Welcome back to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! **queue in intro music**
Tonight's movie review is the epic war drama The Postman (1997), based on a fictional novel, directed and starring the likeable Kevin Costner who adapts the novel into a flick of epic proportions, both in terms of storytelling in a hefty running time of close to 3 hours.
The film is based in a dystopian world where America has been left in ruins in the wake of a doom war and how a dystopian dictatorship falls at the hands of the United States Postal Service. That's right, in this post-apocalyptic land, the land of the free is represented by postal carriers. The film is based in 2013 and the county has fallen and divided by the hands of some farmer who we never see but constantly hear of, the charismatic Nathan Holn who rose to power with his book 'Seizing the Way to Win." This bloke preaches violence, racism and brings a misogynist populist message. The collective who follows this system and lead by the example of Holn are called The Holness, a ruthless military group, led by the unforgiving vicious General Bethlehem. This militia eventually overthrow the Whitehouse and the United States Government.
We come across a loner drifter who performs Shakespeare plays just he can have food in stomach. This loner drifter is played by Costner - and his character does not have a name. The film at the get go is narrated by his daughter, so this whole story has already happened. The mystery character has his mule friend and sometimes pretends he watches Days Of Our Lives. That is until The Holness find him and attempt to turn him into one of them. After his escape, the mystery man finds a broken-down postal vehicle and steals the jacket plus the hat and starts playing off as a postman represented the Restored United States of America. He is now known as the Postman, who walks from town to town, giving letters, taking letter for his next drop and providing a spark of hope as he lies to the town of how the country is slowly trying to build it self up. This causes a young group of individuals to take up the postman oath and become the new generation of hope.
The movies plays well around the notion of a reluctant hero who is willing to take responsibility which resonates with the timeless phrase "all that is needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." Will Patton's General Bethlehem portrayal may seem over the top, but he does well in reflecting how an average man arose to take the opportunity and will keep hold on power which is demonstrated with his grandiose displays of cruelty and bullying on anyone who stands in his way.
The movie explains the cycle of how different types of charismatic leadership have the capability to bring about change which can shift to turmoil or to progression. This epic softly explains how dictators have a central belief system masqueraded by traditional education and encompassed to the collective. The system itself is tweaked in order to manipulate various communities. The film does well to softly touch on this while explaining how changing the past through eliminating education from the general public will allow this manipulation to be conquered at ease. What's interesting about this film is the communication around the need for revolution to disrupt the current state of dictatorship. What's disappointing is that everything interesting it proposes it discards in favour of cliched drama. We are given a swashbuckling, slow-motion and corny scenes which are set to a thousand strings orchestra. There is a good film struggling to get out from under it all, for now 6/10.
Tonight's movie review is the epic war drama The Postman (1997), based on a fictional novel, directed and starring the likeable Kevin Costner who adapts the novel into a flick of epic proportions, both in terms of storytelling in a hefty running time of close to 3 hours.
The film is based in a dystopian world where America has been left in ruins in the wake of a doom war and how a dystopian dictatorship falls at the hands of the United States Postal Service. That's right, in this post-apocalyptic land, the land of the free is represented by postal carriers. The film is based in 2013 and the county has fallen and divided by the hands of some farmer who we never see but constantly hear of, the charismatic Nathan Holn who rose to power with his book 'Seizing the Way to Win." This bloke preaches violence, racism and brings a misogynist populist message. The collective who follows this system and lead by the example of Holn are called The Holness, a ruthless military group, led by the unforgiving vicious General Bethlehem. This militia eventually overthrow the Whitehouse and the United States Government.
We come across a loner drifter who performs Shakespeare plays just he can have food in stomach. This loner drifter is played by Costner - and his character does not have a name. The film at the get go is narrated by his daughter, so this whole story has already happened. The mystery character has his mule friend and sometimes pretends he watches Days Of Our Lives. That is until The Holness find him and attempt to turn him into one of them. After his escape, the mystery man finds a broken-down postal vehicle and steals the jacket plus the hat and starts playing off as a postman represented the Restored United States of America. He is now known as the Postman, who walks from town to town, giving letters, taking letter for his next drop and providing a spark of hope as he lies to the town of how the country is slowly trying to build it self up. This causes a young group of individuals to take up the postman oath and become the new generation of hope.
The movies plays well around the notion of a reluctant hero who is willing to take responsibility which resonates with the timeless phrase "all that is needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." Will Patton's General Bethlehem portrayal may seem over the top, but he does well in reflecting how an average man arose to take the opportunity and will keep hold on power which is demonstrated with his grandiose displays of cruelty and bullying on anyone who stands in his way.
The movie explains the cycle of how different types of charismatic leadership have the capability to bring about change which can shift to turmoil or to progression. This epic softly explains how dictators have a central belief system masqueraded by traditional education and encompassed to the collective. The system itself is tweaked in order to manipulate various communities. The film does well to softly touch on this while explaining how changing the past through eliminating education from the general public will allow this manipulation to be conquered at ease. What's interesting about this film is the communication around the need for revolution to disrupt the current state of dictatorship. What's disappointing is that everything interesting it proposes it discards in favour of cliched drama. We are given a swashbuckling, slow-motion and corny scenes which are set to a thousand strings orchestra. There is a good film struggling to get out from under it all, for now 6/10.