Retro Film Review: The Postman (1997)

(source:tmdb.org)

Kevin Costner's career represents cautionary tale about transient nature of Hollywood success. In early 1990s Costner was true Hollywood deity - immensely popular actor, "Oscar"-awarded and widely respected film maker. Only few years later he was embodiment of Hollywood failure - his films were universally panned by critics and studios considered him to be box office poison. The film that brought Costner down was The Postman, his 1997 post-apocalyptic epic.

The plot, based on David Brin's novel, takes place in Pacific Northwest areas of United States or, to be precise, what used to be United States, in 2013. Years after war and couple of other cataclysmic effects the government and civilisation vanished, forcing survivors to live in couple of scattered, isolated communities. A lone drifter (played by Kevin Costner) wanders around the settlements, earning his living as a travelling performer. His artistic talent doesn't prevent him from being forcibly drafted into survivalist army led by General Betlehem (played by Will Patton). Our protagonist escapes from Betlehem's camp and, by accident, finds a jeep, mailbag and intact uniform of US Postal Service. He decides to earn his living by pretending to be postman working for new, provisional US government. But when he starts carrying mail he quickly discovers that the simple illusion of having some kind of government is enough for people to start rebuilding civilisation. General Betlehem sees in this a threat to his power and wants to eliminate The Postman.

Just like Waterworld, another Costner's post-apocalyptic blockbuster, The Postman was universally viewed as commercial and critical failure before actually being released. But Waterworld somehow managed to make a modest profit thanks to non-US markets, and American critics, concerned for the future of the blockbusters, were incredibly kind. When The Postman appeared two years later, Costner's reputation of box-office poison and uncontrollable egomaniac has been already established. Critics then spewed venom they had spared two years earlier. This was unfair both to Costner and film itself because The Postman is better film than Waterworld.

First of all, the latter film is much more visually appealing; while oceanic setting of Waterworld made even the most spectacular scenes look cheap and audience wondered about all those hundreds of millions of dollars, here the majestic locations of Arizona, Oregon and Washington - all captured by Stehphen Windon's brilliant cinematography - give the film epic scope. Brian Helgeland's script, based on literary source, provided film with much more interesting characters and situations. The villain in The Postman, played by Will Patton, is very realistic. The acting in general is much better in The Postman - Olivia Williams is very convincing in otherwise thankless role of The Postman's obligatory love interest; Larenz Tate is wonderful as The Postman's enthusiastic follower and even Tom Petty leaves good impression in small cameo appearance.

Major flaw of The Postman was actually inherited from David Brin's novel -naive, idealistic and almost messianic belief that it takes only one spirited individual to reverse decay of civilisation. This messianic message was wholeheartedly embraced by Costner who probably saw himself in the character of Postman and decided to fill the film with as much positive, uplifting and life-changing messages as possible. The result is a film that mixes realism with sentimental pathos and flag-waving that could be quite annoying to non-American audiences. Costner often gets lost in pathos and some of the scenes often look like the unintentional parody of the film; the epilogue of the film is just one of many examples. Before the audience reaches that finale, it would have to endure three hours of film - Costner, just like in Dances with Wolves, shows that he has some problems with pacing films. But those who are patient and those who are forgiving would at least appreciate The Postman as overambitious yet noble failure.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on January 8th 2004)