El río de la ira

Ruby Red (Willa Fitzgerald) and Shelby John (Jack Huston) get engaged and want to get clean of the drugs they were taking. Ruby Red wants to be baptized, too, and start life clean and free. But a drug dealer gets to Ruby Red. Shelby is beside himself and goes to kill all the drug dealers. Sheriff Church (Robert DeNiro and his deputy need to stop this killing spree.

Probably Bruce Willis should have played the Sheriff as DeNiro's performance looked a lot like a Wills slow walking gig in this low budget story. DeNiro had very little to do except near the end when he confronts Shelby with a gun.

No, most of the story is all Ruby Red and Shelby and later mostly Shelby as he goes gunning for drug dealers. A kind of surprising tidbit is when the movie is all Ruby Red and Shelby, we really didn't care for either of them. Whose fault is that? Yes, we wanted them to get clean of drugs, but when they were going through the withdrawals we just wanted those scenes to be over with and they went on for too long a time.

Directors these days are finding more brutal ways of killing and torturing people and this promotes unease in my wanting to watch an entertaining story. Cringe-worthy is a good word watching this movie.

Notables: John Malkovich as Peter, a supporter of the Church, but there is more to Peter as you will see; Clay Wilcox as Darius, a drug dealer; Quavo as Coyote as a drug runner.

This is watchable especially if you FF thru the killing and torturer scenes. Maybe this would have been better if the Sheriff didn't know that Shelby was the one killing drug dealers, but then again everyone knows everyone in a small town such as this was. (4/10)

Violence: Yes Sex: No.

Nudity: No.

Humor: No.

Language: Yes.

Rating: C.

First of all you see the names of De Niro and Malkovich top lining the one sheet and you think to yourself, 'How bad can this be?' Unfortunately I didn't see that Randall Emmett was directing. Just like his deal with Bruce Willis' last few films, it's just another form of exploitation. Jack Huston really deserves better (see Boardwalk Empire), Bob and John probably needed the paycheck, but after reading the script, they should've known better. The script spent the first half of the film portraying the challenges of addicts in love before turning itself into the righteous revenge killing trope of every 80's action hero film. I almost gave up after the first 40 minutes because nothing happened, I stuck around out of morbid curiosity. Throw in few God missives (because we are in the south after all), the usual dispatching of greasy baddies without the panache of John Wick, and end with speech of God meeting capitalism face to face. I met Randy at Cannes back in 2001, he was asleep in his limo with his mouth open as I walked up to a mid day meeting. Unfortunately, I think he's still sleeping. On the good side was the cinematography but the edit was over long and repetitive. So for those who have lasted this long in the review, it's definitely a slog and not worth the bother. Wendy.

IN A NUTSHELL: Sheriff Church (Robert De Niro) and Detective Zeppelin strive to keep the peace in their rough town, where residents' only two interests are the church or oxycodone. Newly engaged Shelby John (Jack Huston) and Ruby Red want a fresh start. They decide to have a family together and get clean, with the support of Peter, Ruby's brother-in-law (John Malkovich). However, Shelby discovers his beloved Ruby dead on their porch before she could fulfill her final wish: to be baptized in the river and washed away from her past sins. Filled with fiery rage, Shelby embarks on a vengeful killing spree to right all the wrong done to Ruby by every link in the drug dealing chain. Armed with nothing but adrenaline and a nail gun, Shelby picks off dealers and junkies one by one until he gets to the top. Sheriff Church and Detective Zeppelin must race against the clock to put an end to Shelby's vigilante justice before his fight with the crime lord Coyote (Quavo) turns the entire town into a bloodbath.

If you enjoy vigilante justice movies, you'll like this one. The problem with them is that you usually feel like you've been swimming in the gutter for 1 ½ hours after you finish watching them.

The movie was directed by Randall Emmett. The screenplay was written by Adam Taylor Barker and Chris Sivertson.

THINGS I LIKED: Who doesn't love Robert DeNiro? His face on the poster definitely caught my eye. He and John Malkovich both do a good job, but their talents are mostly wasted in this predictable movie.

The movie also features the awesome Dale Dickey. If you want to see her fantastic performance in a leading role, watch A Love Song.

Jack Huston also does a good job in his very dramatic role as the boyfriend who tries to hunt down the drug dealers whose products killed his girlfriend.

I really liked the soundtrack and musical choices.

There's a sense of satisfaction as you get to see scumbag drug dealers get what's coming to them.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Some characters speak in such low, garbled voices that it's hard to understand what everyone says. Sadly, I could almost never understand what Robert DeNiro said.

Acts 1 and 2 are very slow-moving while we watch people do drugs and get super sick. Hopefully, this movie will be an effective cautionary tale for people who are considering drugs by getting a realistic look at the awful consequences.

There are some very contrived, hokey moments.

Some of the characters seem more like exaggerated cartoon characters.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Tons of profanity and F-bombs Blood and gore Violence with multiple weapons High dead-body count with brutal deaths Cigarettes We see drug paraphernalia We see people shoot up drugs in their arm We see someone throw up.

We see a young woman in just her underwear We see a couple go at it (clothed) in a public park.

We see dead bodies.

!

Robert DeNiro & John Malkovich (and Dale Dickey) are in support, and it has a long drawn-out first-half set-up... but despite these wrappings of supposed class "Savage Salvation" is still nothing but a dumb, forgettable actioner. In a small, depressed mid-west US town young & in-love Jack Huston & Willa Fitzgerald are recovering addicts, til she slips, ODs & dies... sparking his bloody, vengeful, muderous rampage up the local heroin supply chain - and that is ALL Adam Taylor Barker & Chris Siverston's screenplay offers. Director Randall Emmett adds nothing of note, making DeNiro & Malkovich's involvement bizarre & disappointing. It's a total turd. Flush!

I really liked this film! What's not to like? Great cast, good music, excellent revenge story against drug dealing scumbags who definitely have it coming!

I thought the portrayal of the addicted couple struggling to get clean and start a new life on the straight and narrow was very moving and powerful!

Maybe all the negative reviewers are too fond of their own addictions to empathize with the main characters. I also wonder how many of them actually watched until the end. I know how hard it is for non-believers to watch a film that still holds out Christian faith as the only hope for the lost, so they probably tuned out and crossed it off before they even saw the end.

I would even go so far as to say that this film is one of the best films I've seen in the young year of 2023.

I've grown to appreciate Jack Huston's acting talents of late, just as Ive enjoyed his uncle Danny's performances. They are both a credit to the Huston heritage.

De Niro and Malkovich are their usual convincing selves. No complaints there. I liked the choice of music, all of which seemed very thoughtfully programmed to the context of each scene.

Don't listen to the negative reviews. This film is well worth watching, unless you're too cynical and secularized in your think to still believe in justice and the hope of true salvation in Jesus Christ.