting we know as in the title. The few survivors from the flooding live on islands made of junk and live primitive lifestyles. A guy known as the Mariner rescues Helen and her supposed daughter, Enola, from the Smokers, a group of infamous looters. Enola, has the key to finding "Dryland" tattooed on her back and the Deacon, leader of the Smokers, will stop at nothing to get Enola.
The biggest problem is the lack of originality because think about it, Waterworld is really nothing more than an aquatic adaptation of The Road Warrior. Both are in a post-apocalyptic setting where technology is set centuries back in time and makes the world a "dog eat dog" way of life. Even the characters in Waterworld corelate to those in The Road Warrior. We have the Mariner, whose drifter-like character isn't much different than that of Max; the Deacon is a lot like Lord Humungus in which he leads a group of looters to attack any settlers they find. Lord Humungus wants gasoline, and the Deacon wants a map tattooed on a girl's back; both will kill anyone to get what they want. I can keep going with the similarites between the two movies but I think you all get the picture. While The Road Warrior was an enjoyable movie, this wasn't. Even the movie title isn't good. Come on, "Waterworld?" That sounds like a ride at Disneyland, not a post-apocalyptic action flick!! The movie is a little too lengthy; it's a little over two hours long, but it could have easily done everything in the movie in 80-90 minutes. One of the worst aspects of this movie has to be the Deacon, he's the villan but isn't menacing whatsoever, even when he kills people. I found myself laughing pretty hard when the Deacon had a prosthetic eye attached to his socket and said "It does look like ****." The Deacon looked especially ridiculous when he went on the podium to speak to all the Smokers and was wearing that stupid pirate hat. I kept saying to myself "Was Dennis Hopper trying to be as stupid as possible in this movie?!!" Apparently, he was. His name isn't the least threatening, either. The Deacon sounds more like something that belongs in church, not the name of a villan. The other characters can be pretty annoying in this movie. Enola was pretty bratty shortly after the Mariner saves her and Helen, I was actually laughing a little when the Mariner picked her up and threw her into the ocean after she drew on his boat with crayons.
There are a few redeeming factors in Waterworld that save it from falling into one-star territory. Some of the action scenes were pretty fun, especially when the Mariner gets into some gun fights with the Smokers on the Exxon Valdez. The scene were Helen is naked and tries to threaten the Mariner by pointing a harpoon gun at him but fails when he drops the sailing mast on her and beats her with an ore was pretty funny. The scenes I mentioned above concerning the Deacon's prosthetic eye and of the Mariner throwing Enola into the ocean were enjoyable as well.
Unless if you purposely want to see a bad movie, I can't recommend this for anyone for any other reason.
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Waterworld - DTS
Available from Amazon
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Last Modified : 1-6-2009
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