More than the sum of the jokes, but not by much. This is ultimately a botched futuristic epic, but before it completely goes berserk there is plenty of disconcerting beauty and fervid imagination on display. Kevin Costner plays the Mariner, an Aquaman of sorts who sails the unending sea of a future where the polar ice caps have melted and mankind clings to rusty floats. Director Kevin Reynolds – and Costner, who unofficially took over the production – offer a mesmerizing palette of green ocean and blue skies, disturbed only by the brown of man-made boats, floats and atolls. Yet chaos soon takes over in the form of bug-eyed bad guys (led by Dennis Hopper in full psycho mode), laughable sex scenes and cheesy special effects.
