Strictly average movie

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It is so daring, it is so ambitious, it is so thrilling and weird and pointed and powerful. I never knew where it was going.

There's a good chance the film will make you laugh out loud, but if it doesn't, there's an even better chance it will make you openly sob.

I would watch this movie again over Die Hard 2 or Die Hard 3. I don't get why this movie is so low in ratings n the Die hards are so high. This movie has alot of emotion with action. At some points it reminds u of I Am Legend.

...but it isn't horrible either. It treats a post-apocalyptic scenario as a semi sweet chocolate bar. Even the evil warlord is played as a pompous tyrant, with little more than greed for power as his goal...There is a story here, but it is overshadowed by some rather meaningless dialog, and mediocre acting, even by Kevin. this movie's saving grace is the premise of renewing the security of a forgotten land...through, you guessed it, a Postal Worker carrying mail to isolated people...No, it won't impress a lot of folks, but darn it, The Postman is a pretty entertainingly odd couple hours of distraction...

The Postman is one of those films that supposedly destroyed an A-listers career.For some reason, Costner has always been a target of critics, and despite the fact that in the early nineties, he was one of the big players thanks to the like of The Bodygaurd, Robin Hood and Dances with Wolves, we all tend to remember him for Waterworld, Wyatt Earp, and this, which is unarguably nothing more than a vanity project for it's star/Director.But i've always been a fan of Costner, and I would watch him in a film where he reads the dictionary..Set three years ago, after war has destroyed most of USA, including the government, a lone drifter is captured by a fascist group called the Holnists led by General Bethlehem.When he escapes, he finds a mail Jeep and uniform, and starts to travel through small cities, telling them he is a postman, a representative of the restored United States.No one believes him at first, but soon he has followers, and they start to prepare a revolt against Holnists.......With this being a post apocalyptic vision of the recent past/future depending on when you actually see the film, I for one was actually surprised as to just how light hearted the film was in some scenes.What Costner has given us is nothing more than Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves meets Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, as The Postman has the same traits and problems as Hood.Now take away Patton (even though he is very good), and add Rickman, I would guarantee that this would have been better received, and more regarded today.I wouldn't have been surprised if the late actor was sent a script, but didn't want to steal the show from Costner yet again.So he escapes from the General, starts a movement, gets injured, spends a winter with Olivia Willaims, and fights some more, until we have a Braveheart type finale.The film is all over the place, Costner clearly believed he had the answers to the meaning of life with this film, and was betting that he would repeat his success with Dances With Wolves.It's not a bad film by any means, it's actually quite entertaining, and my advice is make your own decisions, you will find something to enjoy.Even if it is for all the wrong reasons.

**Spoiler alert (barely)** What the hell were the critics smoking with the terrible reviews about this movie! This movie was made in 1997 yet the undeserved criticism still unnerves me. The Postman is arguably the best post-apocalyptic movie ever made! I love the way that this movie keeps a post-world-war setting realistic, small and with communal ties. It correctly portrays a realistic lack of communication due to an unnamed catastrophe (probably an EMP and/or Nuke). The story is especially interesting because of the way the Postman literally stumbles into his role due to a desire to survive but then passionately becomes the lie he is portraying only after a woman kicks his butt into gear (isn't that what usually happens in life?). Kevin Costner does an outstanding job, as does Olivia Williams and especially Will Patton. Got to love the cameo by Tom Petty! I read Brin's book and it starts out very well but then moves from a realistic and thrilling post-apocalyptic survival story to a wasteland of fantastic tech story tangents. The movie on the other hand is adapted very well for the big screen and keeps the plot on task, despite the 3 hour time frame (I had no problem with this in this movie). Strange how the book was award-winning yet the movie got so much criticism; that's backwards if you ask me. This movie is about HOPE. Those critics that thought certain scenes were "cheesy" or that "it was the worst movie of the year" are the same critics that continually keep the minions on track toward the brainless, plot less movies that have a serious lack of character development...but hey, they have GREAT special effects and action! They are the same critics that laugh at the very notion of HOPE in movies. HOPE is something our world needs more of and it was the powerful and critical ingredient that sparked a revolution in The Postman. I loved this movie! I rarely watch movies more than once or twice yet I own this movie and have watched it countless times. I am a huge fan of the post-apocalyptic genre and this movie is easily in my top 5 of that genre! I find it interesting that over 52,000 "non-critics" have voted about this movie on this website, and the highest number of votes came in at 7 out of 10 (10,630 votes); hardly "the worst movie of the year". Thank you Kevin for choosing to make The Postman over other choices you had at the time. Those of us "non-critics" appreciate it!