The River King

source: The River King

I like to like movies that qualify as small gems. TRK had all the potential for such and, for the first forty minutes or so, looked to qualify. The acting wasn't bad (Ed Burns is just a bit too low key) the script is crisp and the pacing, shoot and story suspenseful. Indeed there were a dozen different prospects for; e.g., who the bad guy was going to be. I can't agree with some of the other comments herein that there was enough mood, fine acting, dialog, etc., to distinguish TRK as excellent cinema. But again, after more than a half hour I'm totally absorbed by the plot potential. It is almost as if TRK sets up the viewer for a thousand possibilities only to intentionally fulfill absolutely none of them. A move "fizzles" when it paints itself into a corner then escapes in a clumsy manner. TRK paints itself into a corner and then climbs out a window. Again, there are not enough fine points about this movie to make it enjoyable on another level. Virtually every aspect of the build-up centers on facts, twists, questions, etc., that go unanswered. It is truly difficult to imagine what the makers of TRK wanted the viewer to enjoy about this movie.

In the city of Hadin, when two children find the body of the student Gus Pierce (Thomas Gibson) underneath the frozen water of the River King, the policeman Abel Grey (Edward Burns) is assigned for the investigation. The dean of the powerful and conservative local Haddan School where Gus studied, afraid of a possible scandal, tells the police that the outcast boy committed suicide. But Abel, after interviewing his best girlfriend, Carlin Leander (Rachelle Lefreve), suspects that Gus was victim of a hazing of the Order of the Elect, a secret society of the Chalk House. Along his investigation, Abel, who has a trauma with the loss of his brother Frank years ago, finds corruption in his department and love with the teacher Betsy Chase (Jennifer Ehle). In the end, he discloses the truth about the death of Gus, and resolves his innermost issues with the ghost of Frank. "The River King" is a pleasant low budget dramatic thriller, with a very good story, acting, direction and cinematography. The story and the characters are very well developed in a suitable pace and I particularly liked very much the performance of Edward Burns. Surprisingly this simple and efficient film is much underrated in IMDb. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "O Mistério de River King" ("The Mystery of River King")

Edward Burns is a decent actor but why he got involved with this.....movie? is beyond me. I am not alone in this opinion. Both my adult friend and 16 year old daughter,(who fell asleep until the end), are not just being unkind. The one good thing that I personally derived from forcing myself to watch the whole thing to the bitter end is this, if someone else can write and actually sell this first as a book then to convince others to make a movie of it, well then I certainly should be able to do the same! The acting was totally predictable and childish. The story line was almost non-existent. The music was endless and perfect for those practicing Transcendental Meditation. When it was over, I finally realized that it ended only because the credits came on. Otherwise, the conclusion was as inconclusive as the relevance of the title, what king, and the cover picture with a hand sticking out of the water. Neither had anything to do with the movie. Oh well, at least it's over.

This movie has many problems. The acting is not great. It is slow. It does not develop the characters. And the plot is not interesting enough, nor developed enough. They never develop any of the characters, not even the main character Abe. They had many chances to develop his character, but instead just kept adding in trivial scenes. It feels as if they are trying to get "through" all of the book, instead of correctly editing it down to a good movie. Even the name of the movie has nothing really to do w/ the plot. Finally, Ed Burns was completely miscast. He is WAY too aristocratic to be a cop. Besides his accent is completely incorrect for the local, etc. And he can NOT disguise it.

This story is not very interesting. It has a few moments of splendor but has more dry, awkward moments than anything else. The young lady's character is rather irritating as are most of the other characters. I am not sure if it's because I was tired, but this film was truly boring and very, very slow. Movies can be slow but they shouldn't want to induce a cinema coma on the audience. Most of the story parallels between whats going on between two couples. But the movie's twist is rather dry and unsatisfying. No real sympathy is built for our dead character. Even Burns' character is simply boring. The entire movie painstakingly takes its time coming to a flat conclusion. I felt no sympathy, connection, or enjoyment out of any of the characters. It is really one you don't want to see without lots of caffeine and some smelling salts. Watch it at your own risk but don't expect a very compelling story as mentioned before. I would say this is a below average movie.

When I went out together with a friend to the movie store, it seemed to us like a movie that could be worth watching. Nice cover, nice story. The employee said it was a good movie, so he was told. Well, the guy from the store should really watch the movies people recommend. Thus he can verify customers feedback because this was the most terrible movie I have ever seen. As for the cover: Looks can be deceiving. It started up nice. Police officers dragging a corpse out of a frozen river. The veins of the body colored red when they took him out. Hmm, nice. There are some hints of supernatural or bizarre things going on here. Well I was wrong interpreting. In the end it was the only thing that kept me watching. I wanted to know what caused his arteries to color. My friend fell asleep after 30 minutes. So he went to bed. His girlfriend followed after 10 minutes. So I was the only witness to this horror. I wondered why I didn't die while the movie was playing. Throughout the entire movie nothing happens. It really was nagging me and I wanted to thrash the DVD and the TV. If it weren't the stuff of them.... The acting wasn't bad, the script wasn't that bad either, but the product itself suck bigtime. Something during production went wrong. One thing: It is sloooooow. Moreover, halfway the movie I was wondering whether the story was about the murdered student, or about the investigating protagonist which deals with his childhood events. A parallel storyline beside the headstory is okey, for example to illuminate what one thrives. They might as well have given Bambi the role of the officer. That also wouldn't make sense. As for the title, I don't know what caused the makers to give it this title. Yes, there is a kid in the river, but to give such a title for a film... Exaggerated and inexplicable. As fast paced as a river full of peanut butter. If you want to bore yourself, go watch this film. Moreover I recommend watching a demented turtle go for a snack in another country. At least that would be fun...

This film was beautifully shot, catching the denseness of winter, crunchy snow, breath hanging on the air and lots of colourful warm cloths, when two policemen discover a body in the part frozen river. That's when it all started to go downhill.(The film that is, not the river) They stood around and asked "What are we supposed to do?", a bit like Laurel and Hardy, except without the humour, and so the film ground on. Was it murder, suicide, accident? The didn't know, and I didn't care. A sex scene with one of the policemen and a lady teacher, to be followed a while later with the lady saying " I can't go on doing this", which she promptly did again, and as far as I can make out had no part of the plot, but then, I didn't find a plot anyway. Dull it was and dull it remained right up to the denouement, which was, well I really don't know for by that time the cat needed feeding, the budgie was making a racket and the goldfish started to swim anticlockwise which rather drew me away........ If you have a couple of hours to spare, and its a choice between watching this movie and watching paint dry, go for the paint!

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.

The River King is a refreshing movie. It has none of the usual clichés. The plot is not predictable. The movie presents the viewer with little hooks and clues that leave one wondering about how they all come together. At times, I was left wondering what type of movie is this? Is it a horror movie? Is it sci-fi? Is it a ghost story? The actors performed their roles convincingly. The character Abel Grey leads the viewer to believe in what he suspects is happening, that he is right. Carlin's character has the right balance, not too dumb, not too incredibly (ie unrealistically) smart, just like a regular person. No super heroes in this movie. The cinematography and background music is so seductive and blends very well with the subject of the film. The time just fly by as the main characters arrive at a very plausible ending. If you're tired of comic book hero movies, or TV-like stories, or violence, or CSI-like sleuthing then check out 'The River King'. I'm really happy that I did.