The River Wild [Blu-ray]

Remember Deliverance, the Heart of Darkness-style river-rafting tale with Burt Reynolds? This is like that, except minus the gross stuff, and with much better acting. Sorry Burt, but you never were on the same level as Meryl Streep or Kevin Bacon. Both are fantastic in River Wild, helped out by David Strathairn (whatever happened to him?) and John C. Reilly. This family adventure drama will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. When an unhappy Yuppie couple and their son go whitewater rafting, they drift into way more trouble than a few roiling rapids by reluctantly joining forces with some fellow rafters who give off a bad vibe right from the start. Filmed in Montana and Oregon, the film is spectacular to look at. The script is well-done and the suspenseful pace is relentless. Streep shines and brings to her character the kind of depth and complexity that you expect from one of the greatest actresses of all time. Bacon shows he can definitely do creepy and sinister, no problem. Well worth the rental fee on Prime. I'd even watch it again.

I usually don't watch adventure movies, but I'll watch any movie with Meryl Streep or Cate Blanchett.This movie worked as an adventure in that I was on the edge of my seat, but afterwards I realized I was emotionally manipulated by a script that's not well-crafted. The motivation for attempting the dangerous rapids makes no sense, and all sorts of unbelievable things happen just to raise the tension.Meryl Streep's performance made it worth my time, however, and persuaded me to raise my rating to neutral. The movie starts with a fairly generic marital conflict, but Streep brings such expressiveness to the character that I was intensely drawn into the story. The range of emotions she shows when faced with danger is equally impressive.I read an interview in which she said she sought out a part way outside her comfort zone. I commend her for that, but I wish her agent had worked harder to find a script worthy of her talent.

This is one of my favorite movies. It has great actors/actresses in it and the story line is really heartfelt with action...a must see if u haven't already. A for sure underrated film.

This family vacation is about to get awry. 2 prisoners have just escaped a prison & have just pulled off a robbery, now they have a perfect plan. Taking the river to Mexico or somewhere. At first they seem friendly, & they're welcomed by the family to tag along with them for a while. But these guys get a little too close, & here & there they begin to notice their strange behavior. Failing to outwit them doesn't appear to be working. They take the 3 of them hostage.Every attempt to get away from them is failing.The river wild is the type of movie I like. Its exciting to know how its going to turn out. Movies I watch them. But I have to pretend like its the first time I've seen them, it makes it that much more exciting. The lady knew how to take charge. I believe inside she wasn't afraid to face the problem against the bad guys. She uses her wits to gain some sort of an advantage. That's the kind of ride I'd go on. I've never been white water rafting. Not in any state. The movies fun. Kevin Bacon taking charge of the family & tying them up the mother & the boy, & the Dad who escapes & stalks them as they travel down river, thinking about what to do is exactly is one heck of a story. One I just Love!

Action packed and great acting from big name stars when they were young.

I loved this movie as a kid, still do! Full of some of my favorite actors. I was in the mood to watch a BADA$$ woman flick, and went for this! Plus Im outdoorsy and love the water, so it was a nice movie for the mood!

Excellent, suspenseful movie.Kevin Bacon plays his part very well...as does John C. Reilly. Definitely worth watching...or even owning on DVD. I even watched it 3 times, before the 48 hour rental time was up. I find you have to watch a movie more than once, to catch all of the details in a movie...especially a fast moving suspense/thriller movie. I enjoyed it...& definitely recommend it.

Suspenseful!

My wife recently saw this movie on the TV and indicated to me that it would be advantageous for her to actually own it so she could watch it whenever. I couldn't find it on the local stores so a quick search on Amazon UK found it - it was out of print as the movie is quite old now.Anyhow, the movie is reasonably good if you don't mind the Director's inconsistency errors all over the place. I assume the Director must have been in a rush to make this movie.

Brilliant film well worth watching

Really delighted 2 see this movie again

love it

Great movie