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The River Wild (1994)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 6/25

RiverWild
6/25: Where River of No Return fails, which is many areas, The River Wild delivers.

I'm impressed with the whitewater rafting scenes. The filmmakers didn't cheat in editing. The next best part is the performances by Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon who's very believable as the bad guy. They did their own stunts in most scenes; the extremely dangerous ones were done by professionals. Not to miss is the wonderful cinematography which was shot on location in Oregon and Montana apart from Boston, Massachusetts, for the opening.

But yeah, there are questions. The biggest of them all is: why not get off before the Gauntlet is about to commence and just walk for two miles before getting back on the water? If so, that would mean Wade and Terry didn't need the family after all. How about Gail hitting them with oars at the right time when they're in the rapids and/or the river is moving quickly and it's in the deep portion? That being so, it'll be impossible to hold on to anything, let alone trying to shoot the gun.

Kevin Bacon sure likes to slap people, huh? The only one who didn't get the treatment from him is Meryl Streep. The sign language used by everybody is 100% accurate. However, when it comes to reading the pictographs on the rock to warn Gail, they aren't clear. Gail classifying the rapids is how it's done with the numbers going from I to VI with VI being the most difficult. David Strathairn must be a superhero after taking so much abuse from Kevin Bacon, falling down so much, traversing the country, and setting up the most intricate gotcha.

All in all, if anyone wants a fun action-adventure picture, this is it: The River Wild.