WATERWORLD
COSTNER’S SUNKEN EPIC RESURFACES ON BLU…
Does Kevin Costner’s epic sink or swim over 20 years later? We harpooned the latest release to find out.
film extras tbc 1995 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Documentary, Featurettes, Galleries, Book, Poster, Postcards
Dubbed ‘Fishtar’ and ‘Kevin’s Gate’ upon release, this futuristic action-adventure had seen its production costs swell from $100m to $175m, making it the most expensive film ever made at the time. No surprise, really: as Steven Spielberg (Jaws) and James Cameron (The Abyss) had previously attested, shooting on and in water brings with it an ocean full of problems. In this case, a hurricane wrecked the huge sets and a squall almost killed star Kevin Costner. What’s more, director Kevin Reynolds sailed away over the stormy horizon when his producer-star stuck his oar into the direction of every scene.
Just how deeply this three-disc set plunges into Waterworld’s murky production could not be precisely ascertained at the time of going to press – extras had sadly failed to wash up on Small Screen’s shores. But given this is a set by Arrow and that it includes a new feature-length documentary entitled Maelstrom: The Odyssey Of Waterworld, a deep dive seems likely. Archival featurette Dances With Waves, meanwhile, captures the film’s production.
But what of the movie itself? Well, you have three chances to gauge how it’s weathered, with the Theatrical Cut, the TV Cut and the so-called Ulysses Cut presented here. The last, though a fan edit, is definitive – it is essentially the TV Cut (40 minutes longer than the Theatrical Cut) but with censored dialogue and violence reinserted. Yes, it’s bloated at three hours, and sure, Waterworld’s tonal flaws (it’s a strange mix of watery western, Spielbergian adventure and Mad Max-style dieselpunk carnage) run through every version, but it also allows the full scope of the two Kevins’ ambition to play out.
And guess what? Waterworld is better than you remember it, or have heard tell of it. The world-building, production design and in-camera set-pieces are tremendous, servicing a story in which Costner’s fish-man The Mariner fights off Dennis Hopper’s tribe of jet ski-riding, gun-totin’ ‘Smokers’ while seeking dry land in a world where the polar ice caps have melted – a not-too-distant future?
It’s a bold film, too, opening with its hero drinking his own piss and painting him as an utter bastard until deep into its lengthy running time, when he finally warms to the woman (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and child (Tina Majorino) he’s forced to share his souped-up trimaran with.
As for Reynolds and Costner, who had previously made 1985’s Fandango and 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves together, they finally reconciled for 2012 miniseries Hatfields & McCoys
– about, appropriately enough, a long-running feud. Waterworld 2, anyone? Jamie Graham