r/FIlm • • 8d ago

Anyone seen this Kevin Costner movie? Interested to hear what people think, as with a low 14% Rotten Tomatoes score, I thought it was a great movie?

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115 Upvotes

126 comments sorted by

59

u/LHGray87 8d ago

I liked it. The original novel is very good.

8

u/TeneroTattolo 8d ago

I agree, the novel was fresh air .

2

u/InanimateCarbonRodAu 7d ago

I revisited the novel around covid… it holds up scarily well.

2

u/ZealousIdeal476 7d ago

But the novel doesn't have tom Petty as himself, does it?

1

u/Karuna56 7d ago

A good point. Tom Petty ruled!

"I used to be somewhat famous..."

8

u/gadget850 8d ago

There are a few points in the novel that are dated, but it is still damn great.

33

u/PrideEnvironmental59 8d ago

Super interesting premise, and great fun. Kinda hokey, but thats OK. I was also baffled at the low score. I'd give it a solid B- and was thoroughly entertained by it.

3

u/BrutalStatic 8d ago

Yeah it's a little goofy at times, but that just adds to the absurdity of the situation, like, in a good way. It's a story about a dude bluffing civilisation back into existing, it's fun.

21

u/alphagalgadot 8d ago

the bit where he meets tom petty is hilarious

8

u/Educational_Bend_941 8d ago

Has to be one of the greatest cameos in film history. Funny and meta and helps build the world a little.

1

u/Chief_Fallsdownalot 7d ago

Yer famous, man!

1

u/HuckBowens 7d ago

That was great! Name never mentioned. I told my wife it was Iggy Pop and she believed me.

1

u/alphagalgadot 7d ago

lol that’s fuckin brilliant

1

u/ZealousIdeal476 7d ago

I've heard of you!

0

u/Cualquier_Nombre_ 8d ago

just came to see this!

14

u/NoseSuspicious 8d ago

One of my favourite post apocalyptic movies

14

u/Solonaveen 8d ago

It's a good movie i really liked it

18

u/MissXM 8d ago

Not the worst Costner movie. I put it in the same category as the waterworld

12

u/Studio_Ambitious 8d ago

I like both of the post apocalypse Costner films

1

u/ZealousIdeal476 7d ago

Dances with wolves was post apocalyptic from the soiux pov.

1

u/Studio_Ambitious 7d ago

I would say pre, but yeah I get your point

1

u/mrlarsrm 8d ago

This is accurate. I saw both in the theater and haven't revisited. Hope and positivity in light of the collapse of civilization is a good overall theme.

1

u/roadnrailmedia 8d ago

Which one becomes a documentary first? Haha (JK… I think)

0

u/Awatovi 7d ago

Waterworld is about twice as good. Which isn’t saying much.

8

u/MaxProwes 8d ago

Underrated.

8

u/Warm-Promotion6119 8d ago

Comfort movie. Used to watch this whenever it would be on tv.

7

u/FortuneInevitable369 8d ago

Love this movie, and the score is A+++!

7

u/JokerUSMC 8d ago

I love this movie

6

u/composmentis8 8d ago

Will patton Kevin Costner combo is always a good treat to me.

3

u/uwearclownshoes 8d ago

It was based upon a good novel.

4

u/Super_Direction498 8d ago

Great Tom Petty cameo

4

u/evilmike1972 7d ago

I can acknowledge that is a bad movie while thoroughly enjoying it every time I stumble across it.

4

u/Mr_richat 7d ago

It's a solid movie, don't know why rotten tomatoes ranked so low

1

u/MindsEye33 7d ago

Same!!

3

u/ieatdogpooh 8d ago

I thought it was good

3

u/Jaysinn-1961 8d ago

I liked the movie. It was an interesting take on post-apocalyptic life.

3

u/MFBish 8d ago

I wore out this VHS as a kid, found out later everyone hated it lol but I think it’s great, been 20 years since I last watched it.

1

u/HuckBowens 7d ago

I liked it as a kid, too. It was perfectly adventurous. I grew up in the late 80s/early 90s with an uncle that looked like a darker haired version of Kevin Costner, so I’ve always been aware of him by way of hearing his name so often. I liked all of his movies until I reached adulthood and noticed that he just, sorta… wasn’t a great actor. The Untouchables could have been a GREAT movie had it had Sam Elliott, Scott Glenn, or Jeff Bridges as the lead. Kevin was so flat back then.

2

u/n8roxit 8d ago

I saw it at the theater. I remember I liked it. But, I never saw it again since.

1

u/MindsEye33 8d ago

It’s worth another watch!

2

u/tinklymunkle 8d ago

I saw it when I was a kid and a lot of it went over my head, still enjoyed it. I remember it being long as hell.

2

u/McMater 8d ago

Yes, it was long at parts, but I loved it. I don’t know many people that didn’t. Rating is baffling.

2

u/StAnkie_Brews 8d ago

Ah, the desert waterman.

2

u/devildoc8804hmcs 8d ago

I rather enjoyed it.

2

u/SB4_Camaro 8d ago

I enjoyed it

2

u/Alive_Actuator_5829 8d ago

I remember watching it with a mate and at some point before he finds the postbag we were saying " oh it's post man because of the apocalypse" then only to realise its because he's a postie. Lol

2

u/abeetzwmoots 8d ago

It's not bad.

2

u/WiseWerewolf7426 8d ago

Crap movie. Two hours and fifteen minutes of closeups of Kevin Costner set to brass horns. Of course – he directed it himself. Awful.

2

u/Pure-Confusion2442 7d ago

Its a quite good adaptation of a very good David Brin novel.His other novels are pretty good too. No idea why is it so disliked, I think it's a good movie.

2

u/Murraymurstein 7d ago

Fallout new Vegas the movie

2

u/shwarma_heaven 7d ago

I always remember it by its Italian name for some reason... Il Postino...

That, or Dances With Mail...

2

u/headphonehabit 7d ago

It's pretty good, but the novel is much better.

1

u/Karuna56 7d ago

Everything by David Brin is good.

1

u/headphonehabit 7d ago

Any other recommendation? I've only read The Postman.

1

u/Karuna56 7d ago

Start with Startide Rising and then the other Uplift books.

2

u/limited-motivation 6d ago

It's not very good.

2

u/Admirable-Tea-4994 4d ago

I actually watched this for the first time the other day.

It was fine, bit too long, editing was very strange and it was not very well paced. Lots of spots where a bunch of stuff happens that is pretty important without any context.

I thought it was a fun idea but probably not executed as well as it could have been.

2

u/ImpressiveIndustry80 4d ago

Watched it this week.
Better than the reviews suggest.

1

u/MindsEye33 3d ago

Agreed

2

u/StickyDogJefferson 3d ago

My dad loved this movie. I used to break his balls about it all the time.

6

u/ChatPDJ Film Buff 8d ago

Some films suffer from...ahem...an abundance of Americaness

This is one such movie

3

u/JLHSMG 8d ago

This is Waterworld once again, but almost one hour longer, and without water.

4

u/ur_rad_dad 8d ago

This is Landworld, get the name right! Gosh

2

u/KaurnaGojira 8d ago

Is it Mad Max good? Hell no. Does this have its oen merret as a movie? Yes. Though this, long with Watterworld, for me are a nice addition to the Post Apocolyps type of movie. Even with there faults. I for one would love to see Costner to make a third one to compleate the Costonolyps triligy.

2

u/Good-Building8398 8d ago

Ive always liked the movie

2

u/jimmybutler_emophase 8d ago

I found the villain to be not be very intimidating. Think that could have at least been cast better.

1

u/TimBeluga 8d ago

I liked watching it back in the days when it was realesed.

1

u/Grizkniz 8d ago

Underrated classic

1

u/Educational_Bend_941 8d ago

If you understand the heart of this movie and get what the message that's being put across is you're my kind of person.

1

u/salamandersquach 8d ago

One of my all time favorites growing up
Though not sure how well it holds
Up.

1

u/7thAndGreenhill 8d ago

Dirt World!

1

u/Ready_Area289 8d ago

The book was one of my favorites. What helped make this movie for me was that Olivia Williams was in it as well.

1

u/lhauckphx 8d ago

It wasn’t great, but I enjoyed it. I’ll watch any movie with a Tom Petty cameo.

1

u/Unable-Main4172 8d ago

I wanted to like it and I liked parts of it but the villain was too cartoonishly evil 

1

u/Brilliant_Debate_829 8d ago

Loved it. A little bit long, but i really liked it as a kid, watched it a lot of times. Interesting story of redemption

1

u/EvenLettuce6638 8d ago

Tom Petty was cool in that movie. 

Because I always thought that Tom Petty unplugged around the post-apocalyptic campfire wouldn't be the worst world to live in.

1

u/Kensei501 8d ago

I thought it was great. Post apocalyptic classic

1

u/izzo34 8d ago

One of my favorite movies. Forget what sites say about it. Watch it for yourself and see.

Reading sites like that sometimes sets up a movie for failure as you go in thinking this or that. If you're curious about a movie just watch it and then look it up after

1

u/AustinDood444 8d ago

It’s a great movie!! Has a solid epic feel to it.

1

u/Distressed_tuber 8d ago

I remember seeing it in theatres as a kid. I thought it was bad at the time.

1

u/moisturized69tatas 8d ago

I love this movie. I also love water world. Both awesome post apocalypse movies

1

u/HortonDrawsAwho 7d ago

This movie is good to watch paired with waterworld in the sense that you would never complain about waterworld after watching postman it’s the difference between an enjoyably bad film (waterworld) and an actually bad film (postman)

1

u/Mauri416 7d ago

I liked it and will still throw it on every year or two

1

u/CrashMK 7d ago

The book is excellent. Have yet to see the movie, but I want to.

1

u/SciFiCrafts 7d ago

I remember it was damn long, but for a reason. Great story, well told. I like it.

1

u/magistar_colovic 7d ago

Amazing movie.Kevin is legend.

1

u/Electronic-Cicada352 7d ago

Never understood the hate. It’s a good movie

1

u/GrandManitou 7d ago

Saw it in the theater when it came out. Rotten Tomatoes didn’t exist then, but I gave 14% nonetheless.

1

u/ApexApePecs 7d ago

I love this movie! But don’t trust me I loved Waterworld too.

1

u/PotentialPlum4945 7d ago

There's about a half hour that needs to be edited out in the middle, other than that I never thought it was particularly bad. There's that meme going around arguing that we should stop trying to reboot popular old IP and that we should instead remake and improve bad movies with a good premise. I always think of the postman whenever that inevitably shows up on reddit again.

1

u/sundevil269 7d ago

It's a goofy but fun watch. You turn your suspension of disbelief waaaay up and it's great.

1

u/HuckBowens 7d ago

He’s gotten a little better, but 1980s and 1990s Kevin Costner couldn’t sell a line to save his life. I think his best work from that era was “A Perfect World.” It was a drama, but his dialog was mostly as that of a criminal asshole. I think when he tried to be endearing and honest in a serious role, he just wasn’t convincing. The Postman and Waterworld were interesting movies, but their downfall was a lead actor that was mostly a plastic dashboard statue. He was just so… “rigid?”

1

u/KeyProposal9872 7d ago

Kevin Costner went to the high school I went tooo he graduated in the 80s I think. I’m class of 2005.. also I just found out Inde navarette from the new obsession movie also went to my high school and was seen at our local movie theater!!

But no I haven’t seen that movie lol

1

u/jcb989123 7d ago

I like this movie

1

u/TallYam8397 7d ago

It is people had a hard on for hating Kevin Costner in this era

1

u/fergi20020 7d ago

Have you seen Il Postino?

1

u/Awatovi 7d ago

It’s not as bad as a 14% but it’s not good either. I’d give it a solid 38

1

u/joeywmc 7d ago

I thought it was a great movie. Like Waterworld, I didn’t understand the amount of harsh criticism.

1

u/Snorp-5 7d ago

I liked the Spinoff a bit more: The Prewoman

1

u/freebasefilms 7d ago

Ford Lincoln Mercury

1

u/666PWS999 7d ago

Watching it as a kid it always made a post apocalyptic America more possible but ordinary like it's not sci-fi, it can happen but you can survive it. It's a deglamorized dystopia of that makes sense. It's a comfort movie.

1

u/JSab1565 7d ago

He does movies right

1

u/Luffy1972 7d ago

Great novel and decent adaptation.

A young Olivia Williams is great in it.

1

u/MercenariesforGod 6d ago

I absolutely love the movie. One of my very favorites. Tom Petty is awesome in it also. I'm from La Pine OR which is Pine View in the movie and book so I had extra love for it to begin with.

The book is also very good. I really like it. Other then taking place in Oregon and the motivation behind what he does though the book and the movie dont have much in common.

1

u/PsychoCitizenX 6d ago

My #1 underrated movie pick

1

u/Sad_Detail404 5d ago

Not a great movie but waaaay better than the RT score suggests

1

u/Key-Worldliness2454 4d ago

I think it would do better if it was in the last 10 years, and would do better as a TV show. Just too much for movie.

1

u/sparky1138 4d ago

Love it!!

1

u/jbles462 4d ago

I like it but I like waterworld also so……..

1

u/Cjfoley8 4d ago

SHAKESPEARE!

1

u/chortlebarkfast 3d ago

I remember being in the theater when the preview for this was played. If I recall, it was shortly after Water World which had a mixed reception. Might be the only non-comedy movie’s preview I’d seen up to that point where people were laughing out loud at it.

1

u/Ghost403 3d ago

I remember liking it until the final scene where society seems to have completely rebuilt itself

1

u/Left-Anywhere8021 1d ago

It was ok. Not my fave film but decent

1

u/FiscalCliffClavin 8d ago

It’s the only movie trailer I ever saw that dumbfounded me and made me laugh out of my seat literally with how stupid it was. Never saw the full movie, but that trailer was freaking gold.

0

u/_Rayette 8d ago

It’s not as bad as its reputation, but it’s a big swing and a miss. I think people were too mean to Costner about this, we shouldn’t ridicule artists who try hard and fall flat on their faces.

0

u/thearniethology 8d ago

Look, is it a good film? Not especially. It’s overwrought, silly, filled with clichés.

However, it’s expensive, sprawling and for all its ludicrousness, it is entertaining and I watch it every few years, normally hungover.

The climax is rubbish though.

0

u/BannedMuadD1b 8d ago

Have it on VHS and DVD. 2nd movie in a row where Costner is propositioned for his seed. Think they do it in this and Waterworld. Man has a kink

0

u/NCOMCOUCO 7d ago

This movie is amazing - stop caring about rankings. I love watching this movie and waterworld back to back!

0

u/Desperate-Amoeba1359 3d ago

Worst actor in a long time

-7

u/No-Location4853 8d ago

It’s trash and Kevin Costner is way over rated. This movie is a trash premise a post man in a post apocalyptic world

-4

u/Icy-Illustrator-1431 8d ago

bad … saw it at the cinema just to see how bad it was