I heard that Kevin Costner's film Waterworld was really bad. I never got a chance to see it at the theater or on cable. I recently saw it on the video shelf and picked it up. I should have left it there, Watching the video wasted over two hours of my time.

The premise behind Waterworld is that Earth has become this vast wasteland covered in water. Everyone is seeking dry land and fresh water. There is one slim hope on the horizon. A mutant calling himself Mariner (Kevin Costner) sails the seas in a tricked out catamaran. He knows that there is land buried beneath the ocean. He just wants to find some dry land himself.

Mariner goes to a floating city to trade some dirt that he found for supplies. Instead he finds himself imprisoned by the leaders of the city. The city is attacked by a group of roaming bandits, led by the evil Deacon (Dennis Hopper).

The real reason that Deacon and his boys attack the city is to kidnap a little girl. This girl , Enola ( Tina Majorino) apparently has a map that leads to Dry Land tattooed on her back. Enola has a woman who looks after her named Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn).

As Deacon is trashing the city, Helen helps Mariner escape. Together, they will try to find Dry Land.

I'm sure that the producers were banking on Costner's appeal to carry this film. Ol' Kev' just wasn't up to his standard work in this piece of drivel.

The only thing Waterworld accomplished besides wasting a lot of money and giving Kevin Costner a bad name was grabbing an Academy Award nomination. But the nomination was for the sound work and not the acting or directing ability from the film.

Waterworld is rated PG-13 for language, violence and nudity. It was released by Universal Pictures.

Copyright © 2000 Bruce E. Von Stiers