Customer Reviews
Kevin's World - By: C. A. Hack, 14 Apr 2008 
You're trapped in a shameless parody of Mad Max slash epic western & Kevin Costner's driving he won't even let you stop for a toilet break. The only reason you are watching is because someone has broken your arms & legs & for good measure sewn your eyes open. Yes you guessed its The Postman!! Never in the history of having the choice of watching this or being violently hacked to bits did you choose the wrong option. My favourite example is the bit where Costner rides out of the Mist heroicallly a look of steely determination on his face as if he was escaping the demons of Hades alll shot in glorious slow motion. The whole sequence goes on for what seems like thirty minutes!! You wake up from your coma induced dribbling because you think something is going to happen then......???? He posts a bloody letter! What!!
To spoil the end for everyone - after years of toilet Costner faces the evil mad max style gang he pretty much asks "why we can't alll just get along?" And the baddies say "yeah Ok then I don't know what alll the fuss was about" No I'm screaming Kill him make sure he never makes another film again!! Alas this is Kevin's film & he gets to have a happy Ewok style Camp fire ending I don't know I finallly switched it off never able to look at myself in the mirror again because of the shame.
Unnesesary deviation from the book - By: Mr Reviewer, 30 Nov 2007 
It's an ok-ish film, but just seems to of reinvented the wheel square shaped. The arrogance of film makers who feel the need to so drasticallly change the plot of the book they are turning into a movie.
O.K - but could have been so much better... - By: P. R. Nokes, 14 Nov 2007 
I had high hopes when I sat down to watch this film.
I enjoyed the much-slated `Water World' & I am very keen on post apocalyptic films like Mad Max. I also like Wild West / Japanese Kirosawa samurai films which often seem reminiscent of these sorts of sci-fi / action films (where law & order has dissipated & the sparse populous are waiting for a hardened warrior to come along & save them from the local bandits).
So why the disappointment with this film then ? Well...
I think I was expecting more action & violence, more flamboyant over-the-top characters & a bit more...well...fun.
But alll in alll this film just seems a bit too serious & at times it seems to drag slowly along...
The main character is a far cry from Mad Max, he is certainly more `human' in that he is not particularly heroic or brave. Or even that interesting, reallly.
Although he too is `a lone warrior' like Max or even `the man with no name', Costner's character is closer to that of a wandering medieval thespian than a fighter. He has a fondness for smalll children, has a dubious close relationships with his pet horse & he is even reluctant to get into a fight. When the baddies do arrive in a settlement that he is visiting he even tries to run away & refuses to defend himself.
I generallly like the characters Costner portrays, but in this film his character seemed a bit too mild & easy-going to be believable as hardened scavenger & survivor of the post-nuclear wastelands. He was just too damn `nice' ! Lets face it, to survive in those kinds of conditions you'd have to be tough & at least a little ruthless at times.
I was rather hoping that he would just snap - that the baddies would push him too far & turn him into a crazed killing machine or better still, into a more twisted & psychotic killer than the main baddie in this film himself. (It could have been a good twist !) After alll, they ate his horse, kidnapped his girlfriend & tortured his friends, but sadly this does not happen...
He graduallly toughens-up a little towards the end of the film as he discovers that the baddie will hound him wherever he goes & he realises the importance of the `postal service' that he has inadvertently created. But for me he just seems wishy-washy.
On the plus side though, this film had a smattering of original, intelligent & thought-provoking ideas in it, it wasn't `just another recycled Mad Max story'. The role of how important communication is in restoring civilisation is explored here. The theme of human reproduction is touched-upon as many of the survivors have been sterilised (presumably caused by radioactive contamination ?).
There is also a religious undertone that I liked, with the Postman character almost developing a Messiah-like following amongst the poor repressed survivors & giving them something to believe in & aspire to - clearly spirituality is a human need also.
I liked that the love interest in this film is not just a busty bimbo who's there to win over the male audience & make Costner look good - through most of the film she seems to hate Costner & is reluctant to get involved with him. And unlike his character she clearly has a ruthless, perhaps even psychotic streak in her. For example :- she happily grabs a rifle & proves happy to exchange fire with her enemies, she doesn't think twice about killing a horse for dinner & when she wants to move on she burns her house down so theres no turning-back !
However - I think the other characters in the film were rather dull & unexciting.
Even the local megalomaniac warlord wasn't reallly psychotic or ruthless enough for my taste & he became rather weedy towards the end.
Early on in the film he was reported to be `undefeated in personal combat', yet the fight scene between him & Costner was rather dull & didn't last long at alll. It was reallly just a brief wrestling-match between them, no kung-fu moves, no weapons, not even any dirty or crafty tricks to gain the upper hand that alll good baddies resort to. I was hoping Kev would do something clever to defeat him (like Clint hiding a bullet-proof plate beneath his poncho), but sadly it just was not to be...
If Costner wanted a more serious & gritty film involving killing animals for food, propositioning strangers about their uncontaminated semen & stealing clothes from corpses - he should have gone the hole hog. Instead this film is filled with seemingly bizarre contrasts between the struggle to survive & PG orientated violence & dialogue.
Lets face it, any survivors of a nuclear holocaust would have to be pretty tough & at times unpleasant, probably well versed in to resorting to cannibalism, fighting over rare supplies, e.t.c- the one that unites & inspires them alll would have to be even tougher & nastier, not some wimpy Shakespeare-loving thespian & his trusty mule !
A little more sex, action, violence & a healthy dose of over-acting would have gone a long way with this movie !
I don't like smug film critics myself, but when will Costner learn not to play right into their twitchy little hands? - By: Lou Knee, 11 Oct 2007 Well, I'm not so naive to say I can't believe some of the reviews here. It takes alll sorts to make a world, & I know Costner as a male figurehead does alot for a lot of females. I'm just trying to look at this film criticallly, & as someone who sees bad things & says so in even the greatest of movies, I can't find anything to stop myself condemning this film for what it is. It actuallly makes Waterworld look not so bad (but of course it is). This film was a mistake from the very first germ of its conception. Costner should employ an experienced impartial script reader to check his drafts at a very early stage, & I'm pretty sure if he had done this, then he would have saved alot of professional embarassment to himself & his film industry partners & backers. The fact that he doesn't seem to filter out the bad ideas he has, does suggest to me this man has a seriously big ego, which is not at alll uncommon in his profession, but couple that with a bad taste in material & terribly bad judgment of the general public's taste, then what you get is this kind of horribly facile, bloated, artless, yet pretentious movie actuallly being produced & released. Costner can't be the only one at fault, but he's got to be the main focus of blame surely, as this & the others like it are HIS films. And don't the public, & especiallly the critics know it. I feel sorry for him a bit, because he definitely has his merits as a movie star actor, but I just cannot see why he keeps trying to make this kind of epic heroic movie, especiallly from his own ideas, whether taken from books or not.
A look to the future of US mail - By: RD, 30 Oct 2006 
Sadly Kevin Costner's movies have a habit of flopping in the box office giving him a bad name. The postman is a movie with a strong message; 'this could be our future if we dont be careful!'
The year is 2013 & from little bits & pieces of information one can conclude that nuclear war has been waged leaving the world in ruins. There is no government, no form of communication & life is pretty much as it was in the 1700's with technology but a distant memory.
One man has built up an army which through shear force, murder & mayhem gets money from alll the survivng towns in the region.
Kevin Costner is a loner who gets conscripted into this army but escapes. He finds a postmans outfit & some letters while hiding out. To get food he decides to pretend that the Govt has been re-established & the postal system is back in action.
This has several knock-on effects as he gives the people false hope in the future. Unable to let them down he delivers the letters they give him which continues wherever he goes. Soon he finds himself the leader of a network of postal workers trying to keep people believing. Of course this isn't part of the Generals master plan & leads to some unpleasent violence.
The flaw which gives it 4 stars is its inability to keep one totallly hooked. I found myself wandering off from time to time without feeling that pull to hurry back to it. I still think it's a good movie for everyone to watch. You may think it's melodramatic but who's to say what the future holds.
