when i first heard that kevin costner was making a movie called " the postman ,
" i thought , " an american version of ' il postino ? '
starring costner ?
god help us !
" when i found out that it was not a remake of " postino " but an postapocalyptic epic , i thought ,
" ' landworld ? '
please , god , make him stop !
" as it turns out ,
"
the postman " is a much better film than i had expected .
despite being set in 2013 , the movie is , at heart , a western : a band of thugs terrorizes peaceful villagers ; a wandering hero opposes the bandits and inspires others to fight back .
the setting , however , allows that familiar plot to take on greater significance : american society has collapsed due to plagues and wars , and survivors live behind barracades in isolated villages .
the struggle of a dead society to be reborn has a grand quality and deserves the epic scale costner grants it .
costner 's nameless character , a wandering actor , rides in from the vast wasteland and is soon shanghaied into the service of general bethlehem ( will patton ) , a former copy - machine salesman turned bandit king .
our hero escapes and discovers the body of a dead postman .
taking the uniform and bag of mail , he passes himself off as a representative of " the restored united states .
"
he is shocked at the hope that he inspires in the people he meets .
one young disciple , ford lincoln mercury ( larenz tate ) , organizes a full - scale postal service .
ford spreads the postman 's message of hope until bethlehem finds that the once - meek villagers are beginning to resist his rule .
as war breaks out between bethlehem 's army and the postal workers , costner 's character steps into the legend he created and goes from self - centered loner to leader of the revolution .
his lie of the restored united states becomes a self - fulfilling prophecy .
" postman " is an odd blend of a bleak setting and a message of wide - eyed optimism ( sort of " sergio leone meets frank capra " ) , but its treatment of hope and renewal is compelling .
what could have been another knock - off of " the road warrior " ( like " waterworld " was ) surprises the viewer with a sensitively told story of nobility emerging from rubble .
tate is the stand - out in the movie 's large cast .
ford lincoln mercury ( self - named ) is the polar opposite of o - dog , tate 's character in his debut film , " menace ii society " ( 1993 ) , and tate makes ford 's innocent belief in hope as convincing as o - dog 's cynicism and brutality .
his performance sells the movie .
interestingly , as tate moves from his usual street - smart roles to youthful optimism , the soft - eyed patton , who usually plays nice guys , proves a disarming villain .
olivia williams makes her film debut as the postman 's love interest , abby .
when they first meet , abby asks him to father her child because her husband is sterile .
predictably , the husband is soon eliminated by the bandits , and abby is thrown back into the company of the hero .
however , their relationship develops slowly as the emotional conflicts of both characters are explored
( she , torn by grief , guilt , and anger ; he , resisting his destiny ) .
"
the postman " is costner 's best work thus far .
perhaps that alone gives us hope for the future . . .
Output: P