After his Waterworld budget-busting debacle, one wonders why Kevin Costner would jeopardize his capricious career with yet another post-Apocalyptic action flick. Yet The Postman isn't as atrocious as the inane trailers and media hype suggested. The set-up, based on David Brin's novel, is essentially that of Waterworld, the Mad Max series or even Planet of the Apes: in the near-future (2013) civilization has crumbled, and in some remote recess decent folk struggle for survival in a lawless, Western-like landscape that is demonized by a tyrannical megalomaniac. Will Patton plays the maniacal baddie, General Bethlehem, a former copier salesman who leads a clan of neo-Nazis on plundering raids throughout the Pacific Northwest. Costner, rehashing his Waterworld and Dances with Wolves characters, drifts in as a stranger claiming to be a US Postal Service jock, with the intent of stirring up sentiment and cadging a meal. But as folly, circumstance, and the formulaic plot would have it, Costner's courier reluctantly rises above his own interest to become a symbol of hope and a catalyst for an insurrection against Bethlehem and his sadistic hordes.

At three hours, The Postman is surprisingly coherent, though it struggles against its maudlin, epic-like framework. Costner, at his nonchalant best, is palatable, but Patton is a sheer spectacle, posturing his Napoleonic psycho with gestures and inflections that beg comedic comparison to Charlton Heston. The film's most gracious performance comes from Olivia Williams as Costner's love interest. Unfortunately, even her sensual effervescence can't redeem the inept dialogue and perplexing overuse of slow-motion sequencing.