It was bad enough for the studio that a little Mad Max ripoff originally written for B-movie schlock king Roger Corman grew into the most expensive film ever made. It's worse that Waterworld, in its final ambitious form, provides a slow ride on very bumpy surf. So much effort expended, to so little effect. It's the postgreenhouse future. The ice caps have melted, and the world is a vast briny sea.
Most people live in giant docking stations, atolls, built on water.
If anyone in this scurvy world can help them, he can. Hey, he can do anything. As we see in the opening scene, he knows how to transform his urine into drinking water. For despite the toil of hundreds of artisans, Waterworld is a series of hints and promises, weird turns and blind alleys. I'd told Kevin I'd blue-screen it.