Waterworld: Movie Review

“He doesn’t have a name so death can’t find him.” 

I saw a likely-abbreviated version of Waterworld in my teens or 20’s on TV and thought it was wacko. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it beyond the surface (pun unintended) plot. Rewatching the full version decades later, I’m fascinated. 

The premise: the polar ice caps have melted and humanity survives on the risen ocean in a post-apocalyptic, low-tech, violently anarchic world. Think Indiana Jones on water, where characters are exaggerated and desperate such that their desires dramatically clash. The resulting narrative tension builds within innovative living environments and battles, while witty dialogue makes for good laughs but keeps the viewer on their toes. If you know anything of narrative beats (alternating dialogue and action that reveal character, plot and setting at a steady pace), you’ll recognize well-mixed beats here such that neither dialogue nor action become tiresome and the worldbuilding remains absorbing. 

As the story builds, progressive complications increase the hopelessness of the characters’ plight so that the price paid for the resolution is especially gratifying.

You have a young Kevin Costner playing the taciturn main character, ‘the mariner’. My favourite line is connected to his lack of a proper name: “he doesn’t have a name so death can’t find him.” The viewer’s connection to and emotional investment in each character is tied to the way each character treats the little girl, Enola. The mariner is capable of matching violence for violence, so his treating the child with gentleness shifts the viewer toward being willing to trust him a little and hope for his full redemption. Women audiences love this: the tough guy with a soft touch. Think Jesus casting out demons and then telling his men disciples to back off so that he could welcome children. 

The messiah theme is unmistakable, which, despite often poorly used, plays well here. It may at least partially be because of how well it’s decontextualized (removed from settings and stories familiar to us) in this sci-fi rendering. The mariner, must transform from being a self-sufficient survivor to self-sacrificing saviour. What will it take to change his conscience? 

The mariner is at one point called the ‘ichthus demon’, a meaningful messiah reference because the name of Jesus was ciphered in the early church as IXThUS, meaning (I)Yaysous Xristos Theos (U)Huios Soter, meaning Jesus Christ God Son Saviour. Other scripture and religious references abound: “A child shall lead you”; a photo of an ancient ship captain, gets called St Jo; Enola confesses her faith that the man the bad guys call ‘the gentleman guppy’ is going to save her; and someone taunts, “Golly gee, you’re gonna die for your friend.”

In terms of movie making, Amazon Prime’s X-Ray trivia reports that an investor wanted a Mad Max (1979) rip-off, which explains the grit. Apparently, the script underwent 36 drafts, just to make us writers feel better about our own endless rewrites. 

But the music really rounds out all their efforts, composed by none other than James Howard whose music may be familiar from The Sixth Sense, The Dark Knight, Hunger Games, Maleficent, and the extensive list goes on. The music takes the characters, events and stakes seriously and requires the viewer/listener to do so as well. Anything less could have left the story ragged to the point of shredded cheese. 

I completely agree with a 16+ rating: if the viewer is sensitive, it may take more nerves than one has available to navigate the cruelty, general violence, sexual content, and language of Waterworld. But if you have the capacity (and maybe willingness to fast-forward when needed), the literary or theological connoisseur will find this a thought-provoking watch. 

1995, 16+ on Amazon Prime, PG-13 on IMDb

Review written by: Jazmine Lawrence, Captain (Retired, RCAF), BSc Honours Physics, MA (Theology) student, future sci-fi author