The River Murders

well i saw the plot and decided to watch simply because i don't remember watching any serial murder movies lately...

i was not expecting anything from the movie because i knew in the first place that it is a low budget project but since the plot was appealing i went ahead and to my surprise i liked this movie in many ways. first the story itself. technically no loopholes in the script. second,characters were totally convincing and it didn't occurred at any point of time that they are unknown or never been in the lime light many times which usually happens in a small budget productions that everything is fine but star cast with poor performance brings the house down. so hats off to the stars of this movie. Third, even without showing much violence the director was able to portray the right scenario of crime scenes. so one dimension of the direction where you don't need a chainsaw or a shotgun to paint the walls with blood and body parts to make it a gore fest. You can look over the present resources and develop a plan to use them in a best possible manner. that's what the director has been able to pulled off. And last but not the least the characters in this movie don't behave in the typical way which we always make fun while watching such movies when we felt that this is the most stupidest thing to do in such a situation like even the most famous movies franchise SAW forced us to think that many times. so showing some things out of league was refreshing to me simply because it makes sense. There is this scene where the female partner of Lotta meets a guy and she refuses to date him simply because his partner is in trouble and she suspects that it is not a coincident that suddenly a guy turns up who seems nice and why he is interested in dating a cop which seems out of ordinary and she suspects that he might be dangerous but it would not have happened in the SAW or any other serial killer movies. so credit goes to director who applied logic with his characters thinking making it more of a thinking character's movie than merely simple performance where character is repeating his lines without bringing feel about his character.

Overall it is a small budget DVD release so i don't want you fellows to expect anything great from this movie but I'd say this technically it is decent film who does OK and has nice performance by stars, also the pace of the story is good so if is a good way to kill time at home and most of you might feel good about it. so given the limitations of the director & producers i would say that it is a nice attempt though screenplay could have been more tight but anyway it is refreshing. upcoming directors might learn something from this movie. My rating 7/10 simply because their hard work entertained me.

I was kinda looking forward to this movie having seen some of the media pictures and after watching 15mins of it, I was ready to take a nap. Ray Liota has never really been the 'up-front' guy that you expect to see in a movie like this and he does nothing to change the outlook in this movie either. Often seen walking around with his pot-belly sticking out and frequently mouthing a bunch of 'cliched' sentences, his character is so different from the portrayed 'guy who has slept with hundred's of women and even old flames can't keep there hands off' type of guy that the weak script calls for. The story is weak to the point of being funny. Its like the script for this has been made up from scenes and lines from some of the (much) better offerings in this genre. All of the characters are way too predictable and offer nothing that hasn't already been done to death. I even found the soundtrack also very annoying and repetitive. I'm no real film buff nor a real movie critic but this movie really owes everything it makes from the promotion. Unfortunately, if you pay to see this you'll come out of the movie theater feeling ripped off.

I mean I wasn't expecting a blockbuster hit but this movie is just pitiful. To begin the movie wastes no time getting the ball rolling but the mood is far from suspenseful or thrilling. Each scene just kind of drags on to the next with a stale sense of predictability. The killer is so obviously revealed early on and lacks any real depth or originally outside of the lame stigma appointed to the character. The music doesn't help much as it sounds like the same continual track being repeated from the beginning to the end of the movie. The pace is lackluster, uneventful and plays out mediocre at best. Overall this movie suffers from a weak run of the mill script that fails to draw in the audience to the point where you don't care to finish the movie. Sorry to say but this movie is truly boring.

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Ray Liotta's. I've seen him in a lot of films, but usually in a co-starring or secondary capacity, and usually as a psycho, but the trailer looked good (don't they always?) so I watched this one.

The River Murders is surprisingly good. Liotta does a decent job portraying an aging cop victimized by a serial killer for some unknown reason. His character is mostly believable (100 women? Really? And you remember all of their names?) as he looks into reasons why his past lovers are suddenly being killed off. Severely underused actors Christian Slater and Ving Rhames go along for the ride as an FBI agent who thinks Liotta's the one killing the women, and his boss, who suspends him pending further investigation.

Although you figure out early who the real killer is the movie keeps you guessing the reasons why until the end and, even though he's a little over the top religiously, is believable.

This isn't the greatest movie you'll ever see, and it does have it's flaws, but you won't walk away thinking you killed an hour and a half for nothing.

I love Ray Liotta (Goodfellas...). There is something about his eyes and his interpretation of text that plants him in the garden of good actors. Ving Rhames and Christian Slater are not slouches; they both have a body of work that they can be proud of.

The film has shortcomings but I want to compliment the actors, crew, and artists involved. It's hard to hit the ball out of the park every time but they suited up and did the best they could.

What I see is a script that had quite a few voices that had to be placated in order for the film to be made. There are too many levels of intellect and articulation. Nobody edited the script. The script teeters uncomfortably between genres; the director creates a new sub-genre of pornography at times and then the contextual shots want to make the film artsy. Crime-Porn? I guess.

The script isn't even really that insufferable. The problem is with he pacing, the camera work, the editing, and the dumbing down of EVERY element--! Nobody looks good...and if no one looks good what's the point?