I am reserving Waterworld to be the last post of Universal Studios Japan as I believe this would be the best one. For someone (particularly me) who has not even seen USJ map before entering, I felt so surprised to see one of my favourite movies brought to life.
Waterworld is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Yes, it's old but it's gold and epic. For those who had not watch this movie, please do.
A bit of summary here so that you would understand my post better:
In the distant future of about year 2500, the polar ice caps have melted due to global warming, and the sea level has risen hundreds of meters, covering every continent and turning Earth into a water planet.
It was so long since the events that the humans eventually forgot that there were continents in the first place. Although many believe that there is a mythical place on Earth called "Dryland".
A drifter, known only as "the Mariner (Kevin Costner) ", sails the open seas in his trimaran. He enters an artificial atoll city in the shallower part of the ocean seeking to trade dirt/soil, which is as precious as clean drinkable water. It is later revealed that he is not a human, but a mutant with webbed feet and gills, an evolutionary step in some of the humans to accommodate the changes in climate.The fearful atollers vote to "recycle" him by drowning him in a yellow sludge brine pool. At that moment, local sea pirates, known as "Smokers", raid the atoll, having been tipped off by a Smoker spy posing as a trader, known as "the Nord". The Smokers are searching for an orphan girl named Enola, who has what appears to be a map and directions to Dryland tattooed on her back.
The girl and her guardian, Helen(Jeanne Tripplehorn), the atoll's shopkeeper, plan to escape with Gregor, the atoll's expert inventor, in the hopes of finding Dryland.
They instead escape with the Mariner, who agrees to take them with him because they saved his life. Chasing them is "the Deacon" (Dennis Hopper), who is the captain of a derelict oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, and the leader of the Smokers, who are armed with old military weapons and jet skis. He wants the map to Dryland to arrive and build a first city in which he will rule and has a number of skirmishes with the Mariner while trying to get Enola.
Helen is convinced that Dryland exists and she demands to know where the Mariner finds his dirt. The Mariner, able to breathe underwater, puts her in a diving bell and swims down to the ruins of Denver, where he collects the dirt and other items from the bottom of the sea for trade, with Helen realizing that this is the former civilization.
Gregor deciphers the map, translating the Asian symbols using an old and tattered China Airlines magazine. He realizes that they are latitude and longitude coordinates, and steers his hot air balloon in that direction. The group finds Dryland, which turns out to be the peak of Mount Everest, still above sea level and no longer a snowy peak, where they find horses and other wildlife. Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others land and find the remains of Enola's parents in a hut. The group prepares to settle, but the Mariner decides he must leave, explaining to Enola that the ocean, his only home, calls to him. He sails away, taking a boat left by the former inhabitants.
Fine, it might not be that summarized after all. In case you dozed off during the previous paragraph, welcome back to the action scene with Waterworld: A Life Sea War Spectacular.
The Mariner's Trimaran
I was infatuated and felt surreal at the same time to see these rusty zincs forming the atoll city that can only be seen in Waterworld, the movie. I then stretched out my hand, trying to touch these zincs to believe that this was the real deal.
Together with my mom, we made it during the showtime while the staff giving simple instructions, trying to get the audience's involvement by applaud during the entrance of The Mariner and boo for The Deacon's....in Japanese, which was definitely not Gaijin (foreigners)-oriented.
The show began with Helen's return from Dryland to get her friends out of Atoll city.
Arrival of The Deacon in his airboat/fanboat.
Lucky us for not sitting at the front seats, aka "Soak Zone" as the targets of splashes from jet-skis and airboat.
The Deacon addressing himself as Deacon-sama which later get booed by all of us.
Resembling princess in the high tower, Helen yelled for rescue.
This "princess" swing over the other side in Tarzan style when the seaplane flew and crashed in front of us.
My heart was pounding and practically skipped a beat looking at Deacon on fire and free fall into the water without any assistance. The moment of adrenaline rush due to excitement or am I this close to witness a stuntman's death? Exactly why I couldn't bring myself to watch escape magic.
A few explosion scenes involved which requires good timing as The Mariner jumped over with his jet-ski.
The grand finale of explosions where I can feel the heat even though my seat was 4-5 rows away.
Watch this youtube video for the full 16 minutes stunt-show with soundtracks from the movie itself.
Then you'll understand what I meant about not Gaijin-oriented because the whole show was in Japanese.