From Jeremy Kibler

Axing the “the” from 1994’s thrilling, expertly acted Meryl Streep-Kevin Bacon starrer The River Wild, River Wild is a surprisingly rock-solid remake. And by remake, we mean, familial characters must survive a whitewater rafting trip with a psychopath. Writer-director Ben Ketai and co-writer Mike Nguyen Le change up the story and character details that feel fully written with enough breathing room, all at a tighter run time. The filmmakers find their own way in with the material, and the results are plenty harrowing that one luckily never questions the existence of this River Wild.

Leighton Meester, Taran Killam, and Adam Brody may not be Meryl Streep, David Strathairn, and Kevin Bacon—none of us are, unfortunately—but they’re all quite capable in their own right. In lieu of a family of three and two strangers, estranged sister Joey (Meester) joins brother Gray (Killam), an experienced river guide, on a whitewater rafting trip with two U.K. tourists, Karissa (Olivia Swann) and Van (Eve Connolly). She’s stunned to realize that Gray’s childhood friend Trevor (Brody), a felon who’s freshly out of prison, is also a guide and accompanying them down the river. After the group of five camps out for the night, one of the tourists gets severely injured. Joey does what she can, but they need to get her to the nearest hospital. Trevor seems to be the only one who doesn’t want that to happen, and everyone must go into survival mode.

In this version, our heroine is not a rapids navigator, but she is a doctor. Joey’s brother knows the river instead, but then again, so does our bad guy, an old friend rather than a “nice guy” stranger. There is clearer motivation for our bad guy this time since there’s already a preexisting relationship within the group. Initially, one has to do a lot of inferring about the dynamic here. Why is Joey so moody, withholding, and clearly wants nothing to do with Trevor? The groundwork may not be laid instantly, but the script unloads information from the past in an organic way that keeps us emotionally involved.

Leighton Meester is particularly strong here, especially when Joey becomes more authoritative and puts her medical-field resources to the test. Going up against your real-life partner must be a challenging headspace, too. In the antagonistic Kevin Bacon role, an against-type Adam Brody (Meester’s husband) plays an even bigger monster. He makes for an effective creep who’s unpredictable, paranoid, selfish, and just plain dangerous. All of the actors put in physically grueling work, including SNL alumnus Taran Killam, who has to navigate a tough spot as Gray, being between his sister and his oldest friend.

Director Ben Ketai and cinematographer Gevorg Gee Juguryan utilize an often jittery shooting style. It’s an aesthetic choice that can sometimes become distracting or just incoherent in other movies, but it really works for this story that joins the elements of the great outdoors with interpersonal dynamics. Curtis Hanson’s 1994 film will always be an underappreciated jewel of a thriller, and this tense, uncomfortably grim reimagining is a great reminder while making a compelling case for itself.

River Wild is now available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Netflix.

Rating: 3.5/5

Follow Jeremy at @JKiblerFilm