“River of Wrath”: Class B Revenge

Known as a producer with extensive experience when it comes to betting on action productions, he has been behind titles such as ‘Lawless City’, ‘Escape Plan’, ‘The Sole Survivor’, ‘2 Guns’ or more recently with ‘Survive tonight’ or ‘The force of nature’; Randall Emmett is recognized, above all, for having been behind the production of recent films by Martin Scorsese, such as ‘Silence’ or ‘The Irishman’; as well as having produced ‘Without truce’ or ‘Die again’.

However, his directing career is another storyafter making ‘Tracking the Killer’, one of the last feature films Bruce Willis was able to star in before his forced retirement due to aphasia he suffers from; now debuts “The River of Rage”, a film whose main attraction is its enigmatic title, which, a priori, evokes modern westerns such as ‘Comanchería’ or ‘One of us’. However, don’t let an attractive headline fool you, because the interesting ends there.

‘The river of anger’ tells how Shelby John, played by Jack Huston, a former heroin addict, decides to become a murderous drug dealer, drug dealers and drug lords after losing his girlfriend to an overdose. A race against time in which he will have to face a retired police officer who will try to stop the murders as soon as possible.

Correct action, but its plot is very weak

The action film, with a screenplay by Adam Taylor Barker and Chris Sivertson, should tries to have a background of social denunciation, having as a backdrop the serious opioid epidemic that the United States is experiencing. Between 2020 and 2021, there were about 100,300 overdose deaths in the North American country, a situation that has worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being a terrible reality, Emmett trivializes this reality, with a proposal whose premise was intended to be a denunciation of the inertia of the institutions towards this reality.

From the very beginning, Emmett shows a couple finding that their willingness to quit drugs is enough to get them clean. His idealized love can do everything, even if it is later seen that it is insufficient. After the death of the protagonist’s girlfriend, he takes action and revenge, proving this Emmett was really looking for a quick excuse to create some sort of vengeful character in pure Liam Neeson style.albeit with a much younger actor who is just past forty.

The result is a film that has more of the soul of a B-movie for after-dinner on thematic channels than of being a worthy action film. to be enjoyed on the big screen. The worst thing is that it has first-rate actors, such as Robert De Niro and John Malkovich, two veterans who, however, have chosen terribly forgettable jobs in recent years, especially in the case of De Niro. Added to this is a lackluster Jack Huston.

“The river of anger” is made for the most coffee lovers of the genre. Little else can be highlighted from a production whose sole objective is to fatten a bill that is once again suffering from the saturation of releases and which is not going through its best moment.

Note: 4

The best: Despite the autopilot, Robert De Niro and John Malkovich infuse presence.

Worse: The way an issue as serious as the opioid crisis is trivialized.