The River Wild (1994)

"The River Wild" isn't among the best or most exciting thriller/action movies ever made but it's a very well made one by acclaimed director Curtis Hanson and with a great cast.

A movie set entirely on a river, with as the central piece of the movie a family, complete with kids and a dog. How exciting does that sound? It sound like a 'based on true events' Hallmark type of movie. But don't be fooled. "The River Wild" is a movie that has plenty to offer, despite its very restrained concept and settings of the movie.

The movie is also more original than you perhaps would expect. The movie also does a fair job at keeping things sort of a mystery for a long time. I especially like how 'the bad guys' try to set up the family against each other to create disorder and different camps, of which they can profit from for their own benefit. It's perhaps not as good and prominently executed as it could had but nevertheless the movie gets points for the attempt, that also I must say mostly works out due to Kevin Bacon's fine role.

Watching this movie sort of makes you think what a shame it is that Bacon doesn't really play villainous roles anymore. He only played these sort of roles in the early '90's, though he had an obvious talent for it. Not that he plays crappy roles now but nevertheless it remains a shame he doesn't play more often the bad guy. He is perfectly good in his role in this movie. He knows to portray a likable character that you're also able to hate at times. A real achievement. But also credits have to go to Meryl Streep, who plays a fine strong female lead and other great actors such as David Strathairn, Joseph Mazzello and John C. Reilly.

Despite that it's not the most exciting movie in its genre it still is one that is always fast going and never boring to watch. The movie mostly features nature action, set on the river. So it's a pretty original movie in its genre but I don't know, movies set at mostly the same locations are just never among my favorite or most exciting ones to watch, such as for instance in my personal experience also was the case with movies such as "Speed" and "Phone Booth".

The movie is of course a great looking, thanks to its nature settings. Also the musical score by Jerry Goldsmith is really worth mentioning.

It's just a fine movie, that is perfectly put together and has a great cast but it's just not the finest exciting genre movie thinkable and it perhaps is also a bit too simplistic, also due to its restraints.

6/10

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Fmovies: If you love the wild outdoors, fishing, camping and riding a raft down rapids like Niagara Falls, this is definitely your kind of picture. Meryl Streep,(Gail Hartman), earned her salary in this film, not just acting but having to take part in some of the water scenes. Gail Hartman every year visited her parents home and enjoyed camping and water sports. However, Gail's husband was deeply involved with his work and some what disappointed his family the last minute. Kevin Bacon,(Wade) meets up with Gail and takes a great liking to her, as well as, her son and it looks like things are going to work out for a great vacation. What appears like a great story becomes a horrible situation that you will have to find out.

THE RIVER WILD is not the most original thriller ever made , it's premise is " a clean cut family bump into a couple of desperate criminals in the sticks and their lives are now in serious danger " but it deserves some credit in not trying to paper over its flaws with ridiculous action sequences or other type of melodramatic plot twists . Perhaps the producers of the recent Jodie Foster thriller FLIGHTPLAN should have watched this to see how a family based thriller should be made ?

Some people may be put off by the fact that there's not much in the way of explosions , car chases or a massive body count and that there's a lot of talking but when you've got a thriller where Kevin Bacon is the bad guy ( And no 1990s movie was complete without Bacon as a bad guy ) if you do have a film that is watchable at the very least . And let me just repeat that this is a film where credibility takes precedence over action . There is a slight flaw where towards the end where one of the characters starts making devices out of stuff lying around ala MCGUYVER but for the most part this is an enjoyable thriller

The River Wild fmovies. To celebrate her son Roarke's birthday and help build his relationship with his father (and her), Gail takes the family unit up to where she used to work as a river guide for a bit of white water rafting. Once there they meet another group heading down river and, when Wade and Terry lose their guide, Gail agrees to let them follow them in their own boat. However when Gail and Tom begin to feel uncomfortable with their guests they try to slip away unnoticed – only for Wade to pull a gun and insist that Gail will help them proceed downriver and cross the legendary Gauntlet.

I first watched this when it came out in the cinema and I remember enjoying it. However noticing it back on television recently I couldn't help but be a little uninterested in it and wondered if I had just false memories of how good it really had been and so decided to watch it again and see. After a slow opening the film gets down to business with the two boats getting together and gradually going to the conclusion that we know is coming but enjoy heading towards anyway. The film delivers its straightforward plot well in the early stages, using the father-figure conflict well (even if it ignores the heavy feminist subtext) to generate the tension, while the later stages is more of a simple hostage thriller sort of affair. This aspect is still quite enjoyable even if it is not as tight as it really needed to be and, as a non-rafter, I wasn't sure how intimidated I was meant to be by the load of water that was the gauntlet.

As a result, the film is a little talky but the cast are able to deal with it and it is really only the clunky, slow start that suffers as a result. I'm not a big fan of Meryl Streep and I didn't think she was totally fitted to the material given her but mostly her performance was natural enough to be convincing. Strathairn plays second fiddle to Streep but he is still enjoyable as he delivers an insecure character. With these two big names in the lead it would have been easy for them to dominate but it is Kevin Bacon that steals the film with a charismatic performance that he easily turns into menace – hardly his greatest performance but he makes more of it than others have in the past. Mazzello is a typical 'cute kid' American actor but he is good enough for this material and he is pretty good in the first half when he is given the material. Reilly and Bratt add some well-known faces to the mix but really neither has that much to do.

Overall this is not a great film but it is good enough to be worth seeing once. The action is not typical for this genre and the novelty value of it makes it seem more interesting. The film looks good and it is tense enough to do the job while the plot gets past the slow start to deliver an interesting set up and a solid enough series of set pieces with a good cast and director onboard (sorry!).

For a conventional Hollywood adventure story, THE RIVER WILD isn't bad at all. While it lacks the rawness of similarly-themed independent fare and the kind of twists and surprises you'd expect from the best this genre has to offer, it tells the story it sets out to tell with a large amount of success, mainly thanks to the lean script and no-nonsense pacing. Much of the action comes from a series of spectacular white-water rafting sequences in which the stunt team are really put through their paces. These mark the film's highlight. The human plot, involving a couple of hostage-takers, is less spectacular, but the film still gets by thanks to the calibre of the cast.

Meryl Streep, although a little too earnest in some places for my liking, takes plaudits as the outdoors expert who has to use her wits to survive both nature and the evils of mankind. Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly are fine as the no-good criminals, and Benjamin Bratt bags a nice little role as a good-guy ranger. Youngster Joe Mazzello is a more mature presence than in the previous year's JURASSIC PARK, and David Straithairn (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM) gets to have some fun as the straight-laced father forced into becoming a hero. Okay, so you know the outcome from the outset (and in a 12-certificate family adventure nothing THAT bad is ever going to happen), but this is nonetheless a mildly entertaining little movie.

I watched The River Wild mainly for two reasons. The first one was incredibly talented young actor named Joseph Mazello, while the second was Kevin Bacon, also very good and underrated actor in my opinion. I expected just an average thriller or something like that but this movie managed to surpass my expectations. Though it wasn't a great or Oscar-worthy movie I found The River Wild mostly good and entertained, worth seeing movie. The story is concentrated on average dysfunctional family with workaholic father, who have almost lost a contact with his wife and two kids. They undertake a raft journey on vacation to celebrate their eldest son, Rourke birthday and in the same time trying to save their dying marriage. This at first calm and beautiful journey gets unexpectedly dangerous when the family meet on their way two strangers (played by Kevin Bacon and John C.Reilly), who also for their own reasons go to a journey with the same route. The story is not flawless and has some plot holes but overall it's not bad written. Well, maybe it's quite predictable but I don't think that such predictability harmed the movie too much. The acting overall was pretty good. To my surprise somehow happened that Meryl Streep became a weakest part in this excellent cast ensemble. I think she was a bit unconvincing as careful mother as well as a strong rafter. Another problem is that her character (Gail) is not developed as much as the movie needs it. For unknown reasons she got even a Golden Globe nomination for this movie but anyway The River Wild definitely is not among her best works. David Straithairn is much better playing Gail's husband and Roarke's father. Kevin Bacon is brilliant as evil, psychotic villain, while John C.Reilly gave decent performance of his diffident, weak-willed sidekick. And finally Joseph Mazello, the most talented actor among entire casts in the movie. His part didn't give him many opportunities to show his talent but in those short moments his acting was beautiful and he was able to overshadow others. Despite all these very good performances the most exceptional thing about The River Wild is not the good acting but a beautiful scenery and excellent cinematography that have captured it. Even only this terrific scenery, filmed somewhere in Oregon, is enough to make this movie worth seeing. It's simply beyond my words. Finally, it is worth to mention nice score, written by Jerry Goldmith, with excellent main theme.

In the conclusion The River Wild is not great but quite a good movie, with good casts, acting and one of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. My grade 7,5 or B.