Here’s the setup: Gail “White Water” Hartman (Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!)) is a former river rafting
guide who takes her son, Roarke (Joseph Mazzello (Jurassic Park)), on a trip down her old river stomping grounds as a
birthday present. Her husband, Tom (David
Strathairn (The Bourne Legacy)),
cancels at first but then eventually comes along to try to salvage their
strained marriage. He hopes to reconnect
with Roarke as well who hates his guts for working all the time. Along the way they meet up with Wade (Kevin
Bacon (Hollow Man)) and Terry (John C.
Reilly (Gangs of New York)) who seem
a bit creepy. Maybe it’s because they
just did a robbery and are on their escape route. That could have something to do with it. Anyway, they kidnap Gail and her family and
force them to traverse the treacherous waters so they can make their getaway.
This film reminds me of two things. First is that it’s Hitchcock-like in not only
the brilliantly simple and tight story idea but also the excellent and precise
building of tension. You just know so
much shit is gonna go down and that suspense is killer. Second is this is a little like Deliverance. Ok, it doesn’t get viciously violating like
that or make you question what the hell is real anymore by the end but it’s you
know, a fun trip down a river that goes horribly wrong. And they both involve run-ins with a pair of
awful fucking people who put the protagonists in a dire situation. By the way if you haven’t checked out Deliverance yet you really should.
Now Streep is renowned for her acting ability and I’ve seen
her pull off some damn good performances (Kramer
vs. Kramer, Death Becomes Her) but for whatever reason she kinda looks like
she’s not so into it here. Nor sure what
it is but the good news is she has enough natural charm to carry her through
anyway. Although when Gail turns into
her alter ego, White Water, Streep turns it on more ‘cause she gets to kick ass
on the rapids and talk tough to the villains.
Gail gets scared but White Water’s fearless.
I like that David Strathairn was cast as the unavailable
father who when backed into a corner turns into a Pitbull that does whatever
the fuck he needs to do to save his family.
He’s such an average guy in every way, looks, physique, personality, which
makes this casting decision and performance all the more enjoyable. I mean Tom has to wrestle and punch the bad
guys a few times throughout and Strathairn totally pulls it off. I guess it helps a lot that neither Bacon nor
Reilly are huge muscular guys. They’re
not in any better shape than Strathairn so it feels like the playing field is
even, well if we’re talking no gun and only mano a mano that is.
So Tom turns into a cool character despite being kind of
annoying for the first third. You learn
he can’t keep promises or set aside some family time because he’s so absorbed
by his job. He doesn’t fly out with
everyone to the northwest for the rafting trip so you think he’s blown it once again. But then he shows up at the last minute right
before they cast off to show he cares.
The only issue is he also brings along his briefcase and does do some
work while on the river. It seems weird
to me that this guy clearly recognizes he needs to cool it with his job and
join his family on this trip to save his marriage, but then he continues to
work and alienate people anyway. Either
he gets it or he doesn’t. This in
between thing is bullshit.
For my money though the best one to watch is Bacon. Man does he thrive in an asshole role and
this is no exception (that’s strange because he seems like such a down to earth
cool guy in real life). Wade acts fishy
from the start but you can’t put your finger on why exactly and that’s the mark
of a great performance. However the
signs get stronger as the film progresses like he shows Roarke his gun in
secret and peeps on Gail skinny dipping.
It’s when he finally reveals his true intentions of forcing Gail to run The
Gauntlet, an infamously impossible series of rapids that Gail has only run and
survived once before, that you truly begin to see the extent of Wade’s
craziness. I mean it’s astounding that up
until the very end we’re still discovering how much of a psycho this guy actually
is. He’ll kill anyone with absolutely no
qualms and he says sinister shit like “Now I’m gonna try to [shoot] you in the
spine right between the shoulder blades, you ready?” He’s kinda fucking insane and the subtle
build up to that realization is handled great.
John C. Reilly meanwhile is mostly relegated to the dumb
sidekick role. But there’s an innocence
to Terry which gives him some nice dimension.
He’s not heartless like Wade and it’s unclear if he has or could even
muster up the strength to kill someone. And
he does deliver maybe the only funny line in the movie (probably
unintentionally though). You see Gail,
Roarke and Tom know sign language because Gail’s father is deaf so they use
that skill to their advantage in this shitty situation. At one point when Gail is signing to Roarke
Terry yells out “Wade! They’re talkin’
or whatever!”
Moving on, I love the way this was shot with tons of
gorgeous wide open landscape filling your screen. Mountains, rivers, rapids, cliffs, simply
beautiful. Cinematographer Robert Elswit
(Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood,
Nightcrawler, Return of the Living Dead II) did an awesome job surrounding
you in the splendor but also isolation of the northwest.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score is fairly generic but pretty dramatically
sweeping at the same time. I guess
that’s why he’s done a million fucking film scores over the years (Chinatown, Alien, Gremlins, Basic Instinct,
Air Force One). He rides that big
Hollywood film music line like almost no one else. Apparently he was called in at the last
minute to re-do the music because the suits didn’t like what Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ghost)
did. Interestingly you can find Jarre’s
original score if you poke around for a sec. Don’t get what was wrong with it myself. Goldsmith’s score actually sounds more dated,
very early to mid-90’s with those odd air puffed snare hits.
As for the big white water rafting stunts, yea they’re cool ‘n’
all but I gotta be honest, for someone who hasn’t done any of that shit it’s
hard to gauge how impressive that stuff is.
The finale rapids section, The Gauntlet (which is ominously alluded to
many times during the film getting you pumped for it), does look fucking crazy
though. And people had to do that shit
for real, conquering thirty foot drop-offs, tons of waves and whirlpools, giant
rocks that could split your head open in an instant and etc. They definitely deliver on the river getting
pretty goddamn wild.
Director Curtis Hanson had sort of a peculiar career over
the years if you look back (he just died in 2016). He started in low budget horror then did the
teensploitation movie Losin’ It starring
Tom Cruise, and then suddenly became a respected Hollywood director with The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. But most people will know him for the
overrated L.A. Confidential and the
Eminem inspired, Eminem starring picture 8
Mile. He didn’t have a noticeable
style but hey, he sure knew how to get some excitement on the screen. The
River Wild has got to be my favorite of his that I’ve seen. As a quick mention though, Hanson’s
homoerotic thriller Bad Influence is substantially
weird with Rob Lowe (St. Elmo’s Fire)
being the immoral encouragement over James Spader (Crash (1996)). It shouldn’t’
be missed. (Wow, that’s two recommendations and this thing ain’t over yet)
Let’s wrap up, this is a damn fine picture with very good
pacing. It’s like you don’t even realize
how bad the situation is until it’s too late.
Everything seems to be going fine and then all of a sudden you’re trapped
between a river and hard place. Time is
well spent constructing the characters relationships with each other and then
testing those relationships under enormous stress. Throw in some real dangerous river rafting
shit and smart choices about what to leave out and only allude to (the actual
robbery for example) and you got something.
The River Wild
isn’t a masterpiece or anything but I love its spirit and it does the modest
high tension, high stakes plot justice.
I really couldn’t ask for more out of this nice little effective
concept. It’s hard to find a good
thriller and this is certainly worthy of your time. I think you’ll like it.
(Check out this badass fucking trailer)
(Check out this badass fucking trailer)
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