River Wild, 2023
The film is an American thriller movie that is considered the reimagining of the movie The River Wild of 1994, and the current-day standalone sequel. The movie is under the direction of Ben Ketai, from the script he also co-authored together with Mike Nguyen-Le. The film entered the principal photography commenced during July 2022 at Hungary, wrapping later in that year. The movie was released to direct-to-home videos by digital and physical on 1st of August, 2023.
The Cast Lists
Leighton Meester performed as Joey Reese
Nick Wittman performed as Max
Eve Connolly performed as Van
Taran Killam performed as Gray Reese
Matt Devere performed as Walt
Olivia Swann performed as Karissa
Adam Brody performed as Trevor
Courtney Chen performed as EMT
Kiel Kennedy performed as James
Story Outline
Estranged sister and brother’s Joey and Gray Reese embarked on the whitewater rafting trip among tourists together with their childhood buddy Trevor. Down the river, the happenings quickly turn from an exciting part to a terrifying one, as the crowd finds themselves being trapped alongside the killer who has intent of sabotaging the vacation while keeping the secrets from their past to be revealed. Joey should overcome her fears, then, work with the brother Gray to endure to the end part of the river, just before it becomes too late.
Writer’s Observation
In case you had been wondering, this movie had nothing to connect with the movie entitled The River Wild from 1994 that stars Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. The stories are totally different, although this movie was released during the 29th anniversary from the first one.
The things you will like here is the castings. Keeping the camera steady while on the river is really hard, especially on the night and also on the day. The cinematography had been very good. The different shots of the waterfall were gorgeous. It is good to know some emergency First Aid!
The things you will surely not like here is that, at times, the camera went out of focus while on the action sequences. There are some story holes and a severe escalation of a really bad choice. It is not good to watch characters make stupid settlements, and the major motivation for that “villain” really does not make a lot of sense. For a movie about rafting, it does not have many intense rafting scenarios just like in the 1994 movie. The plot does not make a lot of sense, plus it is not written that well too, and it just ended up abruptly. It is really hard to witness what is happening in the dark for the night scenes. There are also various weapons that are being used in some fights. This recent movie is thought to be an inspiration from the first movie and not really a remake, however, it does take some story points from it. Also, the original plot is a much better one in whatever way you will look at it, just an honest opinion here.
