User reviews

To judge from the derision heaped on this film, one could be forgiven for thinking it must be totally unwatchable, however, that definitely is not the case. The film was shot on location and despite liberties taken with history, it is an absorbing look at a mysterious culture that has virtually disappeared.

1400 years ago, Polynesian seafarers settled on the most remote island on earth, Easter Island or Rapa Nui as they called it. Although most of what is known about their history is speculation based on archaeological evidence, it seems the island went through an intense period of statue (moai) building, followed by an equally intense period of tearing them down. In the course of which, Rapa Nui was denuded of trees and its society decimated by warfare and famine. To regulate their dwindling resources, the islanders conducted an annual ocean race with the winner's tribe ruling the island for a year under their leader, the Birdman.

Kevin Reynolds' movie is about these events. In fact, every event in the island's history is in the film. What took over 1000 years to unfold takes place in what seems like a single season. Time compression is one of the major criticisms of the film.

The writers constructed a Romeo and Juliet love story around the characters played by Jason Scott Lee, Sandrine Holt, and Esai Morales. This aspect of the story is quite effective due to their convincing performances. Less convincing are passages of silly dialogue between Eru Potaka-Dewes, and George Henare playing the reigning Birdman and the High Priest respectively. However, these are exceptions; the rest of the script effectively moves the story along and explains why things are happening to this doomed culture.

The making and moving of the moai are highlights of the film as is the birdman competition; an event so gruelling that by comparison, a modern triathlon seems about as difficult as an egg-and-spoon race. The film recreates the event at the actual location: the cliffs at Orongo. Today it is forbidden to scale these cliffs but it seems the film was shot before the restriction existed.

The score by Stewart Copeland, the former drummer of the band Police, features a blend of choral, orchestral and new age elements. A traditional score may have worked but this one is inspired, delivering a sense that time is running out for Rapa Nui.

Much bare skin is exposed in the movie and nearly all the women appear topless. Gratuitousness is another charge levelled at the film, however the alternative would have been Dorothy Lamour sarongs. Historical evidence suggests the costume designers got it right, which probably pleased the marketing people who no doubt had an eye on the box office.

Rapa Nui offers a very different cinema experience. It is not without the odd gaffe, but it is also totally unique and utterly compelling as well.

The island itself is stunningly beautiful and the film makes good use of this, especially the race at the end which is compelling in its apparent difficulty for the actors. As for the accuracy of the film it is mainly based on guesswork, so the whole racial element is for the benefit of drama. What surprises me is that some of the other reviewers wonder how an advanced civilisation can be so racist! Take a look at your own society and wonder! As well as a love story there is a competitive element, and an explanation about what happened to the island. If Easter Island interests you this film will entertain. As for the nudity, don't be so prudish!

On Easter Island, the tribes are in a ritualized competition. Every year, each tribe sends a warrior to the Birdman competition to see who will rule the island. Noro (Jason Scott Lee) comes from the ruling tribe 'long ears'. His clueless grandfather chief and his ruthless priest demand larger Moai. He is in love with Ramana (Sandrine Holt) from the tribe 'short ears'. His long time friend Make (Esai Morales) is also in love with Ramana. The demand for Moais has eaten up the resources of the island as scarcities and ecological damage rule.

The problem for this movie is the foreign nature of everything. Some of it is laughable even if it's true. Writer/director Kevin Reynolds needed to be especially careful about the unintended comedy. Maybe it's an impossible task given the strange craziness. The story is a mix of Romeo and Juliet and an environmental documentary. There's none like it.

I have no wish to comment on the historical accuracy or otherwise of this film, as it is the story that held me enthralled, not the attention to fact.

The first time I saw this film, I nearly had to pick my jaw up from the floor. A hollywood movie.....that doesn't spoonfeed me the plot like some overbearing nanny? An original (for a big studio) plot device? Whew, let me just sit down for a minute. Here's how it normally goes: Hero (young, handsome and likeable) must compete with rival (villanous, evil rogue) in contest of high stakes. Guess the outcome. But in this underrated gem of a story, we find two equally heroic protagonists, all thoughts of friendship lost as they are forced into a dangerous competition of courage and strength. One, fighting for the woman he loves, the other for his life. This forces the viewer to watch in an agonized state of uncertainty. Who do I want to win? Who deserves it more? What will happen to the loser? This was the first film in a long time that truly forced me to get involved with the characters, not in a cliched good versus evil kind of way, but a good versus good "how the hell are they going to get out of this one?" kind of way. Okay, so some aspects of the film do not deliver with the same power, and some of the accents do tend to waver a little, but the beautifully constructed central storyline held me until the end.

Set on Rapa-Nui (what we now know as Easter Island) during the declining days of the civilization that lives there, increasing resource scarcity is building tensions between the ruling long eared tribe and the lower class short ear tribes as the short ears are directed by the high priest Tupa (George Henare) to build the maoi (giant head statues) in the hopes they'll appease they're gods as the figurehead Birdman Ariki-mau (Eru Potaka-Dewes) waits for the fabled "White Canoe" to take him to the gods. Ariki-mau's Grandson, Noro (Jason Scott Lee), is secretly in love with short ear Ramana (Sandrine Holt) unaware his short ear friend Make (Esai Morales) is also in love with Ramana which sets the two men on a collision course while the construction of the maoi decimates the island's environment.

Rapa-Nui is a 1994 historical action-adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds and produced by Kevin Costner. Following the success of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, both Reynolds and Costner found themselves with the needed clout to pursue passion projects with Costner establishing production company Tig Productions and Reynolds using his newfound success to pursue Rapa-Nui which had been a passion project for Reynolds for nearly a decade. Produced by Costner and distributed by Warner Bros who both benefitted from Reynolds' direction of Prince of Thieves, Rapa-Nui was a hellish production with the film shot on location on the actual Easter Island and the cast and crew often having to rely on weekly supply runs that would sometimes runout between resupplies. Rapa-Nui failed at the box office as Warner Bros. Dumped the film into theaters in the famously slow post Labor Day weekend typically used as a dumping ground for films studios have no faith in, and while its exact opening at the box office (or width of distribution for that matter) aren't documented, it's final domestic haul was around $300,000 against a $20 million budget. Things weren't much better critically with many critics feeling the film was overly heavy handed and silly with a number of critics including Siskel and Ebert calling the film one of the year's worst. While I don't think Rapa-Nui is one of the worst of 1994, it's not nearly as good as its grand ambitions want it to be and at it's core is a pretty trite love story grafted onto a heavy environmentalist theme with clumsy results.

The actual quality of the movie aside, Rapa-Nui is a nice looking film and per the standards set by Kevin Reynolds he knows how to make a film look big and epic with plenty of scenes of the behemoth maoi traversing across the island brought to life in solid detail so you do feel the mass and enormity of these statues. The movie also dives into what you expect from a movie set during the heyday of Easter Island with plenty of bare flesh and brutal scenes that don't hold back from the violence so at the very least, it certainly looks and feels the part of how you'd want something like this to be. But it all comes down to the writing with the dialogue just feeling really off with many exchanges feeling way too contemporary even if we're to give leeway for the fact everyone talks in English. There's something about the delivery of the actors where their performances never sold me they were authentic islanders and instead playing a large scale game of "dress-up" (or more appropriately dress down) and I never became absorbed in this mixture of a love triangle with the environmental subplot in the background. The movie is supposed to have this tragic love story of two best friends now at odds over class and the same woman, but there's so little developed of their relationship it never gives us that emotional resonance you need in a story like this and the characters remain two dimensional as a result. Per the times the film was made, Rapa-Nui has a prominent environmentalist theme and it's hardly the clumsiest from its time (On Deadly Ground probably has that locked), but it's the kind of thing that while well intentioned is (sometimes literally) hammered in and is supposedly based on historically questionable assertions (I'm not an anthropologist so I'll leave details to the experts).

Rapa-Nui is basically a pulpy historical action that aspires to be more than it is and really doesn't. The movie's not bereft of enjoyment as it features Reynolds' reliable direction per the standards he's set for himself, but the screenplay is filled with broad caricatures and clumsy writing that are more likely to elicit unintended smirks than pathos.

And I can tell the story was compelling and the cinematography was great. Historically accurate? I don't think so but that is beyond the point since we do know anything about for sure about Easter Island. My opinion is that anyway the screenplay gives a plausible explanation of why the island became as such. It's bit like Apocalypto before apocalypto with less violence.

Very interesting film of exotic anthropological adventures, a genre that used to be more typical of Hollywood's Golden Age than of the 1990's. The story concerns the lives of indigenous people on Easter Island, with an ecological message and an exciting series of raiders' exploits.

Rapa Nui presents us a real strange world indeed - based on the legends of Easter Island, it is a story (or legend) of two native tribes and their competition for power on that remote island, some obligatory romance and drama round off the story of the tribes. I really liked the movie and will re-watch it sometime.

After watching this movie one can only wonder why hasn't anyone heard of this what was happening in 1994 the overshadowed this movie. Was it a lack of promotion the presumably R rating?.

I found this to be an excellent film all the characters main and supporting are very intriguing the setting is breathtaking , and the actors all played their roles superbly and with passion.

I did not find a problem with the English speaking actors I feel the director wanted to get the point of the movie across without tiring the audience out by having to read subtitles.This is a movie after all not real life, one cant expect things to be exact.

This movie is far different then most of what Hollywood churns out the plot is simple as the time the movie takes place the story is very believable and understandable with some historical elements thrown in.

As one watches this film they will come to see that's there's no simple answer to the protagonist problems they will have to take them selves back to that time and place.

As far as a love story goes i feel its an epic one easily as touching if not more so then Star Wars or Titanic, Also similar to 10,000 BC. Its shame that such a good movie seems to have gone virtually unheard of.

I have never seen so much nudity or near-nudity in a film where it isn't sexualized. It's quite refreshing. We just get to enjoy seeing the beautiful (and also ordinary) bodies of the characters going about their business, like you might see in an old National Geographic magazine. Okay, there is one love scene, but it's tame by Hollywood standards and it happens early in the film. The violence is mild compared to a lot of PG movies. This could be a good movie for young people to watch with an adult, if only to see people treating each other normally when their skin is showing.

The plot is a bit comic-bookish, but it makes for an easy-to-follow story and good entertainment. You even get to learn a little bit of true stuff about Easter Island.

I had two actors in here I usually enjoy watching: Jason Scott Lee ("Map of the Human Heart") and Sandrine Holt ("Black Robe"). It had also had beautiful Easter Island scenery and it had a bunch of pretty half-naked women.

What's not to like? Well, the stupid story, for one thing.

The dialog was straight out of a Grade B flick, and that's being generous. The characters also were totally unbelievable, thanks to the terrible dialog and fake accents. I couldn't enjoy the beautiful Holt because she was sent to a cave early on and wasn't seen again until near the end of the film.

How people, including one of the few national film critics I like - Michael Medved - could rave about this film is totally mind-boggling. It was horrible.

I am saddened that so few people seem to have seen this film; It is worth watching for the lush photography alone.. It takes some getting used to the accents of the actors, and many lines may not be clear on first viewing.

I have read many books about Easter Island and the mystery surrounding its statues.. This film attempts to answer some of these mysteries (how the statues were moved, why work stopped so abruptly on then, what happened to all the trees on the Island, etc.) First read up in an encyclopedia on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and then watch history (or at least a good guess at it) come to life. Film making and story telling at it's best, along with an athletic competition at the end unlike any you have ever seen.

There seems to be some doubt among posters here as to the broader outlines of this story--the religious motivation for building the statues, and the environmental disaster this wrought. However, in broad outline this agrees with the best educated guesses of recent anthropology; see for example Chapter 1 of Clive Ponting's _A Green History of the World_. After noting that by the time of the first visits of Europeans to Easter Island in the 18th century the island had been stripped of all its trees, and that some of this lumber would have been used for building, cooking and the like, Ponting continues: "The most demanding requirement (for lumber) of all was the need to move the large number of enormously heavy statues to ceremonial sites around the island. The only way this could have been done was by large numbers of people guiding and sliding them along a form of flexible tracking made up of tree trunks spread on the ground between the quarry and the (site). Prodigious quantities of timber would have been required and in increasing amounts as the competition between the clans to erect statues grew. As a result by 1600 the island was almost completely deforested...."

Thus in its broadest outlines the story told here is correct, and there must have been a kind of apocalyptic dread among the more enlightened of the residents, as the island was inexorably denuded.

This portrait of a dying society, if done well, would have alone been enough to make Rapa Nui a highly interesting movie. But unintended comedic elements prevent us from taking it very seriously.

On being presented with a huge statue, the result of months of work, the chief simply says "not big enough! Build another one!" ...he couldn't be bothered to vet the project in the design stage? Lines like this, and "don't bother me, I've got chicken entrails to read", and other idiotic plot twists that would constitute spoilers, dash cold water on this film as the tragic if formulaic reenactment of the final days of a doomed civilization.

As others here have said, Easter Island itself is breathtaking; the beauty of the setting is one of the better things about Rapa Nui. And the story had great potential. But this movie is impossible to take seriously, and that is a shame.

Primitive societies often despoil their natural environments. They have no deeper respect for nature than more advanced civilizations. This film shows one classic historical example, the deforestation of Easter Island. Anthropology can cite many others. Pakeha or Polynesian, it's all the same. Communities with more rudimentary technology usually lack the means, not the motivation, to irreparably damage an ecology.

There seems to be some controversy over the accents in this film. It happens that the ones I hear are predominantly Kiwi -- Maoris make up a large part of the cast -- plus American, and of course Canadian, from our putative star who unfortunately spends too much of her time sealed up in a cave.

Rapa Nui is more than just a bunch of Polynesian (and Hispanic!) actors running around half-nekkid. It's an allegory about the dangers of theocratic government, and a tale of class struggle. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island, that famous dot in the Pacific Ocean with the mysterious statues. We get to see how these things were carved - and why. The Long Ear tribe has effectively subjugated the Short Ear tribe, forcing them to carve Moai (statues) in order to placate the gods. Director Kevin Reynolds uses the island and the carving of statues as an effective backdrop to illustrate the enmity between the tribes, as well as a power struggle for eventual spremacy of the island. The film is driven by visuals and ideas. The writing hardly ever rises above so-so, and it's jarring to hear Polynesian-looking people with British, American and Latino accents. But the film has a certain power to fascinate, and for that alone I recommend it highly.

Great story, partially based on archeological research on the island that we call Easter Island.

The movie has an ecological message that is still relevant today. The filming locations are magnificent, the sound and music are great.

I am passionate about history, and this film made me want to know more about the people of Rapa Nui.

It may not be the best movie of 94, but it is far from being the worst, I do not know these critics mentioned in the anecdotes, but one thing is sure, they had mud in their eyes and yet, I remain polite.

I am delighted to have discovered this film and there is no doubt that I will watch it again with pleasure.

... and I am very glad I did.

I had not seen the movie prior to going there 6 months ago, for two reasons: people told me it was boring, and when I started watching it, I was bothered by the orangey hue of the movie.

I'm glad that this time I persisted. By no means a classic, it certainly is entertaining, and the actions scenes are genuinely GOOD.

I went to Rapa Nui because I was mesmerized with the idea of an ultra-isolated island where an ecological tragedy happened because of huge stone heads. In fact, I read extensively about the island before visiting it. The reading I recommend the most is Jared Diamond's book "Collapse", which draws from reputable scientific sources and Mr. Diamond's encyclopedic knowledge of geography and biology.

I was hoping to find an island of archaeological interest. What I found was an open-air museum that exceeded all my expectations about archeology, and also a very pleasant and delightful place to visit.

There is no crime. There is no pollution. The only (tiny) beach has white sand and blue water in a perfect temperature. The natives are incredibly nice and even the tourists were interesting (because, really, who goes there?). Now I have a toddler-sized moai in my living room and many wonderful pictures with stones, moai, sunsets, stones, blue sea, volcanoes, moai, and lots of more stones.

And the trees? Around the only town, Hanga Roa, there are many of them! Traumatized with the haunting tale of environment destruction, people are starting to plant crops, and the hotels have beautiful gardens, and the whole town is shady and breezy because of all the trees. It's not all dryness and destruction.

I also believe this movie is underrated. Don't go by the negative interviews! The orangey colors of the movie, though lamentable, don't detract from the overall experience, but if you can find a better copy, by all means do so.

I love this movie.

Briefly, "Rapa Nui" is the native Polynesian name for Easter Island, and this story is set during a highly speculative, yet resonant, depiction of an end of an era that saw high superstition influence the Long-Ear ruling class to ruthlessly subjugate laborers of the Short-Ear clan for building and erecting ever larger giant stone-carved-statued "Moai" to placate seemingly ambivalent ancestral gods while depleting all their natural resources in the pursuit of this sole aim.

Featuring a great primal adversarial dynamic between Jason Scott Lee and Esai Morales, as former childhood best friends, equally noble but from different social castes - both competing in a breathlessly filmed islandwide triathlon of running/swimming/climbing contested by the various clans to decide who rules them all as "Birdman" overleader - as well as a private wager between the two men for which will win the hand of their lifelong romantic ambition, as personified in the lithely loinclothed Sandrine Holt (at her most naturally rapturious). All this while the only world they know is spinning out of control and collapsing around them.

"Rapa Nui" is a finely acted, well spun, sweepingly romantic historical epic tragedy with stunningly photographed oceanic vistas, harrowing action sequences, and an incredible ethnic music score from Police drummer Stewart Copeland! From the perfectly plausible authenticity of the costuming and sets, to cinematographer Stephen Windon's lush scope complimenting director Kevin Reynold's grand vision, the entire cast and crew sublimely complete a truly intimate and stirring portrayal of social revolution amidst environmental upheaval. It's honestly a gripping tour de force in adventure cinema, with an astonshingly realized recreation of a world lost to time. Firmly planted among my favorite films. And certainly one I am always pleased to expose more people to.

I've heard writer/director Kevin Reynolds subsequently express disappointment with this film. I understand it's difficult for him to have a fair perspective of something he's so intimately involved in the intricacies of attempted recreation of, especially when it doesn't perform finacially after much trouble. I suppose maybe it became a source of brow beating for him that perhaps factored into his immediatly following tumultuous period on "Waterworld"? Just speculating. But he should be extremely proud of his achievement here, because it is quite exceptional.

A new more finely tuned retrospective ought to be commissioned to accompany a long overdue restoration release of this film, assembling original existing behind the scenes promo featuerettes with more candid contemporary interviews. I've always been keenly interested in the making of this particular underseen gem. And I've always been curious about its vaguely alluded to production woes, as well as how hands on producer Kevin Costner was. It's one of my most coveted bluray remaster wishes, as I've never seen it in anything near a pristine presenation ever. It's worthy. Very much so. Anyone who appreciated Mel Gibson's "Apacalypto" - or perhaps Roland Emmerich's "10,000 B.C." or even James Cameron's "Avatar" - should be clamouring to add "Rapa Nui" to their top shelf collection. Classical mythologic hero's journey archetype done to perfection.

Sadly, as of the writing of the review, for some fool reason one of 1994's most beautiful films "Rapa Nui" is not readily availible, not attractively so anyway. I've never even seen a decent presentation of this, just an HBO recording from VCR, then an old pan and scan used rental VHS, and then finally a slapdash foreign DVD rudimentary transfer. Apparently Warner Bros Archive has released what may be a slightly improved presentation. Yet nevertheless, it is blatantly magnificient in every incarnation. So someone in charge please chose to do the right thing and preserve this film properly.

"Rapa Nui" really is deserving of discovery and reassessment. I feel like it's objectively a wonderful film. To me, it's absolutely a classic.

This movie is well worth the viewing if you're into period films with full frontal nudity, even if it means that Roxine Holt's breasts change their shape whenever there's a close-up. The historical fiction used by this movie try to explain the statues on Easter Island but relies too heavily on the tired theme of the incompetent leader being manipulated by overly ambitious advisors. Surely, if the people were as technologically advanced as the movie suggests, they may have transcended racism and their bizarre class structure.

And yet again we see Jason Scott Lee playing the naive, young aboriginal, a part for which he has been typecast in movies like "Map of the Human Heart."

If you enjoy Polynesian scenery, and have a mute button to squelch the pathetic English/Hispanic/American/Canadian accents that vary from character to character, and you can stomach the pointless love story in between graphic scenes of gratuitous frontal nudity through the efforts of beautiful body-doubles, you still won't enjoy this movie.

A victim of razzing when new and ever since. However, breathtakingly filmed, especially the brutal tribal competition. One of 4 films (and the most unclad) that Jason Scott Lee made in a short time, and even more athletic than his Bruce Lee biopic, 'Dragon', although dramatically J.S. Lee's most memorable performance was as the Inuit halfbreed Avik in 'Map of the Human Heart.'

Sandrine Holt as his beloved is luminous, while Esai Morales is the villain-- -again. A plot-nudging iceberg is obviously a construct but only a brief story device before it floats away. Sadly, the stateside DVD has been withdrawn, leaving only South Korean copies (in English, however) with some manufacturing glitches fore and aft for collectors unwilling to settle for used merchandise..

Like many, I was jolted to hear a bunch of ancient Polynesians sounding like "valley girls" and their boyfriends, but let it pass since at least they were all speaking the same language as they would have been anyway, unlike movies like "Seven Years in Tibet" where Austrians spoke English to Austrians, Tibetans spoke English to Tibetans, and otherwise people who wouldn't have been able to speak with each other all conversing in perfect English... that movie was frankly too much for me. As for the different accents in Rapa Nui, I assumed it was a way to show class differences (after all, Jason Scott Lee has proved he can handle about any accent): the chief spoke hoity toity British, Lee sounded like a poor little rich boy (which he was in the movie), so it kind of made sense. And as a great Jason Scott Lee fan, it doesn't matter how well- acted or historically correct or whatever else the movie is or isn't (and by the way I found it completely passable in those senses) as long as we are treated to generous footage of Jason Scott Lee showing off his perfect physique -- and in this movie he nary wears a stitch. Most of the other young male actors, incl Elias Morales, are up to the job as well. I understand perfectly how thrilled one reviewer was about Sandrine Holt's "performance" and feel the same way about her leading man. Anyway, to avoid redundancy, I basically agree with the other positive things other reviewers have said about the movie, and believe one reason it didn't do great at the box office was due to its unusual subject matter -- something that John Q Public isn't always great at handling.

Years before the arriving of the conquerors, the Easter Island lives before a civil war, ancient cults mixed with nihilistic behaviour crash into the island. All mixed with a pseudo ecological message and some stupid jokes. Noro is the son of the chief of Easter Island, he wants to marry Ramana, but, before, he has to win the Egg Race, a race in which he will risk his life in order to chose who will be the chief during the next year. Meanwhile, the slaves are permitted to take part in the race by first time, and the runner wants to marry also Ramana, this will cause the race to be absolutely decisive for the future of the island. It also happens that the current chief lives moaris (mystic meaning) and in the process of building them, they are eradicating the trees that are on the island, and soon there will be anyone and the island will become a desert. With all these plots mixed, it was possible that the movie was interesting, but it results to be very confusing and boring. None of the stories develops correctly and it provokes the movie to be terribly slow and predictable. In addition the actors are not very good, and most of the time you can only see the darkness of the night, as they did not know about fire. To sum up, a long boring film that you should avoid to watch to. The only interesting thing are the precious environment it is filmed.

This movie was a complete lie. for starters let me clue some of you in on this, the researchers who study Easter island only have theories as to how these people came to be there, who they were, and how they lived. and none of those hypothesies have anything in common with this ''long-ear'' ''short-ear'' light skinned, dark skinned malarki that the writers dreamt up. one woman said ''this movie gives an in depth look into who these people were, and how and why they built the statues''..i think you might want to make a trip to your local library, use that 5lb hunk of gray matter and read a book instead of believing a so-called ancient legend of history dreampt up by a bunch of crazed american writers and producers. use your mind for just a milli-sec pleeeeease!! if these people made humungous statues, were so smart [they'd have to be to erect those statues] and so spiritually indulgent why would they force one segment of their own people into slavery, exile and force them to erect those enormous statues just becase their skin was dark, and their ears were short!!? it's so funny how so-called histortians contradict each other..they're so full of it,it's sickening. i just watched a documentary of swimming and beaches on THE LEARNING CHANNEL and accoriding to WHITE historians the Romans were the first to swim in the ocean for fun and sport because all other ''savage'' people thought it brought sea monsters and disease. but in RAPA NUI you can clearly see them [the natives] swimming for fun and surfboarding for christ's sake!In short this ranks up there with all the b******t sterotype pieces of fake ethnic b-movies from ''SHAKA ZULU'' the mini-series to ''KUNG FU''they're all taken from the imaginations of complete gits.