There seems to be a bit of a resurgence at least on the Hype, for this thing.
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It's dull. It's got some wonderful ideas for a cool action adventure film but it whiffs it on all of them. It's not really entertaining on a straight forward level and it's honestly not bat guano crazy enough to merit the "so bad it's good" tag no matter what some might think. It's mostly an inert film with peeks into the fun time it's creators thought it was.
And... Sorry all but I really do think the number of people that go to bat for it are doing so out of a lazy sense of nostalgia. Once more, and this is subjective in so many ways, I know, I KNOW... But there's a difference between something actually deserving of nostalgic defense in my mind and just **** that was on cable a lot when you were a kid.
It's a dull movie that might have gotten some band wagon hate due to Costner's celebrity at the time of it's release. That's not to say it's some underappreciated gem or even just a film far better than it's reputation. Even being charitable it's not all that fun or exciting and the characters are thin and unengaging. Is Hopper kinda fun as an over the top villain? Kinda. But by that point Hopper was cashing checks doing the same crazy-eyed act as the heavy in movies and he did it better elsewhere. So it's not that there's this great villain at the heart of it. And the less said about Costner's choices in how to play the hero the better.
It's not the worst film ever. It's also not several magnitudes greater than it's general reputation.
My... Let's call it $3.50.