In a distant, post-apocalyptic future where the polar ice caps have completely melted and submerged nearly all landmass, human survivors cling to life on floating atolls or scavenge the endless oceans. The story follows a mutated, solitary drifter known only as the Mariner, who reluctantly becomes the protector of a woman named Helen and a young girl named Enola. As they are relentlessly pursued by a vicious band of pirates called the Smokers, led by the ruthless Deacon, the trio must decipher a mysterious tattoo on Enola's back that may hold the map to "Dryland"—the last mythical sanctuary on Earth.
Information |
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|---|---|
Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
July 28, 1995 |
Running time |
135 minutes |
Genre |
Action Adventure Sci-Fi Thriller |
Budget |
$175,000,000 |
Box Office |
$264,246,220 |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
Kevin Reynolds |
Produced by |
Kevin Costner John Davis Charles Gordon Lawrence Gordon |
Written by |
Peter Rader David Twohy |
Music by |
James Newton Howard |
Cinematography |
Dean Semler |
Edited by |
Peter Boyle |
Production Co. |
Gordon Company Davis Entertainment Licht/Mueller Film Corporation |
Distributed by |
Universal Pictures |
Official Trailer
The Plot
The Flooded World and the Drifter's Arrival
In the distant future, specifically the year 2500, the Earth has been fundamentally altered. Long after the catastrophic melting of the polar ice caps in the twenty-first century, rising sea levels have swelled by hundreds of meters, drowning every continent and erasing the world as it once was. The scattered, ragged remnants of human civilization now cling to survival on the open ocean. They live in isolated, ramshackle floating communities known as atolls—makeshift fortresses constructed entirely out of rusted metal, scavenged materials, and decrepit sea vessels. The very concept of living on solid earth has been long forgotten by the masses, relegated to whispered rumors of a mythological paradise known only as "Dryland," a place considered nothing more than a foolish fairy tale by the majority of the surviving population.
Into this bleak, watery expanse sails a solitary antihero known only as the Mariner. A hardened, gruff lone drifter, he navigates the endless waves aboard a weathered but meticulously crafted trimaran. His destination is a fortified artificial atoll, where he intends to trade a jar of pure, authentic dirt—a miraculously rare and precious commodity in a world made only of water—for much-needed survival supplies. However, his transaction does not go unnoticed. As the transaction unfolds, the suspicious local atollers forcibly examine him and recoil in horror when they discover that the Mariner is not entirely human. He is a mutant, bearing functional gills behind his ears and distinctly webbed feet, representing a radical evolutionary step designed to accommodate the harsh climate changes. Panic and prejudice grip the locals. Several men accost the drifter, attempting to subdue him, but the fiercely independent Mariner retaliates, killing one of his attackers in brutal self-defense. Despite his lethal resistance, the sheer numbers overwhelm him. A swift, fearful tribunal is held, and the fearful atollers vote to "recycle" the mutant. He is mercilessly stripped, bound, and suspended over a punishing brine pool filled with thick, suffocating yellow organic sludge, sentenced to be slowly drowned in its toxic depths.
The Siege of the Smokers
As the Mariner hangs trapped within the inescapable tank of organic sludge, the horizon violently erupts. The atoll is suddenly ambushed by the Smokers, a formidable, ruthless pirate gang notorious for systematically raiding, pillaging, and destroying atolls across the flooded globe. The devastating assault is no mere coincidence; the raiders had been tipped off by a deceptive Smoker spy known as "the Nord," who had cunningly infiltrated the community by posing as a harmless trader. The Smokers tear through the atoll's defenses, unleashing a barrage of gunfire and explosive chaos as they search for their true prize: an orphaned little girl named Enola. According to the gang's tyrannical leader, a maniacal captain known as "the Deacon," Enola bears a cryptic map composed of intricate Asian symbols tattooed across her back, which supposedly holds the precise directions to Dryland.
Amidst the blood-soaked siege, the young girl's fierce guardian, a strong-willed atoll shopkeeper named Helen, frantically devises an escape plan. She gathers Enola and rushes toward the atoll's eccentric expert inventor, Gregor, who has constructed a makeshift gas dirigible—a hot air balloon stitched together from old rags and scraps. Tragedy strikes when the volatile contraption violently jolts during the chaos; the balloon launches far too early with only the panicked Gregor on board, hopelessly stranding Helen and Enola in the middle of a warzone. With no other options, Helen rushes to the yellow sludge pool. She strikes a desperate bargain with the captive mutant, promising to free him from his impending execution on the strict condition that he takes both her and the child with him. The Mariner, pragmatic and owing them for saving his life, reluctantly agrees, despite his deep-seated preference for absolute solitude and his immediate view of the pair as a heavy nuisance. Once freed, the Mariner unleashes his suppressed fury. He skillfully fights his way out of the execution square, turning the environment against his attackers. He savagely damages the Smokers' overwhelming forces and triggers a massive, fiery explosion that catches the Deacon off guard, permanently blinding the tyrannical pirate leader in one eye. Capitalizing on the blinding smoke and devastation, the Mariner, Helen, and Enola rush the docks, board the sleek trimaran, and burst through the atoll's battered gates into the open sea.
Perils of the Endless Ocean
The escape onto the vast ocean offers only a fleeting moment of respite. The Smokers refuse to let their prize slip away so easily, and a brief, intense skirmish ensues when a Smoker's scout seaplane aggressively dives from the clouds, raining bullets upon the trimaran. Through masterful sailing and tactical maneuvering, the Mariner manages to evade the aerial assault, pushing his vessel deeper into uncharted waters. Their perilous journey is fraught with continuous dangers. Shortly after losing the seaplane, the trio encounters a deranged drifter suffering heavily from severe cabin fever. What begins as a tense negotiation for goods spirals into a deadly confrontation; the trade goes violently awry, forcing the Mariner to kill the maddened drifter to protect his ship. Hunger soon becomes their next adversary, leading to a fierce struggle against a massive, mutated shark that circles their vessel. The Mariner fearlessly battles the aquatic beast, ultimately slaying it to provide vital sustenance for his uninvited passengers.
Tensions aboard the small trimaran reach a boiling point. During another chaotic attempt to evade their relentless pursuers, Helen's naive and inexperienced actions with the complex rigging result in significant, dangerous damage to the Mariner's beloved boat. Infuriated by the destruction of his only home and means of survival, the Mariner violently reprimands them, brandishing a blade and angrily cutting both Helen and Enola's hair very short as a harsh punishment. However, as the days bleed into weeks under the scorching sun, the icy barrier between the mutant and the humans begins to thaw. Despite his gruff attitude and initial reluctance, the Mariner gradually warms to his companions. In a quiet, tender moment amidst the endless blue, he takes the time to teach young Enola how to swim, forging an unexpected bond of trust that begins to heal the fractured dynamic of the trio.
The Sunken City of Denver
After narrowly evading yet another cunning trap set by the prowling Smokers, the Mariner finally confronts Helen. He demands to know why this pirate armada is exercising such unusual, relentless persistence in hunting them down. Backed into a corner, Helen admits the dangerous truth: the Smokers are entirely focused on capturing Enola for the supposed directions to Dryland tattooed upon her young back. Driven by her unwavering conviction that humans once lived on solid ground, Helen turns the interrogation around, demanding to know exactly where the Mariner collected his priceless jar of dirt. Determined to shatter her naive optimism once and for all, the Mariner constructs a jury-rigged diving bell out of heavy scavenged metals.
He secures Helen within the heavy bell, attaches a thick tether, and plunges with her deep beneath the ocean's surface. Aided by his gills, the Mariner effortlessly navigates the crushing depths. They descend further into the abyss until the murky waters give way to an awe-inspiring, haunting sight: the towering, underwater remains of Denver, Colorado. Helen stares in absolute heartbreak as they drift past flooded skyscrapers, submerged highways, and the undeniable ruins of a drowned civilization. The Mariner scoops up a fresh handful of soil directly from the ocean's floor, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that his precious dirt is merely dredged from the graveyard of the old world. The profound revelation shatters Helen's spirit, completely crushing her lifelong belief in the mythological Dryland.
Ashes of the Trimaran and the Breath of Life
When the heavy diving bell finally breaches the surface, the devastating truth of the old world is immediately overshadowed by a new, urgent terror. The Smokers have caught up to the drifting trimaran. Armed pirates swarm the deck, violently seizing the screaming Enola. Recognizing the threat of the surfacing adults, the pirates immediately open fire, attempting to execute Helen and the Mariner on the spot. With bullets tearing through the air and sparking against the metal bell, the Mariner grabs Helen tightly and dives desperately back beneath the waves to avoid capture. Because Helen cannot breathe underwater, the horrific pressure and lack of oxygen threaten to drown her. In a life-saving act of intimacy, the gilled Mariner locks his lips with hers, passing precious oxygen from his own lungs into hers in a vital, underwater kiss of life, keeping them both hidden and alive in the depths.
Above them, the Smokers ruthlessly set the beloved trimaran ablaze and abandon the coordinates, victorious with their prize. When the Mariner and Helen cautiously resurface, they find nothing but the smoldering, blackened wreckage of the drifter's home. Heartbroken but resolute, the Mariner begins sorting through the charred debris of his boat. Beneath the waterlogged ruins, he uncovers a surviving collection of vintage National Geographic magazines. As he carefully flips through the ancient pages, a startling realization hits him: he compares the vivid photographs of trees, animals, and landscapes to the crude doodles Enola had been drawing on the ship's deck. She wasn't just drawing childish shapes; she was drawing actual objects from Dryland. Before the despair of their situation can fully set in, Gregor, navigating the skies in his tattered dirigible, spots the thick black smoke rising from the burning trimaran. He swoops down, rescuing the stranded pair and transporting them to a new makeshift atoll where the ragged survivors of the very first attack have regrouped and sought refuge.
Infiltration of the Exxon Valdez
Refusing to abandon the child, the Mariner commandeers a captured Smoker's jet ski from the survivor's atoll and throttles across the ocean waves, chasing down the dark heart of the enemy's operation. He soon arrives at the Smokers' towering, rusted base: the remains of the infamous oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, known colloquially by its crew as "the 'Dez." The massive, derelict hulk serves as a floating factory where the pirates manufacture fuel, ammunition, and cigarettes. Deep inside the belly of the beast, the Deacon's advisors are intensely struggling to decipher the cryptic Asian tattoo on Enola's back, failing to extract any sensible coordinates.
To keep the morale of his filthy crew high and their minds off their rapidly dwindling resources, the Deacon steps out before the roaring crowd of pirates. He brazenly bluffs that he has successfully decoded the map on the girl's back, tossing out luxurious gifts of crude cigarettes and highly coveted "Smeat"—ancient cans of Spam—to the cheering masses. Believing victory is at hand, he orders the bulk of the crew to go below decks and man the massive rowing oars. Seizing this golden opportunity, the Mariner silently infiltrates the deck of the 'Dez. He steps out from the shadows and boldly confronts the tyrannical leader, holding a lit flare directly over an open vent connected to the massive oil reserve tanks deep within the hold. He firmly threatens to ignite the ship's remaining fuel unless Enola is returned to him immediately. The Deacon, grinning with malicious arrogance, calls the mutant's bluff, entirely convinced that no sane man would intentionally destroy the ship while standing on it. But to the absolute shock and horror of the pirate captain, the Mariner doesn't flinch. He calmly drops the burning flare directly down the vent and into the volatile oil reservoir.
The Bungee Plunge and the Fall of the Deacon
A fraction of a second later, the lower decks of the Exxon Valdez are entirely engulfed in a cataclysmic eruption of fire. Violent explosions tear through the metal hull, sending shockwaves across the water as the massive ship groans and immediately begins to sink into the burning sea. Amidst the roaring flames and screaming pirates, the Mariner expertly fights his way to Enola, scooping her up from the chaos. High above the inferno, Gregor's balloon—carrying Helen and the heavy-hitting Atoll Enforcer—drifts into position, dropping a long, thick rope down through the smoke. The Mariner and Enola grab hold and begin their desperate ascent.
However, the Deacon, remarkably surviving the initial blast, scrambles up the tilting deck and manages to make a desperate grab for the dangling rope, violently shaking it as he tries to reach Enola. Seeing the maniacal leader climbing toward them, Helen seizes a heavy metal object from the balloon's basket and hurls it downward with all her might. The projectile strikes the Deacon squarely in the forehead, breaking his grip and sending him plummeting backward into the churning water below. Refusing to die, the bloodied Deacon pulls out his pistol from the waves and fires a desperate, wild shot upward. The bullet severs one of the critical lines holding the basket, causing the balloon to violently lurch. The sudden jolt shakes Enola from the Mariner's grasp, sending the screaming child free-falling back into the treacherous ocean.
Hitting the water, Enola is immediately targeted. The Deacon, flanked by two of his most loyal Smokers, mounts a trio of jet skis and they converge on the helpless girl at breakneck speed. High above, the Mariner acts on pure instinct. He quickly secures a thick rope tightly around his own ankle and launches himself from the balloon basket in an impromptu, death-defying bungee jump. He plummets toward the sea with incredible speed, his arms outstretched. Milliseconds before the screaming jet skis can impale the girl, the Mariner's hands lock onto Enola, and the bungee rope snaps taut, violently yanking them straight up into the air. Below them, the Deacon and his two henchmen, unable to alter their collision course, violently crash their jet skis into one another. The resulting massive explosion instantly annihilates the three pirates, ending the Deacon's reign of terror once and for all.
The Coordinates to Mount Everest
Sometime later, aboard the safety of the dirigible, the brilliant but eccentric Gregor pores over a crude transcription of Enola's tattoo. Comparing the intricate Asian symbols to an old, tattered, pre-fall China Airlines magazine he had salvaged, the inventor suddenly cracks the code. The symbols are not merely a drawing; they are exact latitude and longitude coordinates, but written with completely reversed directions. With this monumental revelation, Gregor eagerly steers his balloon toward the newfound coordinates, with the fleet of remaining atoll survivors faithfully sailing in their wake.
As they part a thick veil of coastal fog, a towering, unbelievable sight emerges from the endless blue: solid earth. They have finally discovered Dryland. The balloon touches down on the breathtaking island, which is actually the very peak of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, still jutting proudly above the elevated sea level. The land is vividly alive, bursting with lush, green vegetation, flowing fresh water, and roaming wildlife. As Gregor, Enola, Helen, and the others explore the miraculous paradise, they stumble upon a crude, weathered wooden hut hidden within the foliage. Inside, resting peacefully, are the tragic skeletal remains of Enola's biological parents, who had managed to find this sanctuary years ago. The survivors, awestruck and full of hope, realize this is where they will finally begin human civilization anew.
Ulysses and the Call of the Sea
While the rest of the atoll survivors joyously arrive and begin the hard work of settling on the solid, fertile ground, the Mariner stands apart, staring out at the rolling tide. Despite having fought so fiercely for their survival and bringing them to paradise, he feels an unshakable truth in his bones: as a mutant born of the water, he simply does not belong on land. The endless, turbulent ocean is his only true home, and its siren call pulls at his very soul.
When he shares his decision to leave, Enola is deeply saddened. She tearfully asks him why he cannot stay and be part of their new world. He gently explains his nature, telling her that the ocean is where his heart resides, and he must return to it. In a poignant moment of farewell, Helen steps forward. Acknowledging his epic, mythological journey and the salvation he brought them, she bestows upon the nameless drifter a true name: Ulysses. With a sense of finality and peace, the Mariner sets to work on the beach, constructing a beautiful, sturdy new wooden sailboat—a catamaran built from the island's timber. As the sails catch the fresh wind, Ulysses pushes off the sandy shore. Helen and Enola stand at the water's edge, bidding a heartfelt, tearful farewell to the solitary drifter as he sails away, disappearing back into the vast, watery unknown from which he came.
Top Cast
- Kevin Costner as The Mariner
- Dennis Hopper as The Deacon
- Jeanne Tripplehorn as Helen
- Tina Majorino as Enola
- Michael Jeter as Old Gregor
- Gerard Murphy as Nord
- R. D. Call as Atoll Enforcer
- Kim Coates as Drifter #2
- Robert Joy as Smoker Ledger Guy
- Jack Black as Smoker Plane Pilot
