Movie · 1995 · Adventure, Action, Science Fiction · 2h 15m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.8/10 (338.8K ratings)
Beyond the horizon lies the secret to a new beginning.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.8/10
IMDb: 6.3/10
Letterboxd: 2.91/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 61%
Metacritic: 56
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Kevin Reynolds
Production
Gordon Company, Davis Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Licht/Mueller Film Corporation
Cast
Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tina Majorino, R. D. Call, Gerard Murphy, Michael Jeter, Rick Aviles, Kim Coates, Chaim Jeraffi, Sab Shimono, Zitto Kazann, Rita Zohar, Jack Black, Zakes Mokae, Jack Kehler, Leonardo Cimino, Lanny Flaherty, Robert A. Silverman, Henry Kapono Ka'aihue
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A big, ridiculous, and often impressive post-apocalyptic adventure that’s easier to admire than to love. The scale, practical stuntwork, and production design are the main attractions; the story is thin, the tone is blunt, and the movie’s reputation for excess is not entirely undeserved.
Best for
fans of large-scale practical action and stunt spectacle
viewers curious about infamous 1990s blockbuster overreach
post-apocalyptic adventure fans
people who enjoy campy villains and pulpy worldbuilding
Skip if
you want tight pacing and a lean runtime
you need strong character writing or emotional depth
you dislike broad, self-serious blockbuster tone
you’re allergic to expensive movies that feel oddly shaggy
Overview
Waterworld is the kind of movie that gets remembered as a joke, then surprises you by being much more interesting as a piece of physical filmmaking than its reputation suggests. The open-water production, miniature work, and stunt choreography give it a tangible, hard-earned scale that modern digital spectacle often lacks. It really does feel like a giant, absurd gamble committed to film.
Worth noting
That said, the movie’s strengths are mostly mechanical and visual. The plot is familiar, the characters are sketched in broad strokes, and the film often seems more invested in its floating junkyard ecosystem than in dramatic momentum. Kevin Costner’s drifter is functional rather than magnetic, while Dennis Hopper leans into cartoonish villainy with enough enthusiasm to keep things moving.
Bottom line
If you’re in the mood for a lavishly overbuilt action movie that treats its own ridiculousness with total sincerity, it has a strange appeal. If you want elegance, wit, or narrative discipline, this is not the place. But as a monument to practical blockbuster ambition, it’s far more watchable than its legend implies.
Top Letterboxd reviews
matt lynch (3★) · 1118 likes
Not secretly great or anything but certainly not as terrible as legend would have it. Either way the production design, miniature effects, and stuntwork are completely unbelievable, and it takes serious suicidal audacity to try to shoot something of this scale on the open water. Imagine George Miller directing this.
Eric Hatch · 1042 likes
One of the wettest worlds we’ve seen, from the standpoint of water.
Murderbytv (2★) · 638 likes
All I chose to remember about this movie was watching Kevin Kostner drink his own pee.
Sean Fennessey (3.5★) · 540 likes
This kinda rocks?
David Sims (2.5★) · 538 likes
“Writer Peter Rader came up with the idea for Waterworld during a conversation with Brad Krevoy where they discussed creating a Mad Max rip-off.”
huh ya don’t say