Review: The River Wild

Former white-water rafting guide Meryl Streep takes her son Joseph Mazzello for a day out on the water, with workaholic husband David Strathairn a somewhat reluctant participant in the adventure. Early on they encounter a couple of stranded novices, Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly, and since they have no guide and Streep doesn’t want them to stay stranded, she agrees to help guide them and join the family. Mazzello takes to Bacon immediately, Strathairn is far less impressed. Soon enough, even Streep is starting to have her doubts about their new companions. Benjamin Bratt appears briefly as a friendly ranger who may or may not end up serving a similar purpose to Richard Farnsworth in “Misery”.

I’m not sure how Curtis Hanson (whose only truly notable film was “L.A. Confidential”) managed to attract such strong actors for what is a rather formulaic thriller, but this 1994 river-rapid flick is still more than decent. It would be a whole lot lesser however, if it weren’t for the excellent, charismatic bad guy performance of Kevin Bacon, who steals the show. The very versatile and rarely disappointing actor is adept at displaying likeable charisma as easily as he can suggest callous viciousness and menace. It’s a good showcase for him. 

Less impressive is Meryl Streep in what is probably her most commercial film to date. She’s OK and relatively convincing as a rower/water rapid expert, but she’s not having one of her best days here. In support, David Strathairn is well-cast as her workaholic, pencil-pushing husband who slowly proves his mettle when tasked with protecting his family. It’s a bit of a thankless role and like Streep he has done far better than this, but Strathairn is well-suited to playing rather dry, boring people like this. As for young Joseph Mazzello, he’s a more than decent child actor, whilst an up-and-coming John C. Reilly is well-cast and Bacon’s not terribly threatening off-sider.

The main issue here is the screenplay by Denis O'Neill (whose only other credit has been the Robert Duvall soccer film “A Shot at Glory”), which probably didn’t need the added character detail of Streep being a history teacher at a school for the deaf. She’s already a mum and a river guide, both of which are integral to the plot. The deaf thing has its use, but really wouldn’t be missed if it were entirely excised. It seems like unnecessary ‘business’ for the sake of it. The marital disharmony angle between Streep and Strathairn isn’t great either, but it’s somewhat forgivable. Although its depiction of masculinity might seem a tad old-fashioned, I kinda liked it because we see that Bacon ultimately isn’t admirable nor as tough as he thinks he is. And there’s a young boy’s impressionable mind at stake here. The scenery captured by Robert Elswit (“Magnolia”, “Good Night and Good Luck”) is outstanding, Hanson’s direction workman-like but effective enough. Although I’m led to believe that the film was shot entirely on location, I have to say that some of the rafting scenes (especially those shot with the actors in fairly close) give evidence of projection work/blue screen to my eyes. For the most part it’s pretty seamless for a mid-90s film, but every now and then I’d see something that just didn’t look right.

Even back in 1994, this was nothing new plot-wise, and it certainly isn’t any newer today. A soft recommendation from me, this benefits from a terrific performance by Kevin Bacon, and an excellent music score by the great Jerry Goldsmith (“The Omen”, “Planet of the Apes”, “Star Trek: First Contact”) that is almost majestic-sounding. Pretty prosaic plot-wise, and a good 10 minutes too long. See it for Bacon.

Rating: B-