Waterworld

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008)

Waterworld
Directed by	Kevin Reynolds Kevin Costner (uncredited)
Produced by	Kevin Costner, John Davis, Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, Andrew Licht
Written by	Peter Rader David Twohy
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	$175 million

Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film stars Kevin Costner who also produced it. Waterworld was released in the United States on July 28, 1995.

[edit] Plot

About five hundred years in the future, the polar ice caps have melted due to unexplained events, though human action is hinted when the Mariner exclaims "We did it". The Earth's surface is almost entirely water. 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 dry land somewhere out there.

The survivors can be classified into four groups:

• Drifters, traders who ply the water in boats;
• Atoll Dwellers, who live in large floating constructs called atolls;
• Smokers, so called because they smoke and trade cigarettes, and because of the smoke from oil-power machines, such as jetskis, using oil left in oil tankers;
• Slavers, who are mentioned, but never seen.

The antihero is a drifter known only as the Mariner (Kevin Costner) who 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 a girl living there named Enola, 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, for dry land because, like the Mariner, they don't fit in. Unfortunately Gregor's escape balloon launches too early with him on it, leaving Helen and Enola stranded. They escape with the Mariner, who seems ill-pleased with their company.

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. 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 makeshift atoll where the survivors of the atoll attack have regrouped.

Using a jet-ski, 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. 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, and steers his balloon toward what does turn out to be dry land. As Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others begin to start civilization anew on the island, 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 and that the ocean calls out to him. He finds a new boat near the beach, and before sailing off, Enola and Helen look out to him drifting away, back to his old life.

[edit] Notable Cast

• Kevin Costner - Mariner
• Jeanne Tripplehorn - Helen
• Tina Majorino - Enola
• Dennis Hopper - Deacon
• Michael Jeter - Old Gregor
• R.D. Call - Enforcer
• Jack Black - Smoker Pilot
• Kim Coates - Crazed Drifter
• Sab Shimono - Elder
• Jack Kehler - Banker
• Rick Aviles - Gatesman
• Sean Whalen - Bone

[edit] Box office

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). With a budget of $175 million, the film grossed $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 and $232.9 million at the foreign box office.^[3]

[edit] Extended Cut

The original director's cut of the film was submitted to the studio at a length of around three hours. But most of it was trimmed down 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.

[edit] Additional Scenes

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:

• Prior to the Mariner's arrival at the Atoll, a drifter outside the gates to the city wants to barter his hair for a small portion of hydro. Plus, shots of the guards hosing the drifters as the Mariner is being let in are also added.

• A slightly longer version of the bank scene, where the Mariner grabs all the chips and leaves an amazed crowd.

• The bar scene is much longer, and it begins with an additional moment of a barfly telling Helen how impressive the Mariner's dirt is. This includes a new shot of the Mariner approaching, and more footage of him buying more stuff. Plus, the Nord has more lines, and Enola's tattoo is seen more clearly for a few more seconds.

• When a family offers the Mariner their daughter, there is an additional line from an elder explaining that when a member of the Atoll dies, they gain the social right to give birth to another family member, making the barter more clear.

• A new scene where a trial on the Mariner is held. A member shows some of the items they confiscated from his ship, and give an interpretation for each one. Helen defends him, knowing that he might know where Dryland is. But, the council ignores her pleas and decide the Mariner's fate.

• A bunch of kids menace the Mariner and tease him with a fish. However, this backfires, as he scares them off. This cuts into a scene where Gregor calculates the meaning of Enola's tattoo, but finds himself cornered again. Helen shows up, and there is more dialogue between the two, as Helen fears that the Atollers may eventually set them all adrift.

• The attack on the Atoll is much longer, with more footage of the Atollers preparing for the assault, Gregor assembling the flying machine, a women demanding they give Enola over to the Smokers and her death, and Gregor, trying to mount the flying machine, runs up the stairs and leaps onto it.

• The Deacon arrives at the remains of the Atoll, as Smokers are raiding the water supply and cutting down trees with chain saws. His record-keeper reports to him on the spoils of the raid, much to the disappointment of the Deacon, who feels that the previous attacks were more "worthy." There is even an added moment where the Deacon summarizes the origin of the world, and how mutations can't be possible, while interrogating the two prisoners.

• Added footage of Enola exploring the lower deck of the Trimaran.

• A scene where the Mariner makes some fresh hydro, and waters his plant. With some left, he gives it to Enola, who in return thanks him with a hug. He responds by shoving her aside.

• After the airplane assault, there is a much longer version of the Deacon and the Nord plotting to capture the Mariner, which includes more lines from Jack Black's character, who is upset over the death of his friend, the Gunner. It is also made clearer that the Deacon wants to capitalize the newfound land and convert it into a resort, and we see a drawing of it. (This scene was split into two parts, with the second half ending the first part of the ABC TV cut.)

• Prior to the bizarre Drifter's arrival, a sequence is added where the Mariner is eating a tomato, with Helen and Enola watching in hunger.

• The scene where the Mariner fishes is presented as a separate scene, where Helen teases him, saying that he "can't fish."

• The scene where Helen and the Mariner talk is much longer, and ends with Helen saying she pities him, causing him to look up the meaning of the word in an issue of National Geographic magazine.

• It is made clear that the place the Mariner was heading was a Slaver colony, and that his plan was to sell the two passengers.

• After finding Enola, the Nord presents the Deacon with the Mariner's National Geographic issues, and they all marvel at the pictures of Dryland.

• The scene where the Deacon talks to Enola is longer, as he explains that he needs more land in order to continue his development, with what he calls, his "church of eternal growth." Enola suggests making less people. (This would have caused controversy with various religions, and is possibly why this scene got cut.) The scene also ends with the Deacon ordering Enola chained up, while she screams that the Mariner will come to save her.

• A scene is deleted and moved to a later spot, where the Mariner is looking over the remains of his ship, and finally realizes that Enola may know where Dryland is. Instead, a scene is inserted where Helen claims she can't go any further, but the Mariner won't quit. It then cuts to a shot of Gregor's ship flying in the clouds, following the smoke, and discovering the two, explaining how he found them.

• About 4-5 minutes of footage is restored, where the group joins the New Atoll, and Helen is having a hard time convincing them to save Enola. The Mariner doesn't want to save her, and returns to the Trimaran wreckage. There, he sees Enola's drawings, and compares them to a National Geographic issue. He finally realizes that she does know where Dryland is. He returns to the New Atoll to find two Smokers terrorizing the group. He dispatches them, lights one of the jet-skis on fire, which creates a fire trail leading to the Deez. This explains how he managed to get a jet-ski and locate the Deez in the theatrical cut of the film.

• After crashing into Smitty while docking inside the Deez, two Smokers appear and menace the Mariner for a moment, and then congratulate him for killing him, seeing how annoyed they were with him. Plus, the Mariner notices a speaker playing the Deacon's speech, and responds by hacking it to pieces with a machete.

• Before telling the two Smokers to drive into Enola, the Deacon yells, "If I can't have Dryland, no one will!!!"

• After rescuing Enola, Gregor reveals a map he discovered, which he uses to direct the airship to Dryland.

• Before the Mariner leaves, Gregor gives him dirt, Helen's goodbye is much longer, and a new scene is included where she gives him a name, "Ulysses." Liking it, he accepts the name.

• In the original ending, while watching the Mariner leave from a hill, Helen and Enola uncover a plaque that reveals Dryland to be the peak of Mount Everest. This was only seen once during its 1998 broadcast premiere on ABC. It was cut from other syndicated airings, until the Sci-Fi Channel restored it, when they aired the full cut.

[edit] Universal Studios Theme Parks

Main article: Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular

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.

[edit] Video Game

A 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.

[edit] See also

• Desert planet
• List of films recut by studio
• Resident Evil 4 - this game features a similar setting to Waterworld that is seen in the Mercenaries Bonus Game.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Waterworld at the Internet Movie Database