20 Post-Apocalyptic Movies You Must See Before You Die

18. Waterworld (1995)

Waterworld is an exercise in Hollywood excess; a huge mess of a picture that has come to epitomise everything that is wrong with La La Land. And yet it is still a motion picture that has to be seen to be believed - and one that has been lambasted unnecessarily over the years. Despite its flaws, this Kevin Costner blockbuster - which depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which water now covers the surface of the entire planet - is a shamelessly entertaining yarn that hooks you in and doesn't let go. Waterworld is often mislabelled a flop (it wasn't), and everything from the acting to the storyline have been criticised. But given all the surplus and extravagance that clings to Kevin Reynolds' post-apocalyptic mayhem, it's hard to deny the schlocky value of a film like Waterworld. And if its vision of a pirate-like future seems somewhat ridiculous, its predicting of a world in which the polar ice caps have melted rings eerily true today.