The Postman - 1997
December 13, 2007 - 8:42 pm - Posted by Administrator
The Postman had two strikes against it when it hit theatres in 1997. First, Kevin Costner was the star and director at a time when his choice of roles [Waterworld], and his reportedly flimsy acting skills were the subject of tabloid chatter. Second, it opened in theatres on the same day as Titanic. I acutally went and checked it out by myself that night (my wife was out of town) and I was all alone in the theatre. They had Titanic running on eight of the other screens in the same cinema complex.
The actual script for the Postman is pretty good. Be warned, this one is also an epic and clocks in at 177 minutes.
It is 2013 and war and plagues have wiped out civilization as we once knew it on Earth. The United States of America no longer exists. Survivors have retreated from the cities to fortified rural communities and forts.
Costner plays The Postman, a drifter who stumbles onto a wrecked postal truck one night while searching for shelter in a freezing rainstorm. He dons the cold weather clothing from the corpse in the drivers’ seat and entertains himself by reading the mail. When he later tries to gain access to a gated rural community, he is forced to con his way in by making up a story about delivering the mail for the “Restored United States”. And that is where the story truly begins, the story of liberty’s triumph over the forces of tyranny–the villain General Bethlehem played excellently by Will Patton. The movie also features an early onscreen performance by a relatively unknown Giovanni Ribisi.
One small drawback of this movie would be the decidely non-science fiction setting. The vehicles of choice in The Postman are horses, and most of the action takes place outdoors. But for those who love post-apocalyptic sci-fi like Mad Max, I Am Legend, and The Omega Man this movie is an absolute must-view.
**** Four Stars
Posted in 1997, Environmental Disaster, Four Star Rating, Pandemic, Post-Apocalypse, The Future | No Comments »
