The River Wild: Review By The CryptKeeper

Well, I had wanted to see this for a while now. Glad I finally did, because it was awesome! (I recorded it on HBO) It reminded me of "Deliverance" except not as violent, of course. (I haven't seen "Deliverance" but I heard it's pretty bad). Anyway, I thought that since the film was PG-13, that an R rating might have made it slightly better, but it was still good. The film didn't need blood, gore, sex or nudity to make it R, however, I think that some swearing would be nice (I know that sounds bad). In one scene the mother says to Kevin Bacon "Listen to me you little idiot." IDIOT? Who says that when you could and SHOULD say "Listen to me you little sh*t", or "dumbass," or something other than "idiot." BUT despite that minor problem, the film is good.

The storyline is very original. I'm not going to tell you the whole thing, but here's half of it. A family is on a boating trip. The mother and father don't get along too well, and the father almost didn't even come in the first place. He is always working, and has missed his son's past birthdays. But at the last minute he shows up. As they are about to go, the kid meets Wade (played by Kevin Bacon). He seems so nice, and even gives the kid his hat, which came from a band he likes. Wade and the rest of his crew launch off before the family. They think nothing of them. As they are traveling down the river they see them a few times, but STILL think nothing of it. Until one time they see them waiting on a small piece of land. "We were waiting for you." Wade says. Now, that is not some way of saying "You're gonna die soon." He actually was waiting for them because they lost their guide. And damnit I forgot to say that the mother (played by Meryl Streep) used to be a guide at that very river. Well, I am not going to tell you much more, but let me say that they lose their guide.... They knew what happened to him...

The acting is excellent by all but one. I'll say who in a second here. Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly play the bad guys. I think unknowingly I am a Kevin Bacon fan, because I have been seeing a lot of movies with him in them latley. Like Hollow Man, Trapped, I am planning to watch Death Sentence again, and many others as well. I really hate John C. Reilly, ever since he did that retarded "Walk Hard" movie, which I haven't seen, and don't plan to. But in this movie I think he did excellent. I mean Kevin Bacon held most of the movie, but he did a good job for his role. Meryl Streep... I have nothing against her acting skills, but damn, is she hard to look at. I know that's bad, because looks should not factor into how we view an actor or actress, but like I said, she's hard to look at. In this particular film I didn't find her as ugly, but that's not saying much. I also found that in one or 2 parts, it sort of looked like she was over-acting. But that's ok I guess. But who I really hate is the kid. AHHHHH!!! I wanted to kill that kid! He's such a bad actor! He was pissing me off! I was about to smack him, if Kevin Bacon didn't first. I have seen some bad child actors, and this moron beats all of them by far. I thought the kid in "Hostage" was bad. HA! He deserves an academy award compared to this dumbass! The overall acting was good, but that dumb kid distracted me from the movie! AHHH!!!

The director is Curtis Hanson. I really like his style. It is hard to explain, but I think he does a great job. He definitely keeps you entertained throughout the whole movie. I like his camera angles in some scenes. You see a silhouette of all the characters, and just the way the movie is presented. I haven't heard of this director, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't done anything else or does a bad job on this one.

The visuals are about as good as they get. I mean the film is not a visual masterpiece, but the view of the river and the forest around it is pretty.

Overall, definitely a good movie. I have no complaints, except for the one I mentioned in the first paragraph. Great movie. Now all I need to do is buy it!!!

OH!! and another complaint is that retarded kid!!