For years, Waterworld was seen as this big joke of a movie. The most expensive movie ever made, even though it was successful, it struggled for years to make back its enormous budget. The thing is, I actually like this movie, I thought it was fun when I was a kid and I still think that it is a solid sci-fi movie to this day. Sure it has some freaking weird moments in it and some rather “interesting” acting, but it is still fun.
How to Download Waterworld
Waterworld was released on July 28, 1995. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
Before I talk about the movie, I have to mention the awesome Waterworld reference in The Simpsons. At an arcade, Milhouse sees the Waterworld arcade game and puts in the 40 quarters to play it, only to take one step and it be game over and want more money. This was a funny nod to how expensive Waterworld was. Another weird Waterworld bit of trivia is that the failure that was the Nintendo Virtua Boy only got one licensed game and that was Waterworld!
The World of Waterworld
Waterworld takes place hundreds of years in the future and the ice caps have melted and all of the dry land is now underwater. In this water-filled future, mankind has survived by making these makeshift floating towns on top of the water. It is honestly a really cool concept and I think that the production designs here are great for the different towns or atolls as they are called.
The Mariner: A Unique Character
Our main character is played by Kevin Costner and he is simply referred to as The Mariner. The Mariner is a mutant, he has webbed feet and he has gills for breathing underwater. I love this character and while part of me wants to know exactly why he is the way he is, I like how he does not have his full backstory explained and it is left to the imagination.
The Mariner gets by trading dirt that he gets from deep in the ocean. At an atoll, he tries to trade dirt, but they see he is a mutant and try to kill him! He is saved by a woman called Helen and a kid called Enola. Enola supposedly has a map that leads to dryland on her back and this makes her the target of a gang of pirates called The Smokers led by Dennis Hopper’s The Deacon. Dennis Hopper is as over the top here as he has ever been.
The Mariner’s Journey
As The Mariner is saved by Helen and Elona they ask him to help them find the dry land and keep them safe from The Smokers. In my opinion, they created a really interesting world here with characters that are easy to like. They give you bits of information about the world, but they also leave a lot of it to the imagination. Granted, this could be classed as lazy writing, but I think in the case of this movie, it works.
Waterworld is not a perfect movie. To be fair, visually, Waterworld holds up and it holds up really well. However, it is hard to overlook some of the weirder parts. Dennis Hopper’s funny acting is hilarious. There are some very weird scenes too such as The Mariner and his gills helping Helen breathe and him cutting Helen and Enola’s hair! Still, the weird parts of the movie just add to the overall charm this has. I highly recommend you give this a watch if you have not seen it for a long time. If you have never seen it, well you are in for a treat!
The Waterworld 4K Release
Before you leave to go and watch Waterworld and realize it is a good movie. I want to take a moment to talk about the 4K release of Waterworld. The visual quality of the 4K release is spectacular, it looks amazing! The sound though is cranked up to the max so be warned if you have a soundbar, have it low when you first watch it. Despite looking good and sounding good (despite being too loud) Waterworld 4K is part of a growing trend of 4K releases that are way too skimpy on the extras as it pretty much has none!
