Line #12 YMMV/Waterworld


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: The show at Universal Studios has proven to be ''quite'' popular and ''still'' runs to this day. As a result, [[Theatre/WaterworldALiveSeaWarSpectacular more people are familiar with the stage show than they are with the actual film or the novel (which expands more on the world).]]
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
3	** The SNES ''Waterworld'' game is known as a pretty bad game. However its OST by Dean Evans has a lot of awesome tracks.
4	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRvYkrrpMKo&t=457s Diving]]" is a perfect example of an amazing ambient track on this OST.
5	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRvYkrrpMKo&t=264s Mission Theme 1]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRvYkrrpMKo&t=1635s Mission Theme 3]]"
6	** From the film itself, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY7swvSzGwE Escaping the Smokers]]", arguably the main theme of the entire film and a ''very'' heroic-sounding piece. It's also used during the most exciting parts of the stunt show at Universal Studios.
7	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Say what you will about [[TroubledProduction the production woes]] behind them and the story they were built to serve, but the OceanPunk sets look fantastic, with an amazing attention to detail and aesthetic in every atoll and ship that makes the world feel truly lived-in. The various scenes of [[TechnologyPorn said technology in motion]] -- on top of [[ShootTheMoney being a very clear show of where a lot of the budget went]] -- is also just a feast for the eyes for fans of practical effects and set engineering.
8	* BetterOnDVD: The Extended Cut is the far superior version, as it features more world-building, more CharacterDevelopment and fills in some of the PlotHoles.
9	* CommonKnowledge:
10	** This film was one of the poster boys for TroubledProduction and BoxOfficeBomb. While the TroubledProduction is true, its status as a bomb was only domestic - internationally? It made back its entire budget and turned a profit. Back in TheNineties, this wasn't considered in its numbers as much as it is today.
11	** Also, everyone knows the movie had astronomical budget overruns but blame them on Kevin Costner's ego leading to stuff like the infamous "digital hairline restoration" rumor, or nightmarish production issues like needing to rebuild the Atoll set after it sank in a storm. Neither of these things happened.[[note]]The smaller slaver colony set did tip over at one point, but was quickly repaired.[[/note]] Instead, much of the budget overruns were due to a slow shooting schedule, a consequence of filming on an outdoor ocean set where there were often long waits for the weather to clear or the sun to be in the right position to match previous shots.
12	* CompleteMonster: [[DarkMessiah The Deacon]] is the [[WastelandWarlord leader]] of the Smokers who pillage and destroys atoll villages in search of the Dryland. Leading an assault on an atoll village, the Deacon has his men [[RapePillageAndBurn massacre the villagers]] in order to scavenge it and find the map, leaving no one alive, including [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. The Deacon interrogates two captives in search of the map, promising to spare one of them should they give him the info he needs, only to [[ILied go back on his word]] and kill both of them anyway. The Deacon soon sets up a trap using the corpses of the villagers as puppets to lure the heroes into an ambush, so he can capture the girl in possession of the map to Dryland.
13	* CriticalBacklash: Some people don't find the movie to be that bad. One recurring theme in the film's detraction shares an odd connection with the 1980's film ''Film/{{Ishtar}}'', in that a chunk of the criticism for both was each film's utterly gigantic budget and cost overruns, as if the critics were doing double duty as the producers who financed the films. One nickname for ''Waterworld'' as it was being made and racking up giant over-expenses? "Fishtar". And it's hard to find a period review that doesn't focus on how the production went out of control, instead of discussing the actual movie.
14	* CultClassic: The film has always had its defenders and fans, but today it borders on VindicatedByHistory: over the years, the shadows of its TroubledProduction have faded, and CriticalBacklash has led to new audiences wondering what all the hate is about (not to mention the ''many'' movies that have since eclipsed it in both categories). The release of the extended cut that restores a lot of the worldbuilding and storytelling left on the cutting room floor hasn't hurt either. The film also has a following in the design community as a rare take on TheApunkalypse that ''doesn't'' involve sandy wastelands and dune buggies.
15	* DesignatedHero: The Mariner. Though it's more AntiHero with shades of trying to avoid TheCall through most of the movie.
16	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
17	** The atoll council’s enforcer doesn’t even get a name and is in less than half of the movie, but he gets a lot of love for being the film’s sole ReasonableAuthorityFigure and being a brave and competent fighter.
18	** The smoker in charge of monitoring their remaining oil reserves is only in a few short scenes, but is pretty popular for being decently funny and the only non-malicious member of his faction.
19	** The seaplane pilot and gunner, both for their VillainousFriendship and for how their attack on the main characters is sometimes seen as the last really good action sequence of the movie.
20	* EvilIsCool: Creator/DennisHopper seems to be having a great time playing the villainous Deacon. As such, he's one of the most entertaining parts of the movie.
21	* FanficFuel: Suppose there were other, non-villainous Smoker factions out there.
22	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: It's worth noting that in addition to the [[Theatre/WaterworldALiveSeaWarSpectacular popular stunt show]], [[http://youtu.be/mGUTS3CpIxM?t=16m4s it also has its own themed area]] at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Japan]]. And let's not forget the film earned tons of money outside of the US, saving it from being an actual, rather than perceived, bomb.
23	* HamAndCheese: Depending on your opinion of the movie, Dennis Hopper may qualify (on the "cheese" part, anyhow; Hopper is definitely ChewingTheScenery either way).
24	* HesJustHiding: Some fans like to hope that a few of the Smokers (the seaplane pilot, the incompetent gunner, the kids etc.) survived the sinking of their ship.
25	* HilariousInHindsight: It's kinda amusing that Creator/JackBlack and Creator/DennisHopper were in the same film, seeing as how in ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'', Dennis Hopper played Koopa, also known as Bowser, a role Jack Black himself would take in ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie''.
26	* InferredHolocaust:
27	** Regardless of finding dry land or not, humanity is in an extinction phase, as there simply aren't enough people left to avoid fatal inbreeding. And that assumes there will be more people reaching dry land at all, rather than keeping it a HiddenElfVillage. Plus, while the Smokers were clearly bad guys, they probably comprised most of what was left of humanity before the Mariner wiped all them out and scuttled every bit of technology they had salvaged.
28	** This is in fact confirmed in the extended cut/novelization of the film, where Helen notes that every year, there are fewer and fewer atolls around (it's been months since they had contact with another one prior to the events of the film), and their technology is breaking down with no way of fixing it. Even the smokers note that there are fewer and fewer atolls to raid, and that they will exhaust their oil reserves in a matter of months.
29	* MemeticMutation: "Oh, thank God."[[labelnote:Explanation]]The "Depth Gauge Guy" who lives in the Smoker's Oil Tank and serves as a living Depth Gauge of how much oil is left in the tank says this after a flare is dropped into the oil, setting off a massive explosion that kills him. Usually used by people to express relief at the coming of an event that will relieve them of their suffering[[/labelnote]]
30	** It’s common on the Internet for any catamaran or trimaran to be compared to the Mariner’s ship from this movie, since outside of historical Polynesian settings such ships are rarely seen in popular culture.
31	* {{Narm}}:
32	** The scene where Mariner blows up at Enola over the crayons. The scene where Helen screams "FOOD!" also qualifies. The sentence it's a part of isn't actually that bad, but the fact that she just randomly ''screams'' the last word makes it all fall apart.
33	** And there's the infamous "My boat".
34	** The beginning of the movie also has the awful line "Nothing's free in Waterworld!" which appears to only have been added to have some kind of title drop, as it's awkward and enormously unnecessary[[note]]A better line with the same context would have been "Nothing's free in this world" or "Nothing's free in this life"[[/note]].
35	** The part where Deacon promises not to kill an Atoll survivor after interrogating him and then [[ExactWords lets The Nord finish him off]] would be a lot more horrifying if the victim didn't react by taking a sharp, deep breath and comically yelling "''NAAAAAAAAAH!!''" just before he's shot
36	* OlderThanTheyThink: The setting has more than a few similarities to the French comic series ''Aquablue.''
37	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: While it didn't entirely invent the concept of an OceanPunk post-apocalypse, it certainly codified it and brought it to mainstream attention. At the time the idea was such a novelty that it almost inverts the trope - it was so radically different that some of the flak it received was over a setting that today doesn't seem so off-the-wall and unrelatable.
38	* {{Padding}}: The film has a lot of scenes that could've been removed or shortened, such as all the sailing montages (seeing as everything is covered in water there's not even [[SceneryPorn nice scenery to justify it]]). The film's middle section in particular suffers from this. The main story itself is quite a simple one but it's unnecessarily stretched out over two hours (which borders on three in the extended cut!), to the film's detriment. Ironically, what hit the cutting floor were various small scenes dedicated to world-building, but sequences of nothing in particular made it to the final production.
39	* PeripheryDemographic: Hobbyist sailors, since the film has [[CoolBoat a racing trimaran]] in it and passable sailing scenes, both being a very rare sight in movies. And the villains are those annoying motorboat and jet-ski users.
40	* PresumedFlop: The film is remembered as a massive flop that critics hated and ruined Creator/KevinCostner's career (or at the very least, severely stalled it). However, its score on Website/RottenTomatoes is 42% (which is not great, but is certainly not abject hatred), and it made $264M on a $175M budget, and eventually earned a profit on home video. While that is not a stellar box office take for a movie of its budget, its reputation as a failure comes more from the constant stories of its TroubledProduction than anything else.
41	* TheProblemWithLicensedGames:
42	** The [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and Platform/VirtualBoy games based on the film were seen as pretty bad, especially the latter (it's noteworthy for being the only movie-based game/American game on the short-lived system) for being an arcadey EndlessGame on a system that causes harm to the user for prolonged play.
43	** The pinball machine made by Creator/{{Sega}} was critically ravaged as well. This is notable in that licensed adaptations of pinball machines are rarely that bad.
44	* RetroactiveRecognition:
45	** Hey, that's a pre-fame Creator/JackBlack as the Smoker plane pilot!
46	** And a young Creator/KimCoates as the crazy Drifter!
47	** Creator/TinaMajorino has the map to dry land!
48	** For some who watched the Japanese dub, Creator/IkueOtani, who does the voice for Enola, is known for providing the voice for Pikachu years before ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''.
49	* SignatureScene: The atoll battle is a gripping action scene that expertly showcases the skills of both sides and puts the rest of the movie to shame.
50	* SoOkayItsAverage: Despite being a box office flop in the U.S., the film has gotten mixed or average reviews from many film critics, who gave it [[http://www.metacritic.com/movie/waterworld an average score of 56 out of 100]] according to Metacritic. It's also gained a cult following among audiences, especially fans of OceanPunk. The general consensus is that the film suffers from poor pacing and some awkward dialogue, but it's also a decent action-adventure movie with an interesting take on the apocalypse.
51	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Upon release, a lot of reviews that weren't obsessed about cost overruns were instead in tone of "Post-apo movie that isn't set on a desert? How ''dare'' they!", further reinforcing CriticalBacklash effect.
52	* VindicatedByHistory: In TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium, the film was seen as a poster child for overhyped and overbudget movies. However, it's since developed a CultClassic status and people have looked back and found the movie to be SoOkayItsAverage or even seen as somewhat influential in its OceanPunk setting - even WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic actually pointed out there's a lot of redeeming qualities about the movie.

Context YMMV / Waterworld