The River Wild (1994)

• Year: 1994
• Released: 30 Sep 1994
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 4 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110997/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_river_wild
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-river-wild
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, American Sign
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Adventure, Crime, Thriller
• Runtime: 111 min
• Writer: Denis O’Neill
• Director: Curtis Hanson
• Cast: Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn
• Keywords: husband wife relationship, criminal, dysfunctional family, river, marriage crisis,

	6.4/10
	63/100
	57% – Critics
	51% – Audience

The River Wild Storyline

Gail Hartman is facing problems with with her husband, the workaholic architect Tom. On their son Roarke’s birthday, Gail decides to leave their, Willa, daughter with her parents and take her family to raft down a wild river where she was a guide. On the departure, a young man named Wade befriends Roarke and leaves the place with his friends, Terry and Frank. Later the Hartmans encounters Wade and Terry, who do not have rafting experience, and Gail helps them to cross a whitewater. They get closer to the Hartmans, who soon learn a dark secret about them. What will they do to get rid of them?

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The River Wild Movie Reviews

The last action heroine

In the mid 1990s, Meryl Streep fancied being an action heroine and the result was The River Wild.

Streep plays Gail. Married to Tom (David Strathairn) who is always busy at work and misses their son’s Roarke birthday. Gail goes takes her son and the family dog to a white water rafting trip, something she excelled in when she was younger where she was a river guide and would take on the wild rapids.

On the trip she meets Wade (Kevin Bacon) and Terry (John C. Reilly) two inexperienced rafters. at the river. Wade has a slimy charm about him, he flirts with Gail and befriends Roarke. However soon Tom joins the party as a surprise.

Wade and Terry lose their guide and then force Gail to help them at gunpoint.

Curtis Hanson directs an efficient thriller. I do recall this being entertaining when I saw it in the cinema but years later viewing it again it did not seem so good and held little surprises. Maybe because Hanson went on to better things in LA Confidential. Also the sight of Gail and Wade flirting was a bit ughh!

Bacon enjoys himself playing the villain. Strathairn has the boring husband role who has to rescue his family. Streep gives her all with the action scenes but never convinces.

Clean but entertaining family adventure

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.

Guys too obvious villains

Tom Hartman (David Strathairn) cancels on his son birthday once again. Gail (Meryl Streep) takes the kids on the trip by herself. Gail is sure that their marriage is over. She’s a former river guide, and takes her son Roarke rafting down to their family home. They meet Wade (Kevin Bacon), and his friend Terry (John C. Reilly) at the river. Then Tom surprises everyone by coming.

It would be better if the guys weren’t such obvious villains. It could be a better surprise. And the reveal could be done earlier. With the obvious twist coming, the tension isn’t really there. It just doesn’t have enough intrigue. It is always a matter of tones, and how obvious the clues should be. It would be much better to concentrate on the flirting instead. The biggest problem is that it makes Gail look stupid especially with all her giggling. It is however interesting to see Streep take on something physical and really stretch into unknown territory.