Thriller of Remarriage

JamesHitchcock

There is a sub-genre of the romantic comedy known as the "comedy of remarriage". Such films generally deal with a divorced or estranged couple, or a couple whose marriage has been going through a difficult patch, rediscovering their love for one another. They were especially popular in the thirties and forties, but there have been a number of recent examples such as "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Did you Hear about the Morgans?" "The River Wild" can be seen as a "thriller of remarriage". Like "Did you Hear about the Morgans?" it deals with a big-city couple whose marriage is in trouble but who manage to save it while on a trip to a rural part of the American West. The difference between the two films, apart from the fact that the motive for that trip is quite different in each case, is that "Did you Hear about the Morgans?" tells its story in the form of a comedy, "The River Wild" in the form of a serious thriller.

Tom and Gail, a middle-class Boston couple, are having marital problems. Gail, a teacher of deaf children, feels that Tom, an architect, spends too much time at work and neglects his family. Gail is originally from Idaho, and decides to take her young children Roarke and Willa on holiday to see her parents, who still live in that state. Gail is also an expert at whitewater rafting, and before her move to Boston worked as a rafting guide on a local river. (The "river wild" of the title; the film-makers may have chosen this unconventional word order to avoid confusion with "Wild River", the 1960 film directed by Elia Kazan). She decides to take Roarke on a holiday rafting trip down the river, Willa (who stays with her grandparents) presumably being too young to come along. At the last minute Tom joins them, and the three set off on their trip together.

Near the beginning of their trip, the family meet two other rafters, Wade and Terry. At first the two men appear to be friendly, but Gail slowly becomes suspicious of them, and she and Tom decide to leave them behind. The attempt fails, and Wade pulls a gun on them. It transpires that the two men are criminals who have just committed a robbery and are using the river as a means of escape; they need Gail's rafting skills to get them past the Gauntlet, a particularly dangerous stretch of river. The rest of the film tells of the family's efforts to thwart the robbers and of how their shared danger helps to mend the relationship between Gail and Tom.

The film marked something of a new departure for Meryl Streep, previously often seen as a rather serious, cerebral actress. Although she had made occasional ventures into comedy, in films like "She-Devil" and "Death Becomes Her", this was her first appearance as an action heroine. It is not the sort of role which she has reprised since 1994, but she makes the most of it here; she even, apparently, performed most of her own stunts. David Strathairn, more often seen in supporting roles, here achieves leading man status as Tom. There is also a good performance from Kevin Bacon, generally a reliable villain, as Wade, at first friendly and plausible, later a raging psychopath. (John C. Reilly's Terry seems almost likable by comparison).

Curtis Hanson is not a particularly prolific director; in a career lasting nearly forty years he has only made fourteen films. Some of those, however, especially in the thriller genre, have been good ones, such as "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and the excellent neo-noir "L.A. Confidential". "The River Wild" is another example of Hanson at his best, even though there are occasional implausible moments; some of the characters- especially Tom, the bespectacled, nerdish-looking architect- occasionally perform feats of strength or agility more often seen in superhero movies. The basic story- family menaced by violent criminals- may be an over-familiar one, but it is certainly handled in an exciting manner here. Curtis's direction is brilliant; this is one thriller that is genuinely worthy of the name, moving along at a cracking pace. The scenes on the river, especially when Gail is taking the raft down the Gauntlet, are heart-stopping. The cinematography of the beautiful wild scenery of the Pacific North-West is magnificent. "The River Wild" must count as one of the best-made thrillers of the nineties. 8/10

score 8/10

JamesHitchcock 22 December 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2723288/