cmoyton
..and if you haven't seen Resurrection please do. It rips off Seven almost scene for scene and also casts Leland Orser in a major role. Is that homage or irony. Where Resurrection dovetails into The River Murders is in the religious theme to the killings while name checking Seven on the DVD cover. And that ladies and gents is as good as it gets.Yet again i lament the fact that IMDb does not have a no stars option because this film has no redeeming features whatsoever bar a comedic hamming it up big time performance from a wise cracking Christian Slater as an FBI agent. Every cliché in the book is flogged to death. Credability is non existent. The rubber snaps (no pun intended) when Liottas ex bed notch cop friend takes a lift from the shifty looking serial killer because she could not be bothered furthering her feeble attempt to hail a taxi. Even when an opportunity is presented to spin something else the script then goes out of its way to reinforce the fact that Liottas character was a heterosexual stud.Liotta should be ashamed for taking the pay cheque as his performance is so lame it is at times unintentionally funny. Watch him and his jelly belly jogging - hope they had paramedics ready. As for the "actress" who played his wife - jeepers enough said. I only watched to the ahem -climax- to see what the motive for the killer was after making several wide of the mark guesses. Now i'm feeling double dumbness by also actually paying to rent this trash and all. But then i excuse myself by checking the real age of the actor who played the killer on IMDb - he is in his 40's and looks every day of it. They pass him off as being 30 year old in the movie which is why i would never fathom him as the son of the Liotta character who is portrayed as 48 year old in the movie.
samuel_dennis786
One of my all-time favorite films is Martin Scorcese's "Goodfellas", that film made me a life-long Ray Liotta fan. He has had a bit of a rocky career, even sometimes going WAY over the top or being WAY out of place, he is still one of those guys that when he does hit his mark, you can't take your eyes off him. I always liked Ray Liotta's acting, no matter the movie he stars in. He's always good, always electrifying and enjoyable. In "The River Murders" he's in good company, acting alongside Ving Rhames (plays Captain Langley) and Christian Slater (plays FBI agent Vuckovich).In this little thriller, Ray Liotta plays Jack Verdon, a homicide detective, who is on a strange case – he's investigating a series of murders that all seem to have a connection with him. Verdon ends up becoming the prime suspect, when FBI uncovers his close personal ties to all the victims. So, naturally, now Verdon has to find the real killer, clear his name, and try to save some people on the way, the whole film circles around these sexual relationships of Liotta's character with other women he had in the past. By the looks Liotta has in this movie (he's not really in shape anymore), it's hard to imagine this "detective, who slept with over 100 women", but who knows right? everyone has his/her taste.The killer in the movie is revealed rather early (he actually turns out to be a religious fanatic), and the rest of the film is filled with Liotta's desperate attempts to catch this guy, get along with his wife(who has also been cheating on him), and engage into these bitter talks with Christian Slater's character.To sum it up, this is definitely not Liotta's best movie, and overall just a passable, forgettable pathetic thriller. Ving Rhames looks out of place here, and Christian Slater doesn't get enough of screen time and portrays a rather blank FBI agent character. I'd recommend this only to really die-hard Liotta and Slater fans, Otherwise, you might as well skip this film.My RaTiNg- 2/10!!!
Susan
Ray Liotta was fine, as always, but his acting was counter-balanced by the wooden-acting of Ving Rhames, who wrenched me away from the scene every time his incessant intoning came on. He speaks as if he's on a pulpit and projecting to hundreds of people--no matter what he's saying--each and every time. I could never believe believe him at ll in his role. Christian Slater, also, was completely unbelievable in his FBI role. He looked as if he were on a giant high--and was very hard to watch as he bounced up and down the screen.When you watch a film such as this with known actors, you have to "suspend disbelief" and see known actors fade take on their roles completely.Rhames and Slatern made that utterly impossible--no matter that it was balanced by Liotta and others.The premise of the film was so promising..it was a pity that the majority of the casting was so poor.
geddyleeisgod
Wooden acting, laughable dialogue, and a completely implausible and unoriginal plot.For example: "I'm going to have to ask you to turn in your badge and your gun until we clear things up. I'm sorry."Given a second star because the photography and lighting met today's general standards, although without any particular effort on the part of the director of photography to strive for any originality or aesthetic quality.A stinkeroo. A doggie turd painted gold.You've been warned.
AD
