River Queen

All Vincent Ward's movies have a heart, a visionary heart. It amazes me that he has managed to make as many movies as he has, as none of them have been block busters. They have all been personal and intense, and they have all added something to the world. None of them are just another genre type a,b or c movie.

I had heard conflicting reviews about this one, but given his previous films particularly Navigator and What Dreams May Come I just had to go. It really got under my skin, it's a historical drama, but dream, desire, and vision saturate the story, making it like no other.

Also being from Aotearoa and with Maori blood having been mixed into my veins, it was fantastic to see such a good film finally being made of that clash of cultures. How personal and close the wars were.

The landscape and the Wanganui River were filmed to perfection.

This movie haunts me. It's great to finally have another Vincent Ward movie. If only they released the other ones on DVD!

As the above suggests, I was ultimately unimpressed with this movie. It is lovely to look at, the scenery is lush, but the detail of the story, in particular the characters, are totally unbelievable. Films don't have to be believable, but films like this, with a political edge and social commentary do.

Similarly, I have no problem with commercialism as such, but once again, films like this shouldn't be making casting decisions purely based on box office draw. This is absolutely the case with Sutherland, who is frankly rubbish as Doyle. His accent was far from authentic, but he fell into the biggest trap of all, his accent IS his performance, and we end up with a caricature of Irishness with no personality outside of his nationality. I find it totally implausible that anyone involved thought he was the best man for the job. All in all, this is a clear case of commercial interest over quality and when you're trying to be The Mission, this kind of thing wrecks your chances of success.

Speaking of accents, there were a couple more problems, one being the striking modernity of Boy's accent which acted to dispel the feeling of being transported to another time. More surprising was Samantha Morton's much lauded Irish accent, which was variable to say the least. Her voice meandered between strong north and soft south, even in the voice-overs, where I would've expected any such discrepancies to be picked up.

However, these are minor gripes compared to the motivation and actions of Sarah. She never seems at home with the English, and almost instantly at home with her son and his tribe, the dilemma between the life she knew and the life she if offered just seems like a no-brainer. Perhaps a lot has been lost in editing, perhaps this was meant to be a three hour film or a mini series where these things could've been fleshed out, but I can only judge what I've seen.

Now the biggest problem, Sarah's (Morton) relationship with Doyle (Sutherland) is incomprehensible. The fact is that her affection for him is not conveyed in any way until her having to choose between him and her son, the conflict she goes through at this point was frankly ridiculous and killed the movie for me.

As you may have guessed. this movie didn't work at all for me, but it is top notch to look at, you really won't see anything more stunning in terms of scenery, there are some good performances and my wife liked it.

I enjoyed 'River Queen' better on second viewing. First time through, I found the story-line a tad confusing and even long winded in places. Admittedly, I was also distracted wondering whether it was shot on the Whanganui (I grew up in and around Wanganui - the river has an 'h'; the city doesn't). At the end though, I was happy with the experience. Certainly happy enough to watch it again.

On second viewing, familiar with the story and characters and confident in the knowledge that I was indeed looking at the Whanganui, the pace seemed good. I thought the acting good and I loved the scenery (an ex-patriate's nostalgia perhaps?). I particularly appreciated the recreation of warfare in the New Zealand Wars.

Others have suggested that the movie was unduly biased towards the Maori. This surprises me as, pakeha though I am, the thought did not cross my mind on either viewing.

PS I recently found out that an ancestor of mine was in the Regiment depicted in the movie.

Very good film with interesting as well as attractive plot , nice acting and exceptional , colorful cinematography shot on location and it has the feel of a great epic fable . It begins with a real sense of wonder and intrigue when we become involved into a lush world with full of vegetation , rivers , mountains and dangers . An intimate and affectionate story set during the 1860s in which a young Irish woman called Sarah O'Brien and her family : father (Stephen Rea) , brother (Kiefer Sutherland) and son (Rawiri Pene) find themselves on both sides of the thunderous wars between British and Maori during the British colonization of New Zealand. A Maori village has so far been spared from the encroachment , but the villagers fear the imminent enemy arrival and subsequently seeking to defend themselves . Eventually , the Maori group will face the ultimate battle against the nasty colonialists . With darkness all around, only the heart can see ! . A kidnapped son ! . A nation at war ! . An epic journey !.

Gripping and evocative film about New Zeland's turbulent wars and full of enjoyable scenes when a group of natives from the wild emerge in a brutal battle against the white invaders who are causing ravage , massacre , destruction and high body-count . It is a genuine as well as imaginative tale written and directed with great sensibility , clarity , fairness and brutality too . This engrossing picture contains powerful and haunting images , it's plenty of images that stay in the mind . Main and support cast are pretty good , giving decent acting , such as : Samantha Morton as starring Sarah O'Brien , Kiefer Sutherland , Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison , Anton Lesser and Stephen Rea. The interesting perspective is intimate and it lends a great deal of excitement to the movie experience . Beautiful scenery , tense , intriguing and a moving climax lift this story . There's something for everyone here ; fans of history , fans of adventure , fans of gorgeous landscapes should all find something to enjoy about this film .

Wonderfully directed , and it is all strongest for being brilliantly photographed in splendid panoramic screen and boasting colorful imagines , excellently shot by cameraman Alun Bollinger , filmed on location in New Zealand : Rangitikei River, Ruatiti Domain,Manganuioteao River, Pipiriki, Wanganui River, Manganuioteao River, Wanganui River, Manawatu-Wanganui, Waimarino, North Island, Patea Bay, Patea, Manawatu-Wanganui and Wellington . Adding a sensitive , stirring musical score by composer Karl Jenkins , including native and folkloric sounds . The motion picture was stunningly written and directed by Vincent Ward , though on a limited budget . Ward's first big hit was ¨Navigator¨(1988) , It's a masterpiece who made his major impact gaining international acclaim, that was the movie what convinced the producers of Alien 3 (1992) to hire Vincent Ward as writer/director , although Ward would eventually leave the set of Alien 3 after many creative differences with the studio . Vincent Ward's won several prizes in a lot of Festivals such as Australian Film Institute , Cannes Film Festival , Fantasporto and Sitges Catalonian Film Festival . The great filmmaker Vincent Ward has produced , executive produced and/or written and directed feature films including ¨What Dreams May Come¨ , ¨The River Queen¨ and ¨The Last Samurai¨ , developing the underlying material , as he chose the director , before acting as an executive producer on this film . Ward's films have earned critical acclaim and festival attention whilst achieving a wide , eclectic audience, such as ¨Vigil¨ (1984), and ¨Map of the Human Heart¨ (1993) . ¨This River Queen¨ (2005) along with ¨The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey¨ (1988) are considered his best films . ¨River Queen¨ (2005) rating : 7/10 . Well worth watching . Above average but is deemed by many to be the Vincent Ward's best .

I just saw River Queen today. It's not as bad as the critics are saying. But it's not as good as it could have been. The acting from the leads is good, Cliff Curtis proves how world class he is and it's great to see Temuera Morrison doing some acting again. And as unpopular a view as it might be I thought Samantha Morton was very good. The cinematography is amazing and at times breathtaking. But (come on you knew there was a but.). The voice over is just really annoying and seems to state the obvious when I'd rather the actors just be allowed to show us. I also found the first half hour or so really hard going, it seemed disjointed and felt more like a long short film. The action sequences were well done and captured the battles well without doing the shaky hand held camera work that everyone else is resorting to these days. Overall the film is worth a look I'm sure everyone will get something out of it.

Note, If your a fan of Kiefer Sutherland. He's really just there so they can put his name on the poster there are plenty of local actors that could have played that role.