Movie Review Friday -- Waterworld

Escape to the movies with one of our Movie Friday selections. Each week we review a film with environmentally or socially-responsible themes that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD.

Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a review of 100 words or less and look for your review in the next Movie Friday!

Waterworld (1995)
Available on DVD

When it came out back in the innocent days of 1995, Kevin Costner's aqua-apocalyptic epic Waterworld was reviled as, at best, a seaborne version of Road Warrior in which ragtag forces of good and evil do battle many leagues above the carcass of a flooded Earth. It also weathered scorn for being one of the most expensive movies ever made (adjusted for inflation, its $175 million price tag ranks sixth all-time). Its production cost, of course, pales in comparison with how much we're going to have to pay to deal with the future that it portends.

Sea levels are hardly expected to rise by 25,000 feet. But whatever its scientific and literary shortcomings, Waterworld sounded an important, prescient alarm long before  then-Vice President Al Gore made global warming a cause celebre and a box-office draw. It might be a stretch to consider Costner a cinematic Bill McKibben, but Waterworld still deserves reconsideration for being, unfortunately, ahead of its time.

Bonus #1: The pirate crew of the Exxon Valdez includes a pre-Nacho Libre Jack Black. 

Bonus #2: Universal got (more of) its money's worth out of the director's cut, which runs 40 minutes longer than the 136-minute theatrical version.

--Review by Josh Stephens

Comments

[Daniel Holeman]

Aside from any message it may feebly have, Waterworld was one of the very worst movies I have ever seen in my 55 years! Worthless waste of time.
Rent "Instinct" with Anthony Hopkins instead! Excellent film.

[Markus Roeskens]

Waterworld was way ahead of it's time. It's a good movie with an important message. I watched it in the theater when it came out and I would watch it again on DVD anytime.

[Kaptain Klimate]

It was a blockbuster flop at the time because it didn't live up to the hype. It also hit serious budget problems during production, pushing $200 million to make. Just think of all of the carbon offsets you can buy with that chunk of change!

[Ana]

I saw it a few years ago and it's definitely up there with worst movies ever made. I guess the message is that we better watch out or the world is going to be a long drawn out soap opera with bad acting on a boat. The message IS interesting, but it's defintely worth watching the movie to get it.

[ekelly]

And they were still hunting for almighty oil....and killing for it!

[Michael Spradlin]

Watch this movie for the ridiculous outfits the bad guys wear. With the money they put behind this movie, you'd expect at least a few million to go into the costumes; you'd be wrong.

[wholesale jewelry]

What did the review say about the movie?

[utilitopia]

I didn't think it was that bad when I first saw it, not long after it came out. I liked it even more the second time on DVD. Sure, it had some pretty weak elements, but the many cool things in this flick overwhelm them.

The cultural criticism, the many humorous elements, that supercool trimaran... How about that AWESOME Dennis Hopper / Il Duce speech sequence? The color scheme - bloodshot white of the eye against the bronzer-orange skin against the deep blue sky - all of it a grotesque full movie screen high - that alone was worth the price of admission.

If you don't let the weaker sappy elements of the film get you down, it's hard to not find something to like. And usually I detest escapist action flicks.

[wholesale jewelry]

i like film,especially American film.