Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
In a futuristic world where the polar ice caps have melted and made Earth a liquid planet, a beautiful barmaid rescues a mutant seafarer from a floating island prison. They escape, along with her young charge, Enola, and sail off aboard his ship. But the trio soon becomes the target of a menacing pirate who covets the map to 'Dryland'—which is tattooed on Enola's back.
Waterworld has a genuinely distinctive premise — a post-apocalyptic ocean world with mutant gill-men — and some impressive large-scale practical effects and maritime cinematography that deserve credit. However, the plot is thin and derivative once you look past the setting, essentially a Mad Max on water with a MacGuffin child and reluctant hero arc that goes through the motions. Costner's performance is wooden even by action-hero standards, and the supporting cast (including a scenery-chewing Hopper) ranges from cartoonish to forgettable. The ending is perfunctory and emotionally hollow, resolving the Dryland mystery with little payoff. The film earns its cult reputation partly for its ambition and scale, but its execution falls well short of its premise's potential.