Mensajero del futuro

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?).

Listen I know that Costner has a rep. For long drawn out story lines and his movies can be on the slow side, but give this one a chance, it makes you feel proud at the end and I tell you that you will not feel like you wasted your time and if you do I will refund your money on this review, with your receipt of course.

It is Post-Apocalyptic, but don't hold that against it, it has some great twists and turns, it has action and even some romance, if you are into that sort of thing and in the end you feel better about the world in general. I enjoyed 2 bowls of Popcorn and a beer with this movie.

Who knows you may want to hug your postal carrier after this movie.

Nothing to add to the other reviews, other than it holds up well after 20 years, and may even be a better movie for our times than the one it was made. Is it long? Sure. So pause it every 45 minutes and pretend it's a series. It's worth your time, especially if your pandemic watch list is running short.

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.

I own this movie on DVD, I've seen this movie a number of times, and it is overall better than 80% of the commercial movies being released these days.

Those of you familiar with statistics and "normal" distributions, look at the "user ratings" for this movie. The "1" ratings are 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 reconstruction 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!

PS - My old college friend Dan von Bargen is in this as Sheriff Briscoe of Pineview, who near the end shouts "Ride Postman, ride!" Unfortunately Dan died in 2015.