Homicide detective Jack Verdon's (Ray Liotta) sex life has been robust over the past 40 years. Unmarried until just recently, Jack played the field and enjoyed every minute of his promiscuous adventures. That is until his former female partners start showing up murdered thus leaving Jack as the prime suspect of an F.B.I. investigation.
This is the central plot line for The River Murders, a new direct to VOD and DVD title staring Liotta, Ving Rhames and Christian Slater that is much better than is should be for reasons that we won't be able to fully scope to any reasonable conclusion.
The movie begins sharply with the discovery of a female victim that has been found in a local river. Jack arrives at the scene and immediately identifies the girl as someone to which he had prior relations. When the body is taken back to the morgue, a ring is discovered in the dead woman's vagina. Before Jack can come to grips with his connection to the victim, he receives word that his mother has died mysteriously. And then, another murder of a former female acquaintance is found with the same M.O. as the first girl.
This prompts an F.B.I. investigation lead by Agent Vuckovitch (Slater) who is an obnoxious and not entirely believable agent who spends more time trying to provoke detective Verdon than he does on the exploration of the killer.
The River Murders soon slides into conventional thriller mode and more bodies are found while we are introduced to the killer and we get the two destined story lines of Verdon's confusion and struggles with the F.B.I. and the killer's relentless mission to continue a personal vendetta against jack that will be revealed before the final credits roll.
The River Murders is not overly graphic, it's not particularly believable and it has a killer whose motivations are something that can only come out of the Hollywood machine. Yet, we liked it. Maybe it was the always reliable acting by Rhames (who plays Jack's boss) and Liotta. Maybe it was the no nonsense direction by Rich Cowan (Shadow of Fear) that kept things moving without convoluting the plot line or stretching the brisk 92-minute runtime with unnecessary subplots or dialogue traps. Whatever the reason, we thought The River Murders worked and was far better than the average made-for-television fare that the story would suggest suited.
The heavy weight of the broad motive of the killer is the only thing that keeps The River Murders away from a better grade and acceptance. But that shouldn't deter you from giving this VOD effort a shot. It is better than most and hardly deserving of a complete ignore.
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This is the central plot line for The River Murders, a new direct to VOD and DVD title staring Liotta, Ving Rhames and Christian Slater that is much better than is should be for reasons that we won't be able to fully scope to any reasonable conclusion.
The movie begins sharply with the discovery of a female victim that has been found in a local river. Jack arrives at the scene and immediately identifies the girl as someone to which he had prior relations. When the body is taken back to the morgue, a ring is discovered in the dead woman's vagina. Before Jack can come to grips with his connection to the victim, he receives word that his mother has died mysteriously. And then, another murder of a former female acquaintance is found with the same M.O. as the first girl.
This prompts an F.B.I. investigation lead by Agent Vuckovitch (Slater) who is an obnoxious and not entirely believable agent who spends more time trying to provoke detective Verdon than he does on the exploration of the killer.
The River Murders soon slides into conventional thriller mode and more bodies are found while we are introduced to the killer and we get the two destined story lines of Verdon's confusion and struggles with the F.B.I. and the killer's relentless mission to continue a personal vendetta against jack that will be revealed before the final credits roll.
The River Murders is not overly graphic, it's not particularly believable and it has a killer whose motivations are something that can only come out of the Hollywood machine. Yet, we liked it. Maybe it was the always reliable acting by Rhames (who plays Jack's boss) and Liotta. Maybe it was the no nonsense direction by Rich Cowan (Shadow of Fear) that kept things moving without convoluting the plot line or stretching the brisk 92-minute runtime with unnecessary subplots or dialogue traps. Whatever the reason, we thought The River Murders worked and was far better than the average made-for-television fare that the story would suggest suited.
The heavy weight of the broad motive of the killer is the only thing that keeps The River Murders away from a better grade and acceptance. But that shouldn't deter you from giving this VOD effort a shot. It is better than most and hardly deserving of a complete ignore.
wwww.killerreviews.com