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The River Wild (1994)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:15
Rotten:11
Average Rating:5.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: In THE RIVER WILD, Gail (Meryl Streep), a former river guide, plans a white-water rafting trip to celebrate her son Roarke's (Joseph Mazzello) birthday and patch up her troubled marriage to her... In THE RIVER WILD, Gail (Meryl Streep), a former river guide, plans a white-water rafting trip to celebrate her son Roarke's (Joseph Mazzello) birthday and patch up her troubled marriage to her workaholic husband, Tom (David Strathairn). As the family begins their river adventure, they meet Wade (Kevin Bacon), a novice rafter with a magnetic personality. When the family finds Wade and his friend, Terry (John C. Reilly), stranded and abandoned by their guide, Gail and Tom decide to help them navigate the rapids. However, family fun turns to terror when Wade and Terry show their true colors--they're really criminals trying to evade the police following a major heist. To make matters worse, their escape route requires that they run the Gauntlet, deadly rapids where three rivers converge in violently tumultuous waters. This taut thriller from director Curtis Hanson (BAD INFLUENCE, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) features Streep in her first role as an action-adventure heroine, while Bacon is truly menacing as the psychotic Wade, a desperate criminal in over his head. [More]
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, Joseph Mazzello
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, Joseph Mazzello, John C. Reilly
Director: Curtis Hanson
Director: Curtis Hanson
Producer: David Foster
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Reviews for The River Wild
[Streep's] role is ridiculous, and the scenes depicting her marital crisis play like a hokey prelude to the inevitable reconciliation.
The perfect high old time for audiences in the mood to be tossed into the spin cycle for a pulse-pounding thrill ride.
The real action star to threaten Bruce Willis' Die Hard crown and make us forget Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger and Demolition Man one-two punch from last year has emerged. And it's Meryl Streep.
If watched from a mildly amused, forgiving distance, the movie has its enjoyable moments -- good and campy.
The thriller framework is still familiar, but the results exhibit a welcome freshness.
O'Neill proves to be a squeamish screenwriter. He doesn't allow his villain to do anything truly unnerving until the story's nearly done.
Constructed from so many ideas, characters and situations recycled from other movies that all the way down the river I kept thinking: Been there. Done that.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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