6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An adventurer and a motley crew search for a lost city in the Amazon jungle.
Starring: Michael Dudikoff, Robert Vaughn, Donald Pleasence, Herbert Lom, L.Q. JonesAdventure | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
“River of Death” is a loose adaptation of Alistair McLean’s 1981 novel. While it sips from a literary source, the true inspiration for the 1989 effort seems to be split between “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Apocalypse Now.” Director Steve Carver (“Big Bad Mama,” “An Eye for an Eye”) makes a game attempt to give the adventure story a cinematic lift, channeling Spielberg and Coppola to the best of his ability, striving to give Cannon Films an easily marketable picture. “River of Death” isn’t shy about stealing, but it remains weirdly inert. Despite its Amazon River setting, interest in shootouts and threatening, highly decorated natives, and star turn from action hero Michael Dudikoff, the feature doesn’t provide the necessary speed for excitement, struggling to come up with ways to make a bland tale at least passably gripping.
Taking viewers into the heart of the jungle, the AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation preserves the low-budget action satisfactorily. Fine detail is boosted by intense close-ups, with sweaty, creased faces a common sight in the picture. Still, textures remain, along with a pleasant read of environmental particulars, with distances available for study and stained costuming offering character. Colors look healthy, delivering consistent greenery for the Amazon adventure, and native body paint jobs add some atypical hues. Red tends to pop with more purpose, viewed in Nazi flags and bloodshed. Skintones look true. Grain is present, without spreading into noise. Delineation is adequate with no signs of solidification. Print displays some speckling and minor scratches, but major damage isn't detected.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix makes a game attempt to pump the picture up with hearty scoring efforts, which sound clean and supportive, delivering passable instrumentation and tonal intent. Dialogue exchanges aren't as secure, finding limitations, possibly inherent, resulting in crispy highs, adding just a touch of distortion to certain scenes of agitation. Sound effects are bold, presenting sharp gunfire and heavy explosions. Atmospherics are alive with the sounds of the jungle, while more mechanical detours, including helicopter rides, carry necessary noise.
"River of Death" isn't a thrill ride, with long stretches of the feature lost to dramatic inertia, while the central threat posed by Dr. Manteuffel isn't entire mapped out to satisfaction, weirdly ignored by the script to make room for punches and small-scale stunt work. And Anna, another supposed end game for the story, is weirdly dismissed with little fanfare, rendering the climax confusing, not satisfying. It's easy to see where Cannon Films wanted to go with "River of Death," beefing up the adventure routine with literary class in MacLean, while South African settings show decent expanse, delivering a little more bang for the buck. However, a consistent display of riveting screen activity is missing from the final product, finding Carver struggling to make a few action set-pieces look like a steady run of trouble for the hero. It's well-intentioned, but "River of Death" doesn't have the budget or the imagination to keep boredom from seeping into the movie, making it a surprisingly tedious sit at times.
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