On P List of Movie Reviews

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The Postman (1997)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 12/04, 11/21

ThePostman
11/21: Unfairly criticized when it first came out, The Postman holds up well and is an interesting cinema epic, being a lot closer to Field of Dreams than the Mad Max films.

I like the story and the idea of postal service saving the United States post-apocalypse. It makes sense in theory because communities need to be linked by communication. Now, we've got the internet in place for that. Hence, Kevin Costner was onto something there. Even Tom Petty shows up to settle the question of who's more famous.

Despite the several movie moments, especially when the hero grabbed an envelope from the boy, The Postman is overlong, stretching for almost three hours. Hence, the middle needs to be re-edited just like Waterworld. Although Will Patton does a great job, there's too much familiarity that's carried over from No Way Out. The simple ending is clever to avoid a dragged-out battle.

All in all, The Postman is a fine message picture that may or may not happen one day.