Kevin Costner has a confusing history as one of Hollywood’s favorite leading men. Starting at the end of the ’80s, he carried one beloved blockbuster after the next. But less than a decade later, he was starring in one incredible misfire after another. Costner may be on a course to redemption today playing the wise, sane supporting character like he did in “Man of Steel” and “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.” The upcoming Disney film “McFarland USA” looks to be another step in the right direction. But looking back, here is a ranking of his five best and five worst films so far.
THE BEST
“JFK” boasted a powerhouse cast, including Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon, and John Candy, to name just a few, but Costner was at its helm as the noble and fiery real-life DA Jim Morrison, trying desperately to uncover the hidden truth about the Kennedy assassination. Clocking in at over 3 hours, the riveting twists and turns Costner’s dogged investigation takes makes “JFK” fly by in one mind-blowing blur.
This was Costner’s breakout role as a leading man, which would cement him as one of film’s best dramatic actors. The novice star took on heavyweight Robert DeNiro as the cold-blooded, Prohibition era mobster, and capably held his own against him. Brian DePalma directed this intensely entertaining cops and robbers action drama that set Costner on an unstoppable path (at least in the short term) to acclaimed blockbuster after blockbuster.
Perhaps the pinnacle of his career, Costner starred, produced and made his directorial debut with “Dances With Wolves.” Here he plays Lt. John Dunbar, a Civil War hero who’s transfer to a Western outpost, occupied only by a lonely wolf, introduces him to the ways of the Sioux Indians. They eventually adopt him into their tribe after benefiting from his bravery and loyalty. Another 3-plus-hour epic, the film was responsible for ushering back in another Western renaissance of film. Its shoot ran into budget overruns with one setback after the next and early word led many to believe this would be a career-ending endeavor for Costner. On the contrary, it was instantly embraced upon its release, finding both major critical and box-office success, and won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Director.
How do you make a grown man cry? Apparently, have him watch “Field of Dreams.” Sports would become a familiar subject of Costner’s work, particularly baseball, and this represents his most touching and enchanting example. Voices in his head convince Costner’s struggling farmer Ray Kinsella to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield defying the skepticism of his disbelieving peers and neighbors. In an homage to both America’s favorite pastime and the everlasting bond of fatherhood, Costner shines in this quiet, otherworldly tearjerker.
If you ever need proof that sex and baseball are naturally linked, look no further than “Bull Durham,” Costner’s best film and a role that provides a master class in what makes a true dramatic, comedic, and romantic leading man. As Crash Davis, Costner performs as all three as an aging ballplayer who’s last stand in the minors is both disrupted and distinguished by his mentorship to an up-and-coming hotshot pitcher played by Tim Robbins – in a part that would make the then little-known actor a star. Add a sultry Susan Sarandon who steers this baseball diamond duo into a love triangle and you’ve got an unforgettable example of home run storytelling and filmmaking.
THE WORST
Costner’s Waterloo, “Waterworld” is where the superstar’s tide turned from reliably bankable to laughable. Set 200 years in the future, where global warming has flooded the planet into one big ocean, this 1995 post-apocalyptic premise was prescient and perhaps even more relevant for us today. If Costner could tell the future however, he would find that despite some good driving action and a manically inspired performance by baddie Dennis Hopper, critics and audiences would brand this a big-budget disaster.
Supposedly a companion to “The Graduate,” Jennifer Aniston discovers she might be the real-life daughter of the inspiration for the seminal 60’s film and seeks out Costner, who may be her long-lost father, in a quest for the real story. The fact that she quickly ends up in bed with him is icky enough. But so is the waste of talent, Shirley MacClaine, Mark Ruffallo, and director Rob Reiner included. Costner and Reiner are not just collaborators here, but mirror images of masters of film who transitioned very poorly into the 21st Century.
The worst part of “The Postman,” and there are many, is that this ridiculousness was Costner’s directorial follow-up to “Dances with Wolves.” Released in 1997, the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic… 2013! Maybe the ruin had something to do with Obamacare or Andy Cohen. But in a world now ruled by ruthless, brutal tyrants, Costner plays the one man who can restore hope to the country… an uncertified postal carrier! Having been drenched in bad reviews with “Waterworld” you would think he would have thought twice about charting these dystopian seas again.
Costner shares the screen with a great cast including Kurt Russell and Christian Slater, all members of a gang of crooks who dress like Elvis to blend in at a Las Vegas convention and rob a casino. Ultra-violent and ludicrous, this flop also steals a trove of movie clichés along the way. Costner seems to be enjoying himself here as a bad guy obsessed with the King of Rock and Roll, but the rest of us commoners forced to watch this trifle are only left to sing the blues.
That Costner was in a movie called “Dragonfly” was a surprise and it is easy to see why this bomb buzzed right by us and accounts for his very worst film. Costner returns to otherworldy drama here, haunted by the unexpected death of his wife and unexplainable events that he encounters afterward. Moody, broody, and boring, in “Dragonfly” Costner falls deepest into his capacity for a sleepy performance that would come to define his later work. There are ghosts, messages from beyond the grave, and a cinematic twist that the unfortunate audience will already be rendered too numb to even care about.
