The River King

(*) Review title inspired by lyrics of "Riverside" by Agnes Obel Slow (occasionally too slow) but ultimately rewarding, nonetheless. That is probably the best and most honest way to describe "The River King". It's an old-fashioned murder mystery, although with supernatural touches and intense psychological overtones. The plot isn't nowhere near original, but it's absorbing from start to finish and there's a lovely end-twist, and - moreover - the filming locations and soundtrack are staggering, and the performances are more than good.

In a quiet and remote snowy town in Nova Scotia (what a beautiful region), the body of a student at an elite private boarding school is found in the river. The school's board, as well as the local Chief of Police, quickly wrap up the incident as a tragic suicide to avoid a massive scandal. Honest officer Abel Grey, however, strongly suspects it was a murder, and maybe even with some elite citizen and questionable hazing rituals involved. Abel's curiosity is not appreciated, and he is soon blamed for still having a hard time with his own brother's suicide. Still, Abel finds some evidence to keep the investigation open, and he also gets help from a lovely teacher at the school.

Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle (who looks an astounding lot like a young Meryl Streep) are excellent, and what I really appreciate the most was how director Nick Milling subtly touches upon philosophical themes.

The movie had everything set up to be a great feature, but instead turned out to be a dud. Very disappointing.

It starts out with a body found in the river. Two cops find it (one being Ed Burns). They flip flop from being completely inept to actually caring. While they're not sure what to do with the body, they notice a strange feature on the corpse's chest. Ed Burns takes this case seriously as everyone else wants to dismiss it so quickly as a suicide or accident. This is the great plot build up. The rest is downhill.

Movie is still nice to watch if you like Ed Burns but a drag on entertainment.

I don't know why it is called "The River King", but it is a compelling movie. It has a good story line. There are some great possible endings and at least one of the best was selected. Any weak moments are covered over pretty well by the fine, believable acting of Edward Burns. Jennifer Ehle is worth watching anytime. Rachelle LeFevre should do well in the acting business. I'd recommend the movie to anyone who is interested in entertainment without unrealistic computer graphics. It was most entertaining. While it may well perpetuate the "myth" that all elite schools have bad boys leading other bad boys in deadly hazing rituals, it does not portray them in a good light.

"The River King" is a well-acted mystery. Edward Burns plays detective Abel Grey. He finds a body in the river and it's one of the students of the Hadden School, an exclusive college. Everybody Abel talks to, says it's suicide, but Abel has his suspicions. He also has to fight his personal demons that are intruding on the investigation.

Edward Burns puts in a really good performance. You care about his character. You definitely want to find out how the mystery ends. It looks great and the music is different too. The only thing I didn't get was the character of Betsy Chase. (Jennifer Ehle) She was not necessary to the movie.

It is odd that a film of this high quality went straight to video. Don't be fooled by that though. It's a film that's worth watching.

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I like Burns, he does all he can with this part. But, I detest movies with no conclusion, and this one is one of those. You could leave at any time, and know as much as those of us dumb enough to stick it out to the end.

Great visuals, good music. Beautiful winter scenes. A couple of nasty guys who you'd like to see put in their place. A nice Streep-clone girlie figure. She's engaged to one of they nasty guys. But, why is she in the story at all? Even a ghost is thrown into the cast.

Odd love scenes .... he and she are just talking, then suddenly sucking face like they were magnetized. When they pull apart, you almost miss the "plop" sound from cartoons. They swear off each other, agree to call it quits, and then get right back to swapping spit.

I can see why this went straight to DVD .... somebody had the brains to save the distribution and promO costs, and cut their losses.