| Waterworld | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kevin Reynolds Kevin Costner (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Kevin Costner John Davis Charles Gordon Lawrence Gordon Andrew Licht |
| Written by | David Twohy Joss Whedon Peter Rader |
| Starring | Kevin Costner Dennis Hopper Jeanne Tripplehorn Tina Majorino Michael Jeter R.D. Call Gerard Murphy Jack Black |
| Editing by | Peter Boyle |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 28, 1995 |
| Running time | 136 Mins Theatrical Version 177 Mins Director's Cut |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $231.6 million |
Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The tagline is "beyond the horizon lies the secret to a new beginning". The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds and stars Kevin Costner who also produced it. Waterworld was distributed by Universal Pictures.
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The setting of the film is the distant future and, although no exact date is given, many centuries have passed, perhaps many millennia. An Extinction Level Event has occurred in this time due to unexplained events, albiet planetary shift, global warming and extreme climate change are hinted at. Human action is also suggested, such as when the Mariner (portrayed by Kevin Costner) exclaims "we did it", and when Old Gregor (portrayed by Michael Jeter) exclaims "the ancients did something terrible to create all this water". The polar ice caps have completely melted, and the sea level has risen many thousands of feet, covering all the land. The surface of Earth is now almost entirely ocean.
The surviving humans have forgotten the past and believe in a modified creation myth in which God created the world as a ball covered with water, but that there is also a much sought-after "dryland" somewhere out there; a kind of Garden of Eden in their beliefs.
After the doomsday event and the end of civilization, the ramshakle remnants of the human race who survived the deluge now live in large floating constructs made up of various rusty junk and grimy debris found floating on the ocean; these watery settlements are called atolls after the similar type of island which no longer exist. The dwellers of atolls are a nautical society, albiet a gritty, primitive and superstitious one.
The atolls have a primitive society. Due to the extreme limitation of living space in the settlements, and also the sparse resources, the atoll elders limit the number of citizens to a steady and constant number, thus avoiding the issue of overpopulation. The only time a couple is permitted to try for a child is when a citizen of the atoll dies. Since there is no ground to bury the dead in, the dead are placed in a yellow substance, possibly toxic waste, whereupon they are "recycled". Exactly what this means is unclear though.
Only occasionally are drifters allowed in to the atolls, but only temporarily, and only if they can show the guards they have something of value to trade with, such as food, plants, cigarettes, paper, dirt (which is extrememly rare in a world covered in ocean and something of a novelty), and "hydro" (clean water as opposed to highly deadly sea water with its high salt content). "Hydro" is most commonly made by distilling or purifying urine.
Drifters ply the water in boats, yachts, catamarans, and trimarans. They have a rule whereby whenever two drifters come across each other, something "must be traded" between them, although as seen in the film many are driven by desperation to try and steal from each other. Drifters are almost always loners, possibly individuals who have been denyed permanant entrance into an atoll. As seen in the film, some drifters are driven insane by their long and seemingly endless solitude on the waves.
As well as speaking English as a common tongue, Drifters also speak in Hindi.
Some humans have spent so long in aquatic environments that they developed genetic mutations to the circumstances; they have webbed feet which enable them to swim at high speed, and gills located behind the ear which enable them to breathe underwater. The protagonist and antihero of the film, the nameless Mariner (portrayed by Kevin Costner), is such a mutant, although from certain lines of dialogue in the film it is clear there are more of his kind.
Mutants are almost always met with suspicion and fear; the citizens of the atoll seen in the film condemn the protagonist to death upon discovering his mutant nature. The Deacon refers to him as a "guppy freak", and, in line with his quasi-religious nature, believes that no such "abominations" could exist in nature.
Mutants feel at home at sea and are solitary individuals, and ruthless and selfish too, but ironically may be the most intelligent inhabitants of Waterworld. The Mariner hs an affinity for the technology of old - he wears a necklace made of microchips, and also is able to repair a CD player to working order, which he powers by use of a fan. His Trimaran is also steampunk-inspired, and some of the wares he has below deck are the most advanced gadgets seen in the fim.
The worst blight of the bleak, infinite seas are the savage pirates known commonly as "Smokers", due to the face they smoke and trade in a brand of cigarettes named "Black Death", and also because of the smoke from oil-power machines, such as personal water craft and aeroplanes. The Smokers obtain many of their wares as marauders and by raiding the settlements of the featureless surface of Waterworld, leaving a trail of destruction, death and fear in their wake.
The base of the Smokers is the rusted old carcass of a oil tanker, which is revealed to be the Exxon Valdez in a brief shot. Although the tanker no longer has any functional engines, the Smokers still have a large supply of oil aboard the tanker, and apparantly a small oil refinery, as they are able to refine oil into petroleum to power the jetskis and planes they make use of. They have also hoarded large quantites of ammunition, spam and whiskey aboard the tanker. The Smokers move the tanker by use of thousands of oars that stick out of the barnacle-encrusted keel.
The captain of the tanker and also the leader of the Smokers is looked up to a messianic figure, as he has promised to lead them to the mythical "dryland", and in line with this quasi-religious nature, he is reffered to as "Deacon". The Deacon is portrayed by Dennis Hopper. The Smokers also worship a former historical captain of the tanker, Joseph Hazelwood, who was blamed for the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill for being drunk at the wheel, as "Saint Joe".
Slave traders are mentioned in the film, but never seen. It in the extended cut, it makes clear that the ruthless Mariner's initial intentions are to sell Helen and Enola to slave traders, an example of the more significant character development the Mariner goes through in the extended cut.
A gargantuan-sized sea monster is seen in one brief scene. Although it appears these creatures do not regularly surface, they can be lured to the surface with bait and, if killed, are an excellent source of meat for the inhabitants of Waterworld.
The antihero is a drifter known only as the Mariner (Kevin Costner) who, after chasing down another drifter who attempted to steal a tomato plant from him, comes into an atoll to trade. He is a mutant, a new step in evolution to accommodate the changes in climate, with webbed feet and gills. The atollers, fearful of mutants, try to kill him. At that moment, however, the smokers arrive in a raid on the atoll. They are searching for an orphan girl living there named Enola ("alone" spelt backwards), who has what appear to be directions to dry land tattooed on her back.[1]
Her caretaker is Helen, the atoll's shopkeeper, and they plan to escape with Gregor, the atoll's resident astrologer and inventor, for dry land because, like the Mariner, they don't fit in. Unfortunately Gregor's escape method, a hot air balloon made of old rags, launches too early with him on it, leaving Helen and Enola stranded. They escape with the Mariner, who agrees to take them with him as they saved his life, but similarly seems ill-pleased with their company as he prefers solitude.
Chasing them is "the Deacon", who is the captain of a derelict oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez. He also wants to get to dry land, and has a number of skirmishes with the Mariner in his attempts to get Enola back.
Helen wants to know where dry land went. The Mariner, who can breathe underwater, puts her in a diving bell, and swims down to a sunken city on the ocean floor (it is hinted that is Denver, Colorado due to the similarity of buildings, this was confirmed in the novelization.) Grabbing a handful of earth from the ocean floor, he shows Helen where he gets his dirt from which he trades with.
While they are beneath the ocean's surface, the Deacon and his smokers board the boat. Enola hides to avoid capture. When Helen and the Mariner resurface, the Deacon orders them to tell him where Enola is. When they both refuse to talk, the Deacon pretends to shoot them and Enola emerges from hiding and is captured. After he has Enola, the Deacon tells his men to kill both the Mariner and Helen, they dive underwater to escape and the Deacon burns the Mariner's boat. Since Helen cannot breathe underwater, the Mariner breathes for the both of them, resulting in a prolonged underwater kiss of life.
They are later rescued from the wreckage of the Mariner's trimaran by Gregor in his balloon and he takes them to a new makeshift atoll where the survivors of the first atoll attack have regrouped.
Using a jetski, the Mariner chases down the Exxon Valdez and boards it, where the Deacon is having a great celebration, during which he tosses gifts to the crew of the Valdez, proclaiming they have found the map to dry land. After they have all gone below the ship to row, the Mariner walks out onto the deck and threatens to drop a flare into the oil reserves unless the Deacon releases Enola. The Deacon refuses, saying that he would be crazy to blow up the ship. The Mariner drops the flare down into the oil reserves.
The ship explodes, and the Mariner escapes with Enola rescued by Gregor by climbing a rope dropped from his balloon. The Deacon, still alive, grabs the rope and tries to pull Enola. The Deacon loses his grip and falls into the water. Still alive, he pulls out his pistol and shoots at the balloon, hitting one of the lines, causing Enola to fall back into the sea. The Deacon and two other Smokers, all on jet skis, converge on Enola (in the extended edition, he cries that if he can't reach "dryland", nobody will.) The Mariner ties a rope around his ankle and bungee jumps down to grab Enola, pulling her out of the water as the three jet skis collide and explode.
Gregor figures out the map, translating the Oriental symbols using an old and tattered China Airlines magazine, and realises they are latitude and longitude coordinates (interestingly they are the same as Mount Everest) and steers his balloon in that direction. Soon after, a seagull lands next to the Mariner, who is shocked and bemused as he has never seen such a thing. As Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others land on the island and find past traces of civilzation, including the skeletons of Enola's parents, they begin to start civilization anew on the island, but the Mariner decides to leave. Enola, saddened to hear the Mariner leaving, asks why he must go. He explains that he doesn't belong on dry land, where the world "doesn't move right" (which he remarks after seeing wild horses running through trees), and that the ocean, his only home, calls out to him. He finds a new boat near the beach (or builds a boat in the extended edition), and before sailing off, Enola and Helen look out to him drifting away, back to his old life.
The film was the follow-up project to the last collaboration between Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds, who last worked together on Robin Hood: Prince of Theives in 1991. The film was co-written by David Twohy, who went on to also write G.I. Jane, Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Twohy cited Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior as a major inspiration. The two films have the same director of photography, Dean Semler.
Gene Hackman, James Caan and Gary Oldman all turned down the role of the Deacon. Anna Paquin was the first choice to play Enola.
Universal Pictures used a budget of $231.6 million, a record sum for a film production at the time. Filming took place in a large self-made sea water enclosure similar to that used in the film Titanic two years later; it was located in the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Hawaii. The production was hampered by the the collapse of this multi-million dollar set during a hurricane. Additional filming also took place in Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, California, and Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California.
Kevin Costner was on the set 157 days, working 6 days a week. At one point, he nearly died when he got caught up in a squall while tied to the mast of his trimaran. Laird Hamilton, the famous big wave rider was Kevin Costner’s stunt double for many water scenes. Hamilton, who had been commuting to the set via jet-ski, was lost at sea when his jet-ski ran out of fuel between Maui and the Big Island. He drifted for many hours before being spotted by a Coast Guard plane and rescued; when the abandoned jet-ski washed up on shore on the island of Lanai, he went over to fetch it and drove it back home again. Stunt coordinator Norman Howell got hit with compression sickness during filming of an underwater scene and was rushed to a hospital in Honolulu via helicopter. He recovered fairly quickly from the potentially life-threatening sickness and returned to the set a couple days later. Tina Majorino was nicknamed "Jellyfish Candy" by the crew after she was stung three different times by jellyfish during production.
Mark Isham's score was reported rejected by Costner because it was "too ethnic"; James Newton Howard was brought in to write the new score. Joss Whedon flew out to the set to do last minute rewrites on the script and later described it as "seven weeks of hell".
Rumours abound that, after the filming ran notoriously over-budget, Kevin Costner fired Kevin Reynolds as director and shot the last few scenes himself. Other rumours suggest Reynolds was not fired, but simply walked off set with two weeks of filming left. Their previously acclaimed partnership ended with this film.
Problems encountered during filming led to massive budget overrun, and it held the dubious distinction of being the most expensive film ever made at the time. Some critics dubbed it "Fishtar" and "Kevin's Gate" (references to the notorious flops Ishtar and Heaven's Gate). The film would of had to make as much profit as Jurassic Park just to break even.
With a budget of $175 million, the film grossed a mere $88 million at the U.S. box office, which made it appear to be the all time box office bomb. [2] Adjusted for inflation and expressed in 2006 dollars (USD), the budget for the movie was $231.6 million, and grossed $116.8 million at the U.S. box office.
The film did however do much better overseas, with $232.9 million at the foreign box office, and good VHS and later DVD sales.[3]
Contemporary reviews for the film were mixed, but mosty negative. Roger Ebert said of Waterworld: The cost controversy aside, "Waterworld" is a decent futuristic action picture with some great sets, some intriguing ideas, and a few images that will stay with me. It could have been more, it could have been better, and it could have made me care about the characters. It's one of those marginal pictures you're not unhappy to have seen, but can't quite recommend. [4]
The film has, however, retained a small cult following in recent years.
A tie-in novel of the film to coincide with the film opening, written by Max Allan Collins, was published by Arrow Books Ltd.
The initial filmed script ran at over five hours. The original director's cut of the film was trimmed and submitted to the studio at a length of around three hours. But most of it was then trimmed down again by the studio and Kevin Costner against the wishes of director Kevin Reynolds to a running length of 136 minutes, and Costner re-shot or re-edited some major plot points. It wasn't until 1998 that ABC premiered Waterworld as a two-night event with an additional 40 minutes of footage that was never seen during its theatrical run. However, it was edited for language, violence, some nudity, and the opening shot of the Mariner urinating.
This 177-minute version was praised and widely bootlegged by fans, and increased in popularity over the years, as the extended cut was syndicated on stations like Bravo, USA, and AMC. Most of these stations only included 20 to 30 minutes of the extra footage, especially excluding the Mount Everest ending in some broadcasts. It wasn't shown in its entirety until the full ABC cut, with commercials, was finally seen on the Sci-Fi Channel.
After many petitions and pleas from Waterworld fans, Universal reissued it in November 2008 on DVD in a two-disc set. Despite being void of extras, sans the theatrical trailer, this contained a new anamorphic widescreen transfer and the extended cut. Fans were disappointed to find that the extended cut, despite being in a widescreen format, was actually a transfer of the ABC cut, rather than the major restoration-cut that fans had hoped for.
The original cut of Waterworld contained many additional character developments, and contributed less confusion to the film. Most of these are included in the first broadcast on ABC and syndicated versions of the extended cut, but some scenes are missing or dropped to fill in a three-hour block with commercials during such broadcasts. This was the version that was syndicated, until the Sci-Fi Channel picked the rights to air the full cut. Here is a detailed highlight of what was added:
There is currently a show at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan based on the film. It takes place immediately after the movie, where Helen returns to the Atoll with proof of dry land, only to find her followed by the Deacon, who survived the events of the movie. The Mariner arrives immediately after him, however, and defeats the Deacon and takes Helen back to dry land while the Atoll explodes.
The Waterworld video game based on the movie was released on Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy and PC. While the Super Nintendo and Virtual Boy version were released by Ocean Software, the PC version was released by Interplay. The game received negative reviews as well as the Virtual Boy Game being marked as the worst Virtual Boy game ever released out of the 22 games in its short life.
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