We are sailing... (Waterworld (DVD))

Member Name: Belgian999

Product:	Waterworld (DVD)
Date:	02/04/02 (89 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good idea

Disadvantages: It tries to do too much

This epic film was absolutely panned by critics when it was released back in 1995, but having seen it again recently, I think some of the criticism was unjust. Most of it seems to have centred on the actions and attitude of Kevin Costner, and the exorbitant cost of constructing floating sets and the fact that the extended version of the film runs close to three hours!

Perhaps the problem is that Costner and the film might be trying to take themselves a little bit too seriously. Maybe he got carried away with the success of ‘Dances with Wolves’ and the superstar status that it brought. This film could definitely have done with a bit less being spent on unnecessarily complex locations, and a bit more time being devoted to the plot, because it is essentially not a bad idea.

‘Waterworld’ is set hundreds of years into the future: the polar ice caps have melted, due to some unspecified act of gross violence and/or stupidity by ‘the Ancients’ (i.e. our generation). This thinly-veiled and probably well-meaning attack on global warming is in itself not such a far-fetched idea – the seas have now risen to swamp the great continental land masses, wiping out the technological advancement and accumulated knowledge of centuries of civilisation on Earth.

The population was obviously drastically reduced, and in a handy comic-book fashion, the survivors have split into various factions, battling for survival in various ways. This is a plot tactic that has been seen before, most notably in ‘Mad Max’, the film that launched Mel Gibson on an unsuspecting world. In ‘Waterworld’, Costner plays the part of a nameless roving trader, who comes across a fortified atoll and tries to exchange his cargo of precious dirt for goods – possessing over three kilos of soil, he is a relatively rich man in a world where dry land is regarded as a myth.

The atoll dwellers live entirely by recycling
and scraping a living from traders and the sea, and are dressed in beige and grey-coloured clothing just to make sure you don’t miss the point that they are supposed to be the good guys. Before you know it, the outsider is imprisoned and sentenced to be ‘recycled’, but the Smokers attack. Now, of course they are clad in dirty black rags, leather and metal, are heavily armed and leave a trail of pollution and destruction wherever they go.

Having set this up so clearly as a struggle between the clearly defined forces of good and evil, I think the film would have been improved massively by taking a more light-hearted view of things, much as was the case in ‘Judge Dredd’. That deals with a bleak, post-apocalyptic future, but in a colourful, comic way so that the underlying morals of the story are absorbed rather than being shouted in your face. ‘Waterworld’ tries to do everything at once, as you also have the credible subplot of Enola, the young girl who is sought by good and evil alike, as they attempt to decipher the tattoo on her back that is supposed to contain the key to the location of dry land. Then you have the lonely drifter who ends up risking everything to save the girl, and the big, dirty, bad guys who pillage their way across the seas.

However, it all just seems a bit too ambitious. Dennis Hopper does his best to ham up the role of ‘the Deacon’, the head honcho, who doesn’t really have a plan but pursues Enola and the dream of dry land, swigging bourbon and handing out cigarettes to his hordes of followers (although quite where they manage to find these thousands of cigarettes is another question entirely). He and his stereotypically useless and blundering henchmen live on the rusting hulk of the Exxon Valdez, the tanker that famously ran aground some years ago to cause one of the greatest economic catastrophes of all time. That was quite a nice touch (even if it does push the po
int home a little too obviously), but what did make me laugh is that the supertanker now has to be powered by hundreds of oarsmen, as they cannot work the engines.

He is juxtaposed with the Costner’s character, the man who has the destiny of humanity in his hands, despite being ostracised for being a mutant (another idea that is not too daft, a human who has evolved gills after centuries of life on the ocean). The development of the plot is always a bit heavy-handed though. The loner developing friendship towards the girl after a lifetime of solitude, the values of honesty and reliability, and the obvious movement towards the only potential love interest in the film rob it of any suspense.

Despite the fact that is does become very predictable, this is still an enjoyable film in parts, and it does raise some valid points – no-one really knows what effect global warming will have, so Costner’s vision of it is no more credible or laughable than mine or yours. You see a mutated human, monstrous fish that now thrive in the depths of the new oceans, a human race struggling to exist in an environment for which it was not designed, and people trying to relearn the basics of survival at sea now that the teachings of the past have been lost. Of course you want Costner to win, to find dry land, but part of me sympathised with the ridiculous character of ‘the Deacon’ simply for the comedy value. This is a film that is worth watching, but with some sensible editing and a braver decision on how to play it, this could have been so much better.

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