The River Wild

Superb in all ways - acting, adventure, scenery, story, excitement, fear element.

Great to see Meryl Street in real action role - as usual, she gets it right, as do the others.

I watched this film for the first time in 1997 and loved it. Seeing it back on Love Film recently I remebered how much I had enjoyed it and decided to rent it out. I must say it was much better this time round, maybe I didn't appreciate it as much when I was only 13 at the time, maybe I didn't fully understand film at that age.

The film for a start has a supberb cast, Kevin Bacon and Meryl Streep both legends in their own rights and a very young and up and coming John C Reilly.

It starts out as a family film about a mother taking her son back to where she grew up to show him the river that she used to travel on with her father. They hire their boat and as they are getting ready to leave bump into Kevin Bacon who informs them that they are also travelling the river. He seems friendly enough even giving Meryl Streeps son his hat for luck. Meryl Streeps husband then turns up and decideds to take the trip with them.

As soon as the boat is on the water and they have left the film turns darker and darker the further down the river the family travel. It doesn't take long before the film moves from a family looking film to a thriller. Kevin Bacon and his buddies seem to always be close to where the family are but yet still they seem friendly enough and when they get into a little trouble Meryl Streep knowing the river helps them out. They have diner together and celebrate Meryl Streeps son and Kevin Bacon offers him $200!!

They now suspect something isn't quite right and it seems very strange that a stranger would offer a young boy $200 for no reason at all. They decide to ditch the men and try and lose them but Kevin Bacon has slightly other plans.

It is a supberb thriller and has many twists and turns that keep you guessing and keep you you on the edge of your seat. You are with the family the whole way down the river and you begin to feel as though you are right there in the boat with the family travelling down the river with them.

I seriously reccomend watching and have no doubt that you will enjoy this movie.

It's funny with some early-mid 90's films - some of them are so good that, even after 5 watches, you will still see them again on TV and watch them all the way through again. Think Terminator 2 [1991], Braveheart [1995] or Independence Day [1996] and you'll probably have had a similar experience.

Which is why this film is such a mystery - it is so compellingly brilliant that it's like your eyes have been superglued to the TV screen and yet somehow it has not endured with time.

In fairness, there are probably three reasons for it not enduring: 1st its rather unusual subject, 2nd its low budget and 3rd its slightly predictable plot. However, the excellent performances by the entire cast (most of all Meryl Streep, playing a similarly stubborn alpha female charactor to 'The Iron Lady') and also the excellent soundtrack, scenery and direction more than make up for these flaws and leave you wondering why more people don't know about it.

Still, sometimes its good to have films you know are good but others don't have a clue about. Just as V for Vendetta will never be quite as popular as The Matrix, doesn't make any less of a good film, and the same is true of this.

So if you've never seen this film, or have been compelled to see it 10 times, do watch it again as it is still every bit as good as its first go and, best of all, it's a secret thrill...

Love this movie, great cast, good story line. Still looks modern without the use of dodgy CGI. If it wasnt for Meryl Streep it would be a stinker!! :)

Without being earth shattering this is an alright movie. The best bit about it for me was the turn round of the husband who seems as if he is going to be a bit of a wimp for a start but ends up being the hero.