The Postman [1997]

EMM# : 28887
Added: 2016-11-11

The Postman (1997)
It is 2013. War has crippled the Earth. Technology has been erased. Our only hope is an unlikely hero.

Rating: 6

Movie Details:

Genre: Action (Adventure| Drama| Sci-Fi)

Length: 2 h 58 min - 178 min

Video: 1920x800 (23.976 Fps - 1 757 Kbps)

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In the year 2013 civilization has all but destroyed itself. After a war that decimated the government and most of the population of the United States (possibly the world) people struggle to survive against starvation and rogue groups of armed men. One such group is called the Wholeness. This group is bigger than any other and their leader, General Bethlehem, has delusions of ruling the country. A drifter is captured by the group and forced to join. He escapes at the first chance and happens on a mail jeep with a skeleton in it. The skeleton is wearing a postal uniform and the drifter takes it to keep him warm. He also finds a mailbag and starts conning people with old letters. The hope he sees in the people he delivers to changes his plans and he decides that he must help bring the Holnists down. Written by

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tony etchells from Manchester, England
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It's a depressing fact that the moviegoing public is being brainwashed by critics to hate everything involving Kevin Costner. When released in 1997 this breathtaking, thought-provoking epic was largely ignored and limped to a box office gross of $14 million, thanks to some vicious reviews.

Lest we forget, Costner made the magnificent Dances With Wolves, but that was in the days when we were told it was okay to like him. His directorial follow up is every bit as good. He knows about directing. He coaxes great performances from his casts. He has real vision and takes chances. Like Michael Cimino, his efforts are belittled and mocked while directors with clearly less talent are applauded.

So to all those people who stayed away in droves and screw their faces up at the mention of this film, I say watch it before you criticise it. Don't rely on some magazine writer to tell you who's good and who's not. Your brain is there for a reason.

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A-Ron-2 from Storrs, CT
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I truly do NOT understand why The Postman was attacked as viscously as it was by the film media (there films much more worthy of the Golden Raspberry Awards in 1997). I loved this film and was very impressed with the loving amount of dedication that it demonstrates on the part of the actors, writers and director. This was a GOOD movie: it had a strong and intelligent story; excellent and interesting characters; and real feel for the post-Apocalypse genre. I felt that Kevin Costner's everyman act worked beautifully in this film and created a sense of reality for the character and of his situation.

As far as the sci-fi novel by David Brin, this film exceeded it in every way possible. Where Brin had to rely on cheezy sci-fi standards (like supersoldiers) to resolve his story, this film does using only two men, both frauds, and both with radically different understandings of what constitutes a proper society. That is what made this film great (and I rarely use the term great), that this film was essentially an examination of America and what America means. It was a parable of sorts about the types of men Americans are and what they are capable of (notice that the head bad-guy had a traditional, classical education, while Costner did not; he appreciated these things but they were not at the center of his belief system... I wonder why).

While I do not agree with every aspect of this film (I am a Medievalist and a Platonist, so I don't necessarily feel the same way about the Western Canon that the film-maker may have), I still find it to be a beautiful reflection on the psyche of the American everyman. America has a tradition of rejecting the absolutist ideals of the past in favor of the pragmatic relativism of today, and I think that this film is a parable of the divorce of America from the traditions of Europe.

Overall, this is a complex and entertaining film and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in examinations of American culture and tradition, perhaps as a double feature with Citizen Cane (I am not, however, claiming that the Postman was as good a film as Citizen Cane, only that they have a similar theme... what does it mean to be an American?).

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sol from Brooklyn NY USA
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A Far better movie then it's critics make it out to be. "The Postman" is a good solid film about the end of the world and the chaos and confusion that follows with the unwitting soul that destiny choose to bring those who survived the apocalypse back to a better life and promising future.

Corny yes but in a positive and constructive sort of way. With the cast of Kevin Costner on down giving the film the sort of believability that you just don't see in most of the "End of he World" movies that have been projected on the silver screen since "Things to Come" back in 1936.

"The Postman" unlike most "End of the world" movies carries through the entire movie, which is almost three hours long, a positive and uplifting theme that you rarely get to see in these type of films. The ending of the film, call it corny it you will, was really moving without being obnoxious like it could have been had it been made by a lesser talent then Kevin Costner.

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professor_asphincter from Nottingham, england
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I know a lot of people hated this movie. I know why. It is a little saccharine in places and yes, it is not always believeable. But this is one of the few time a screenplay is better than the book it was based on. This film always fills me with such positive energy and hope. it is funny in places, sad in places, tragic and action-packed in places. Costner plays Eric with such a fresh attitude, and you can almost hear the voices in the characters head pulling his loyalties. The cast is perfect and in many places the cinamatography is sublime. The cross cuts are so clever it made my eyes ache with envy that i didnt think of them and the action sequences are fast and timed to perfection. this remains one of my favourite films and in all honesty people should give it a little more respect. no matter what you think of the script and characterisation technicly this film is top draw. Sets, locations, effects and design grab you by the hand and take you someplace you actually want to go. i would much rather make and see films like this than dross like 'chaicago' and 'moulin rouge'. this is a film for grownups with a bit of imagination and respect for the film makers art.

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KHydak
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I liked this movie, unlike most people, I hadn't heard anything at all about this movie prior to seeing it. I wasn't expecting to see a bad movie.

What I found was an interesting Epic. It isn't a great movie , but it is a good movie. I honestly don't understand why anyone would call this the "worst movie ever" as I have heard on several occasions.

Give this movie a chance, don't go expecting instant gratification.

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TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth
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I've seen this movie twice, and it is overall better than 80% of the trash movies being released these days.

Those of you familiar with statistics and "normal" distributions, look at the "user ratings" for this movie. A full 12% give it a "1" rating, which is obviously bogus. Look at the shape of the distribution, and you'll see that the valid rating for this movie is somewhere between 7 and 8, which are the most "common" ratings, which makes perfect sense. A 7.5 on a 10 point scale is where most people would rate it.

It has such an uplifting story of a re-construction after a war, and banning together to fight evil, that I don't see how anyone with a heart could give it less than about 6 or 7. See it if you haven't already!

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fcfig from Tokyo, Japan
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"The Postman" is one of those films that has become almost synonymous with the concept of "lousy, awful, horrible, terrible, stinking mess of a movie." Like "Plan 9 from Outer Space," "Ishtar," or "Gigli," it is sometimes invoked in this manner on Internet message boards or in chatter between friends. But is "The Postman" truly such a horrible disaster? I would argue that its bad reputation is overdone.

Make no mistake, this movie is no "Citizen Kane." There is no way, by any stretch of the imagination, that this could be called a "great" movie. But every week B-movies that are orders of magnitude worse come out. What is it about this one that accounts for its enduring lousy reputation? This in itself is an interesting question.

Part of the answer has to do with Kevin Costner. It is hard to imagine now, but at one time (especially in the wake of "Dances with Wolves") his reputation in Hollywood was towering and unassailable. Costner squandered his mega-star status with a series of expensive yet mediocre duds such as this one, and in the end "The Postman's" crime is not that it is a truly terrible movie, but that it is simply a not-great movie that deflated the public's hopes and expectations of what Kevin Costner film should be. The curse of too-high expectations.

The worst aspect of this movie is its occasional pomposity and self-importance, derived from Costner's own enormous mid-90s ego, and it is easy to laugh at the final scene or various dramatic sequences with swirling symphonic music and glistening slo-mo shots. But if you can get beyond this and look at the movie as just a somewhat entertaining way to pass a few hours, it really isn't that bad, especially if you are a fan of the "dark future" genre of films. Will Patton in particular provides a good, convincing performance, as do a number of other minor characters.

And the world of "The Postman" -- a decayed, post-apocalyptic, decentralized

America where the federal government has collapsed -- is interesting in its own right. Remember, this film was borne of the early/mid 1990s, a time that gave us Timothy McVeigh, anti-government sentiment, Waco, and fear about "militias." There was a sense in the air that America could possibly disintegrate and fragment into local areas battling each other in the long run. This world view seems very alien in the post-9-11 era, where there is much more of a consciousness of being an American, "rallying around the flag," and the role of the federal government as a powerful military force, for good or for ill. Nowadays fear of outsiders and terrorism has largely replaced fears of internal anarchy and domestic unraveling. "The Postman" reminds us that not so long ago America envisioned its dark possible futures in a very different way than it currently does, and this in itself is instructive and worth pondering.

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William (comet_chaser9@yahoo.com) from New Jersey, USA
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This film was excellent. The acting ranged from average to good, the fight scenes were convincing, the costume design was superve, and the set design phenomenal. The problem with this film is, that it's sci-fi, and as we all know, sci-fi has that nasty habit of making people think. And hay, who likes to do that nowadays? This film asks the question...what if, right now, all of civilization fell apart. no more super-market, no more police, no more government. The truth of all things would be revealed...money would be just green paper, your television would be a piece of junk, and everything that you lived for would take a back seat to survival. Who would you be? a Warrior, a wonderer, a tyrant, a diplomat? would the meek inhereit the earth? would the rich and powerful be pathetic and powerless when their paper-empires crumble in the nuclear war? and America...would that dream of the land of the free, home of the brave survive after it's government has been destroyed? and who would preserve it? who would insure that after the End, the government of the people, by the people and for the people would not parish from the Earth? would you? This film is a must-see for thinking people...for all you brainless slaves of the critics...stay home and watch Titanick(Hurl!) for the tenth time.

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gagliano (gagliano@msoe.edu) from Milwaukee Wisconsin
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First of all...I liked it...I really did! It is a film by Kevin Costner, starring Kevin Costner, surrounds Kevin Costner's character, and a movie that is simply...Kevin Costner. But if you liked Kevin Costner in such films as "Dances With Wolves", "Robin Hood", "The Bodyguard", and even slightly in "Waterworld", then you will like this film. I know it is three hours long (I got refills on both the popcorn and super-size soda and still ran out), but I didn't find it as unbearable as those less-than-perfect-movie-critics have claimed. I found the time to go by quite like you would expect three hours to go by and didn't find myself being bored or dozing off. Yes, the story line was a bit predictable and Kevin played the reluctant hero that he is known for...but I liked it. Bottom line...if you want to do something nice for your postman, tell them you are going to go see the film in their honor...because like their motto says...not rain, nor shine, nor sleet, nor nothing...not even the lack of being a country will stop the mail from getting through.

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Zuria from Miami, FL
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I found the movie to be better than anticipated (perhaps because I feared the worst, thanks to all the "anti"hype). Costner did a great job transforming a hokey script into an attractive film. It's use of symbolism and Shakespearian references were well placed, though seemingly not accepted. This only strengthens the fact that movies "wax too philosophical" for the general audience, especially an American audience which usually can't handle any movie beyond 1 and a half hours. This is why the Action genre is so popular while the Epic genre sees a rare release. Also, Great scenery and camera work help the story along, not to mention good acting. In its roots, Postman is an old fashioned movie without the heavy, overdone special effects we badly crave(Armaggedon, Starship Troopers). The Postman is merely a metaphor for strength, courage and conviction. The movie could have been about "The Cook" and still work as well. Shame on Hollywood for trashing such a great star!! (lest we forget the references to "Kevin's Gate" during DANCES WITH WOLVES, The negative buzz surrounding ROBIN HOOD, and even WATER WORLD.) Movies that went on to become hits!!

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Certifications:
Argentina:13 / Australia:M / Brazil:Livre / Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) / Canada:PG (Manitoba) / Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) / Canada:AA (Ontario) / Canada:13+ (Quebec) / Finland:K-14 / France:Tous publics / Germany:12 / Hong Kong:IIA / Iceland:14 / Iceland:16 (video rating) / Netherlands:16 / Norway:15 / Peru:14 / Philippines:PG-13 / Portugal:M/12 / Singapore:PG (cut) / Singapore:M18 (re-rating) / South Korea:18 / Spain:13 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) / UK:15 / USA:R