THE RIVER WILD Starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn and Joseph Mazzello. Directed by Curtis Hanson. Category II.
Playing at Happy, Miramar, Mongkok Broadway, Paris-London-New York, Tsuen Wan Broadway, UA Times Square, UA Whampoa AS WE all know, the simple ideas are usually the best, and the strong central premise of The River Wild virtually guarantees that, with a safe pair of hands at the helm, it will sail in a winner.
The big idea is double-jeopardy on a white-water rafting expedition, and the inevitably linear nature of a down-river boat trip mirrors the plot structure for an action adventure film. It starts gently and innocently enough, but is soon twisting and turning towards an inexorable but invisible end-of-the-line pay-off. The route is dotted with hidden dangers around every bend, fast-moving stretches full of thrills, spills and nifty camera work interspersed with slower, broader shallows where the drama spreads out and draws breath for the next assault. All the way along we know we are headed for the Big One ('The Gauntlet', a mettle-testing, ferocious stretch stretch of the great Colorado River) where the deadly score will finally be settled.
And because all this is written into the very idea of a white-water white-knuckler, everything flows naturally from it, with no need for an over-eager scriptwriter to formulate ludicrous high-concept jeopardy scenarios to hold interest.
Also, it's in the nature of white-water rafting that once you take the plunge there's no getting off until you reach the bitter end (think how hard even other good action thrillers like Die Hard have to work to set the parameters for this crucial containment of the action). Besides, the wilderness setting ensures a natural absence of extraneous characters or incidents that may muddy the plot's pure waters. And it all looks terrific: America's great outdoors, woman-against-nature heroics, lots of fashionable extreme sports action. With the right star, a sure-handed 'helmer' and a standard-issue bad guy, the film's as good as made, played and reaping the profits.
The producers got all of those right, too. Curtis Hanson is best known as director of The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, a superior outsider-from-hell domestic thriller, probably the best of that early nurturing '90s batch after Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear. The other elements grafted on to The River Wild notion fit Hanson's track record to a tee. The nuclear family comprising strong, resourceful mom, comfy-corduroy new-wimp dad and impressionable child, together with an apparently benign stranger who is other than he appears to be - all recall his earlier surprise hit. With that film, he showed he could make a fine thriller; with this one he proves he can do it to order, the sure test of a really good commercial director.
