Waterworld (HD DVD)

Waterworld has gone down in history as a major failure due to the fact that at the time it was the most expensive movie ever produced with a reported budget in the range of $175 million. There were also rumors that director Kevin Reynolds walked off the set and star Kevin Costner finished the film. Finally, screenwriter Joss Whedon flew out to the set to do some last minute rewrites and then was quoted as referring to the stay as "seven weeks of hell." Why do I tell you all of this? Because, despite all that irrelevant information, I actually enjoyed this movie. Is it a classic to be watched over and over again? Not by a long shot, but it is far from the travesty it was made out to be.

Now on HD DVD Universal continues to make money off the film. Despite its budget the story of a world washed away by the melting of the polar ice caps grossed over $264 million worldwide meaning it made almost $100 million over its budget. Obviously someone is watching and this movie deserves to be watched.

As for this HD DVD version it is far better looking and sounding than the DVD release which was released nine years ago. The only other version of this film that appears to be available on DVD has a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, which makes the Dolby Digital Plus track on this HD DVD is definitely a step up, but there was a DTS version a long while back and why this HD DVD isn't carrying that track is beyond me. Especially considering there aren't any special features, which means there is more than enough space on this HD-30 disc.

Video wise there are a few noticeable artifacts in the presentation, but you have to remember this is not a digitally restored version, it is just a version compressed less than the DVD was. This means you get the cleaned up edges, better background images and improved black levels. I have already put the DVD version in the closet and this will now be my copy of Waterworld. If you own the DVD already you may want to make sure you will watch this enough to spend the extra cash, but if you haven't yet checked it out, why not rent it and if you like add this one to your shelf. It is nowhere near as bad as some would lead you to believe, it's the world, covered in water and then you get... Waterworld.