River Wild Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

River Wild Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 8, 2023

The River Wild is one of my favorite films from the 1990s. It's certainly not one of the best films of the 1990s, but it's a rock-solid thriller and easily a guilty pleasure for its great cast, wonderful locations, and heart-racing story. It's certainly a film I never imaged would be remade or revitalized or followed up on, especially now nearly three decades since its original 1994 release. Yet here is River Wild, a "reimagining" of the original favorite. And, as one might reasonably expect, this stab at recapturing the magic, never mind even the essence, of the original, falls well short. This is a serviceable film, but it lacks all of the critical components that elevated the 1994 original not necessarily to lofty heights, but into the realm of a very good genre thriller.

Joey (Leighton Meester) and her brother Gray (Taran Killam) embark on a weekend whitewater rafting trip, but Joey quickly senses trouble when Gray's ex-con friend Trevor (Adam Brody) is invited. She never could have guessed their river adventure would go from dangerous to deadly. Stranded in raging rapids, the terrified rafters desperately fight to keep from capsizing into jagged rocks. Amidst the constant chaos and roaring waves, a saboteur might be risking their lives to ensure startling secrets stay buried. Getting out alive will take killer instincts as everyone discovers how far they're willing to go to survive.

It's easy to brainstorm a concept for a movie, especially a movie that is so liberally borrowing ideas, settings, and happenings from something that already exists, but it's another thing entirely to actually turn that brainstormed concept into a tangibly good or riveting movie. River Wild certainly points to a solid enough source for its inspiration, but this is a fairly substandard facsimile of the original. Sure, it features rafting, raging water, danger, and the like, but it also lacks suspense, superior characterization, and certainly the high-quality acting that defined and dominated the original. That is not to say that the likes of Meester, Killam, and Brody are poor in River Wild, but their efforts are stymied by a lackluster script, poor characterization built on stock elements, and a general lack of direction beyond the need to move from one shot, scene, or sequence to the next. The acting is fine within the limited opportunity for excellence, but the film's problems all hearken back to a script that feels more like a recap rather than a reimaging of the original, and a recap from someone who hasn't seen the original in 10 or 20 years. It's got the premise right, but it cannot accomplish much else than crudely recreating the essential nuts and bolts of The River Wild.

The film does, at least, find balance between the rafting dangers, the camping dangers, and the human dangers. The latter is more a focus than the former, though certainly all three converge to drive the story forward. But the film cannot engender much enthusiasm within the convergence of these three components, notably for the lack of resonating character depth. There are no major twists or turns, and moments of tension are presented and received with standard fare intensity that attempts to drive up danger and excitement but, again because of the absence of compelling reasons to care, never really amounts to much more than rote movie maneuverings. This is certainly not a poor film overall, but it always feels very superfluous. Perhaps for those without fonder memories of the original this will play slightly better, but this reviewer, at least, will be pulling the original off the shelf in the near future for a now much-wanted revisit.

River Wild Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

River Wild is a drab film that probably looks fairly close to original filmmaker intent on Blu-ray. The picture is just not very attractive. Noise is dense and seems to, at times, fluctuate from heavy to nearly gone in a flash, but the pervasive look for the movie is a gritty, noisy appearance that is dense and often overpowers the screen. Details are adequate, with trees, rocks, and other natural objects enjoying sufficient 1080p resolution clarity. Meanwhile, faces and clothes hold serve, especially some core facial elements like Gray's thick beard. Near film's end, as people become increasingly battered, bruised, bloody, and muddy, the 1080p resolution seems to nearly max out the definition available to it. Nighttime shots and the generally darker and bleaker elements can't quite measure up, and there are many such moments in the film. The color spectrum feels very drab and flat by nature. There's not a lot of depth and life to the palette, and black levels are likewise pushing light and gray rather than heavy and true black. Skin tones fluctuate under the lighting conditions but, at image peak, seem to resemble something akin to lifelike. This is just not a very good-looking movie, even if the Blu-ray appears to replicate the essentials well enough.

River Wild Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

River Wild flows onto Blu-ray with a proficient DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. While nothing with this track stands in prominence, it is a well-engineered and perfectly good presentation of the film's audio elements. The track is at its most aggressive and entertaining when it's presenting various rapids, raging waters, and gunshots. Authoritative depth and stage fill are common when the track presents its most impactful audio elements, and listeners will always feel immersed by the sounds and right there on the water or amidst the action. Lighter environmental cues -- gently flowing water, birds, and insects in the background -- fill the listening area with mood-critical atmosphere when the action takes a backseat to ambience. Musical elements are rich and full with positive front-end width and balanced surround usage. Dialogue is just as it should be: well prioritized, center balanced, and clear.

River Wild Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of River Wild contains no extras. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does ship with a slipcover, which is not embossed. A static menu screen with music and options for "play," "chapters," and "setup" are all that's on the disc.

River Wild Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

River Wild borrows from The River Wild, but it doesn't borrow quite enough, starting and stopping with basic concepts rather than trying to work in the same level of tension, characterization, and acting excellence that made the original such an effective thriller. Hopefully, Universal will see fit to release the superior 1994 on the UHD format, but until then, fans can watch this haphazard reimagining on Blu-ray, which offers spotty video, solid audio, and no extras. Skip it.