Even though Kevin Costner has had his fair share of duds in the past
(Waterworld), he still manages the occasional gem and The Postman
for us, is
one of those gems. Directed by the man himself, Kevin Costner, The Postman is based on the
David Brin's novel of the same name and is set in a post-apocalyptic
world gone made, ala Madman and Cyborg.
The story of course revolves
around "The Postman" who is more a con artist than an actual post man
which is where the intrigue begins.
That is, in this shattered world, the unnamed "Postman" discovers the uniform
and postbag of a former postman from the civilized world and using this disguise, he
infiltrates
the Pineview colony.
Inspiring the people of this time that
civilisation seems to be rebuilding, he "promises" to deliver their
mail which of course is a ruse. The old saying of "Oh what a tangled
web we weave when we practice to deceive" comes into play when the
leader of a guild of thieves called General Bethlehem (Will Patton)
decides that he wants in on the action after raiding the settlement.
Of course, this "role" that the postman has created has huge
repercussions on this apocalyptic world and he inspires others to
take arms in this interesting and understated action/drama movie. Sure,
the movie may have bombed at the box office but Costner and his
fellow actors actually make this movie work in a bizarre and almost
Mad Max way. Even though the movie has few full moments, due
to the length of the film, it also has a few memorable ones as well.
It's definitely another Kevin Costner epic that can be watched with
a couple of beers and a big bag of treats.
The video quality on
Blu-ray is a bit of a mixed bag that ranges from poor to good which
is a shame but thankfully the high definition sound makes up for
this lack of true Blu-ray quality. The battle scenes sound brilliant
through our surround sound setup and the dialogue is crisp and sharp
as is the great soundtrack of the film.
When it comes to extras, it
lacks them severely, offering the viewer the original trailer and a
documentary on the special effects which is about it. At the end of
the day, The Postman was a fun film and even though Costner missed
the mark again for mainstream viewers, watching it all unfold is an interesting
premise and story.
