Waterworld

1995 Directed by Kevin Reynolds

Beyond the horizon lies the secret to a new beginning.

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.

Kevin Costner Dennis Hopper Jeanne Tripplehorn Tina Majorino R.D. Call Gerard Murphy Michael Jeter Rick Aviles Kim Coates Chaim Girafi Sab Shimono Zitto Kazann Rita Zohar Jack Black Zakes Mokae Jack Kehler Leonardo Cimino Lanny Flaherty Robert A. Silverman Henry Kapono Ka'aihue Neil Giuntoli Robert Joy John Fleck Greg Goossen William Preston John Toles-Bey Ari Barak Chris Douridas Alexa Jago Show All…

Alternative Titles

Mundo Acuatico, O'lum Ha-Mayim, Mundo acuatico

action adventure science fiction

135 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★ 1

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.
Review by Murderbytv ★★ 2

All I chose to remember about this movie was watching Kevin Kostner drink his own pee.
Review by Matt Singer ★★½ 3

The Seattle baseball team should slap Kevin Costner’s weathered, unshaven mug on their caps in tribute to the greatest Mariner of them all.
Review by josh lewis ★★★ 2

Mad Max: Cruise Control. very broad and childish take on a george miller action apocalypse but still an absolutely incredible feat of analog design work and open sea stunts and spectacle. not really sure why it's 3 hours long tho lol.
Review by Eric Hatch

One of the wettest worlds we’ve seen, from the standpoint of water.
Review by Lebowskidoo🍿😷🍁 ★★★★½ 2

"The future...The polar ice caps have melted, covering the Earth with water. Those who survived have adapted, to a new world..."
Kevin Costner plays a man with no name but with gills, which allow him to breathe underwater, living on an Earth with no earth, just water, since the polar ice caps melted. He must fight off a bald Dennis Hopper with an eye patch, a psychopathic futuristic pirate, and his gang of sea-faring maniacs on jet skis. Sounds like a wild and crazy idea for a movie, and it is. It's one of the last great, original, over-priced, over-produced epics that Hollywood made. It did not make the kind of money they had hoped for so it became a…
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★★ 5

A spirited mix of George Miller and Roger Corman on the open seas, Kevin Reynolds' "Waterworld" is an apocalyptic Western adventure that wears its influences on its sleeve en route to rating as a fully immersive and terrifically memorable experience. Though known more by its budget than its cinematic value at the time of its release, "Waterworld" proves an obviously ambitious and exuberantly entertaining exercise.
Taking place on an Earth covered by water after the polar ice caps have melted, "Waterworld" focuses on Kevin Costner's laconic Mariner, a sea-bound wanderer soon tangled in future-world drama involving bounties and mythical dryland. Like a Western anti-hero, Mariner's desire to simply live is encumbered by those needing his assistance.
The narrative is built…
Review by Graham J ★★ 2

Too ambitious to hate but too absurd to take seriously. It's a humourless multi-million dollar bellyflop.
Shitworld.
Review by Justin Peterson ★★★½

(3 Hour Ulysses Cut)
The notorious Waterworld delivers a fantastic rustic sci-fi premise, gorgeous photography, fun action, but then gets so ridiculously silly by the end.
"Dry land is not just our destination, it is our destiny!"
It is crazy how much this movie gets bashed, but that was not the case in my home growing up since it was my dad's favorite movie. Likely because he worked as a Navy diver, and loves over the top action movies. So it was a treat to watch the epically glorious extended cut of the film with him for the first time. It had been so long since I had seen the movie, that I really did not notice most of the…
Review by Cinemonster ★★★½

Always been a fan despite its shortcomings. One of my favorite films of the 90s to see in a theater. This was the Ulysses cut from the Arrow set. Better than most extended or TV cuts. Added some nice layers and moments. Still a fan.
Review by Grooveman ★★★★½ 5

I don't get all the hate for this. I loved this when I was 12 and I still loved it. Dennis Hopper alone makes this worth a watch. Very fun film!!
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★ 5

Really, if I wanted Mad Max 2 on water then I'd just watch it in the fucking bath.
Waterworld has been around long enough to have shrugged off a lot of its reputation as an over-expensive flop, but what it can't shake off is that it really is way too boring for way too much of its ridiculous running time.
There's a lot to explore here, so perhaps its running time is justifiable. But Kevin Reynolds doesn't justify it by spending far too much of its two-thirds on Kevin Costner being a miserable turd, and certainly way too much of it on him being an extremely dislikeable character. It's also just far too slow.
Where it excels is in its…

Recent reviews

Review by Maxime ★★★

Far from being the massive stinker it's been labelled but even further from being a masterpiece, Waterworld is an okay movie that deserves to be seen. Nice to watch for drawing parallels with its conception and bad reputation or simply out of curiosity, this flawed extravaganza delivers in both all the right and wrong ways. Interesting in and off screen more than being a good blockbuster per se, it's worth a watch.
Review by protolexus ★★

I love love love this world and I am ready for Waterworld 2 & 3. I keep thinking this is going to be better than it is, but it’s got some serious issues which I blame on the direction.
There are great elements in this that are executed poorly. Amazing world but a goofy story that doesn’t totally gel. Great sets but some really bad camera work that make it look like a TV movie. A good score that is so mishandled and poorly used that I developed PTSD from it. There is some terrible overlapping of the score with other audio that it creates a cacophonic mess that goes on and on during the longer action sequences.
What I am saying is I want more, but better. Love you kevin. Hear more thoughts on 70mm.
Review by Lebowskidoo🍿😷🍁 ★★★★½ 2

"The future...The polar ice caps have melted, covering the Earth with water. Those who survived have adapted, to a new world..."
Kevin Costner plays a man with no name but with gills, which allow him to breathe underwater, living on an Earth with no earth, just water, since the polar ice caps melted. He must fight off a bald Dennis Hopper with an eye patch, a psychopathic futuristic pirate, and his gang of sea-faring maniacs on jet skis. Sounds like a wild and crazy idea for a movie, and it is. It's one of the last great, original, over-priced, over-produced epics that Hollywood made. It did not make the kind of money they had hoped for so it became a…
Review by caueeeeeeee ★★★

So silly... I love it
Review by Danny Haas ★★★★★

This film is an insane amount of fun. Forget what you heard and watch this, and if you can watch The Ulysses Cut do that and if you don't do either of those things listen to me gush about this with my dear friends on 70mm
Review by Hunter Colwell ★★★

Definitely a 90s vibe
Review by Sean Allen ★★½

“The future... The polar ice caps have melted, covering the earth with water. Those who survived have adapted, to a new world.”
Alright 70mmpod definitely made me appreciate this movie more than I thought I would. The revelations they mentioned from the over 3 hour Ulysses cut seemed intriguing but I dunno, seems like a tough sell. Kinda more agreed with The Mariner when he is told “you’ve got two hours!” And he responds “I’ll only need one”. At that point there were about two hours left of the movie and yeah, I only needed one.
[ Top Shot ]
Review by Parker Couch ★★★

I like to think George Miller watched the first 45 minutes, stopped, made MAD MAX Fury Road, then like me, watched the proceeding 90 minutes with shoulder shrug disappointment.
It’s better than average though based solely on the first 45 and some truly incredible sets and practical effects. Oh, and Hopper is fun.
Review by Casey Hand ★★★

I just wanna know where they got all of the cigarettes??
Review by Yoli_Zina ★★★

I'd only ever seen the Waterworld stunt show at Universal Studios...now I've come full circle. Watched this for the first time and dove into the Extended version. Wowzers. I had no idea Dennis Hopper was in this...his character is hilarious and fun. The wardrobe in this flick is off the hook.
Costner's character was a little too broody and pouty...he could have lightened up a bit.
How come we never see one damn fish when they're underwater?? That was very strange. They explore that whole sunken city area, and we never see a single fish swim by... 🤔
Review by samhraymond ★★½

Why is everyone dirty?
Review by slim ★★★

The two leads kissing with their dry-ass lips disturbed me.
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