The River Murders - Vendetta di sangue

I love Ray Liotta (Goodfellas...). There is something about his eyes and his interpretation of text that plants him in the garden of good actors. Ving Rhames and Christian Slater are not slouches; they both have a body of work that they can be proud of.

The film has shortcomings but I want to compliment the actors, crew, and artists involved. It's hard to hit the ball out of the park every time but they suited up and did the best they could.

What I see is a script that had quite a few voices that had to be placated in order for the film to be made. There are too many levels of intellect and articulation. Nobody edited the script. The script teeters uncomfortably between genres; the director creates a new sub-genre of pornography at times and then the contextual shots want to make the film artsy. Crime-Porn? I guess.

The script isn't even really that insufferable. The problem is with he pacing, the camera work, the editing, and the dumbing down of EVERY element--! Nobody looks good...and if no one looks good what's the point?

THE RIVER MURDERS BASIC PLOT: Jack Verdon (played by Ray Liotta ) has been a cop for 28 years, when out of nowhere, the women in his life, both past and present, are being murdered. At first it seems to be just a coincidence, but it quickly becomes evident, someone is targeting every woman Jack has ever slept with.

After two murders, the FBI is called in and assigns Agent Vuckovitch (played by Christian Slater) when it becomes clear that a serial killer is involved. Jack's life is painfully laid bare, and because he waited until later in life to marry, he's had many sexual partners. It's a race against time, trying to protect them all, and figure out who the killer could be, and what are his motives.

WHAT DOES WORK: *Christian Slater is fantastic as the sardonic, politically incorrect FBI agent. He pulls off his zingers with perfection.

*Ving Rhames is very believable as police Captain Langley who stands by Jack through it all.

*Sarah Ann Schultz does a great job as Jack's partner, Jenny Thames. She has many intense scenes, and is authentic in all of them.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *Ana Verdon (Played by Gisele Fraga ) is Jack's wife. She is younger, and really doesn't fit. I'm sure Gisele Fraga is a fine actress, but miscast in this role. She and Liotta have no chemistry, and this is a problem, since much of the story is sexual in nature. Many scenes that should be emotionally fraught, are acted as if the two of them have just met (instead of being a married couple of 8 years).

*A few of Liotta's scenes seem forced. What's supposed to be an emotional moment at Jack's mother's grave falls flat.

*Some of the music\score is an odd choice. Some of it is a horror movie score, and the rest is just odd. I think they were going for a "spiritual" sounding score, but it just comes off wrong.

TO RECOMMEND OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IT THE QUESTION: If you are a fan of thrillers, serial killer plot lines, and mysteries in general, then I would recommend this movie. It is graphic, so if you are more of a cozy mysteries type of person, I'd give this a pass. But if you like gritty, no punches pulled thrillers, you'll probably like this one.

CLOSING NOTES: *I don't believe in trigger warnings except in the case of rape or animal abuse. This movie does contain graphic depictions of rape, so be forewarned.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews. Hope I helped you out.

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Ray Liotta's. I've seen him in a lot of films, but usually in a co-starring or secondary capacity, and usually as a psycho, but the trailer looked good (don't they always?) so I watched this one.

The River Murders is surprisingly good. Liotta does a decent job portraying an aging cop victimized by a serial killer for some unknown reason. His character is mostly believable (100 women? Really? And you remember all of their names?) as he looks into reasons why his past lovers are suddenly being killed off. Severely underused actors Christian Slater and Ving Rhames go along for the ride as an FBI agent who thinks Liotta's the one killing the women, and his boss, who suspends him pending further investigation.

Although you figure out early who the real killer is the movie keeps you guessing the reasons why until the end and, even though he's a little over the top religiously, is believable.

This isn't the greatest movie you'll ever see, and it does have it's flaws, but you won't walk away thinking you killed an hour and a half for nothing.

well i saw the plot and decided to watch simply because i don't remember watching any serial murder movies lately...

i was not expecting anything from the movie because i knew in the first place that it is a low budget project but since the plot was appealing i went ahead and to my surprise i liked this movie in many ways. first the story itself. technically no loopholes in the script. second,characters were totally convincing and it didn't occurred at any point of time that they are unknown or never been in the lime light many times which usually happens in a small budget productions that everything is fine but star cast with poor performance brings the house down. so hats off to the stars of this movie. Third, even without showing much violence the director was able to portray the right scenario of crime scenes. so one dimension of the direction where you don't need a chainsaw or a shotgun to paint the walls with blood and body parts to make it a gore fest. You can look over the present resources and develop a plan to use them in a best possible manner. that's what the director has been able to pulled off. And last but not the least the characters in this movie don't behave in the typical way which we always make fun while watching such movies when we felt that this is the most stupidest thing to do in such a situation like even the most famous movies franchise SAW forced us to think that many times. so showing some things out of league was refreshing to me simply because it makes sense. There is this scene where the female partner of Lotta meets a guy and she refuses to date him simply because his partner is in trouble and she suspects that it is not a coincident that suddenly a guy turns up who seems nice and why he is interested in dating a cop which seems out of ordinary and she suspects that he might be dangerous but it would not have happened in the SAW or any other serial killer movies. so credit goes to director who applied logic with his characters thinking making it more of a thinking character's movie than merely simple performance where character is repeating his lines without bringing feel about his character.

Overall it is a small budget DVD release so i don't want you fellows to expect anything great from this movie but I'd say this technically it is decent film who does OK and has nice performance by stars, also the pace of the story is good so if is a good way to kill time at home and most of you might feel good about it. so given the limitations of the director & producers i would say that it is a nice attempt though screenplay could have been more tight but anyway it is refreshing. upcoming directors might learn something from this movie. My rating 7/10 simply because their hard work entertained me.

Ray Liotta and Christian Slater are names, for whom you would say they are A class actors. So they are, however they cannot save poor scenario and a poor movie. Furthermore, such a movie does not bring them some good reputation and in future I will apparently have to avoid movies in which they will be acting. An hour and a half of your life spent to watch this movie is a period, which you will never get back. It is a poor TV-like movie with unrealistic scenario. (well, at least for majority of us normal, ordinary people, family guys). Very poor developed characters. Christian Slater role is marginal, not developed, his role could have been played by any guy from the street who never acted before. Just forget it ... grab a book or go for a walk ...