Waterworld

• Cat.no: UDR 90009
• Cert: 12
• Running time: 129 minutes
• Year: 1995
• Pressing: 1999
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 16 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.0, Dolby Surround
• Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Subtitles: 9 languages available
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Biographies, Filmographies, Production Notes

Director:

Kevin Reynolds

(187, The Beast, Fandango, Rapa Nui, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)

Producers:

Screenplay:

Peter Rader and David Twohy

Music:

James Newton Howard

Cast:

Mariner: Kevin Costner (American Flyers, The Big Chill, Bull Duhram, Dances with Wolves, Fandango, Field of Dreams, JFK, Madonna: Truth or Dare, Night Shift, No Way Out, A Perfect World, The Postman, Revenge,Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Silverado, Sizzle Beach USA, Tin Cup, The Untouchables, The War, Wyatt Earp)
Deacon: Dennis Hopper (Apocalypse Now, Basquiat, The Blackout, Blue Velvet, Boiling Point, Chasers, Cool Hand Luke, Easy Rider, Hang ’em High, Head, Hoosiers, The Indian Runner, The Pick-Up Artist, Rebel Without a Cause,Red Rock West, Rumblefish, Space Truckers, Speed, Sunset Heat, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, True Grit, True Romance)
Helen: Jeanne Tripplehorn (Basic Instinct, The Firm, Reality Bites, Sliding Doors, Very Bad Things)
Enola: Tina Majorino (Andre, Corrina Corrina, When a Man Loves a Woman)
Gregor: Michael Jeter (Drop Zone, The Fisher King, Hair, Miller’s Crossing, The Money Pit, Mouse Hunt, Sister Act 2, Tango & Cash, Zelig)

Waterworldis the name given to the Earth several centuries after the polar ice capshave melted and many lives lost, as major cities now lie underwater. Manytry to search for the mythical Dryland, in order to populate the planetonce again, but none have succeeded. A secret lies in a tattoo marked in theback of a young girl which is, allegedly, a map which will take people to thisplace.

The mariner, the only name by which Kevin Costner is known throughout thefilm, is a trader on the sea and when he meets another it is the law of the”land” that they must trade something. We are first introduced to him on hisextended-raft having a No.1, which, in order to save the world’s resources – orthose that are left – he does so into a cup and then processes this through amachine producing clear, drinkable water which he downs with relish. He isdirected towards an atoll by another trader where he is captured for not beinghuman, since he has gills and webbed feet (!). In order for the plot tocontinue, he escapes with the girl – Enola (Tina Majorino) – and hercompanion, Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) who is more his age, while beingpursued by the Deacon (Dennis Hopper) and his cronies.

So where did the $180 million budget go? On location shooting and huge metalstructures that make this film look like Mad Max on water. Well surelyfor a film that expensive there’s a story behind it so original that it will becelebrated for all time? No. It’s a bog-standard tale of good-triumphs-over-evilas Hopper and co. go after Costner and co. as they work their way towardsHopper’s HQ, the good ship Exxon Valdez, as Hopper has kidnapped Enolaalong the way so he can find the promised land. The ship doesn’t have manysafety features as Costner makes the threat of dropping a flare down an openfunnel and when he does, it’s explosion-time.

This is a film which starts of promisingly, but plays the obvious line all theway through. Plus, Hopper isn’t nearly as manic in this film as he usually iswhich adds to the disappointment. The film plods all the way through and theending can be spotted a mile off; there’s a scene which could easily be cut outfeaturing a rogue trader, not of the Nick Leeson kind, but one who popsup only to attempt to rape Tripplehorn, before being bumped off quickly byCostner; one has to ask why hasn’t Hopper’s ship gone up in flames before if aspark is all it takes; the director Kevin Reynolds, with whom Costner hasworked before on the smash-hit Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, was firedhalfway through the making of the film which was later cut together by thestudio – this may explain why when Hopper’s ship explodes, there seems to bea few frames missing of him and his cronies screaming during this time asthey’re digitally-painted in too late; and the spiralling cost of the film waswritten off as a bad investment.

Kevin didn’t feel too well after drinking his own urine.

If, by some chance, you do find this film entertaining, then you’ll be pleasedto know that the picture quality is nothing short of stunning, the oceanseascapes coming out perfectly with zero artifacts and lush colours.The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and isanamorphically-enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions which provides 33%higher resolution – and the average bitrate is an excellent 8.8Mb/s, regularlypeaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound is also spot-on as well with a good score from James Newton Howardand directional effects used well, including gunfire and explosions. The soundis presented in Dolby Digital 5.0 for English and French, while the German,Italian and Spanish languages are in surround sound only.

Note that although the back cover of the box states a 5.1 soundmix, the filmwas only ever made as 5.0, so you’ll be hard pushed to get something that wasnever there.

Dennis Hopper felt sure to win
the King Harold lookalike contest.

Jeanne Tripplehorn felt the time was right
to audition for “Basic Instinct II”.

If you like the film and aren’t too bothered about major amounts of extras,then you can rest assured it looks good. It would have been interesting to seea documentary about the making of the film which went into detail as to theproblems encountered during filming and the reasons why it went massivelyover-budget – I recall a good article in Empire when the film came outgiving a blow-by-blow account on the budget – but I doubt Universal would bekeen to make these facts public all over again.

Finally, does anyone know why this DVD is practically see-through? Hold it upto the light and it’s as transparent as the strength of the script.

FILM : *PICTURE QUALITY: *****SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: **——————————-OVERALL: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.