The Crimson Rivers
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Movie Reviews of The Crimson Rivers
Movie Review: Grim but very entertaining!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Crimson Rivers is a french film by Director Mathieu Kasovitz and is an adaption of the popular novel 'Blood Red Rivers' by Jean-Christophe Grangé. While in recent years american studio's and the BBC have pretty much left the 'police-thriller' to TV, the french were (and still ARE) making terrific contributions on the big screen. The Crimson Rivers is an exciting police-procedural which had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end!
The Crimson Rivers follows Commissaire Principal Pierre Niemans (Jeno Reno) a famous Inspector from Paris who's been called in to a small University town in the Alps to help solve a mutilation killing. Several miles away a young, hot-headed, small-town detective Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel) investigates the desecration of the grave of local girl who died years before. Obviously both investigations eventually converge forcing both detectives to team up. The film's story ends up dealing with secret-societies, skin-heads, ritual-killings an wraps it up into a sometimes obvious but always thrilling suspense film. There's even some cop-buddy moments and fun action sequences. There are some moments of graphic violence (like the opening, and post-mordem mutilations, severed body-parts in jars) so those with weak-stomachs be warned.
While Jeno Reno and Vincent Cassel may be limited to playing bit-roles and villains in american and british cinema, in France they're super-stars and they carry this film with confidence and ease. The late Jean-Pierre Cassel (Vincent's father) has a memorable role as a local eye-doctor who helps the two detectives.
The direction and use of music give the film a chilling atmosphere and aside from the ending during an avalanche (which is exciting but seems to belong to another film) the movie never seems to hit a false note.
The Crimson Rivers is police thriller at it's very best. It may not make you forget Seven but it easily holds it's own and deserves the same recognition and audience!
Movie Review: Do yourself a favor leave the English Sub-titles on!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this straight from a distributer paid full price. I read the reviews here and thought it would be a safe bet..... It was good don't get me wrong but I would suggest checking out the Auction various sites to purchase it. I would not want to spend the full dollar amount on it again, in fact as soon as I saw it I decided it was not good enough to go into my collection so I turned around and put it up for auction. In the same genre/feel of "Silence of the Lambs" and of course I love just about anything Jean Reno is in, but do yourself a favor if you use the dubbing STILL keep the sub-titles on because you loose a lot of what is said. The premise of this movie was 2 cops come together in 2 seperate countries with cases that (they find out)are linked. The mystery is such a good plot and a adaption to a book. If you get the DVD watch the comments afterwards the movie makes much more sense after seeing the Director and the Author describe this movie.
It is rather gory in some of the murder scenes actually much more graphic than "Silence" but hey this is a foreign flick, they don't have the same guidelines as we do. I'm not giving any spoilers but I must say that I didn't care for the ending it was rather ludicrious but watch the movie, as with other good supsense/thriller movies there is a really good plot here that you have to figure out and when it is revealed you will OH! OF COURSE!
Respectfully Reviewed
Movie Review: Great Movie - Misleading DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
I just wanted to note a few specifics things about this Region 1 release of The Crimson Rivers-1. On the back of the case it only lists an English dubbed audio track as being in Dolby Digital 5.1. This is incorrect. The French audio version is also 5.1 Surround. There is also a second English audio track in standard 2.0.
2. "Cast & Crew Commentary". When I first saw this I was suprised that they would record a second english version (the original European special edition DVD has a commentary). Well, you had better get out your High School foreign language book, because the commentary is in French. Understandable, yes, but not properly marked on the case.
3. The DVD video quality is crisp. I can't be sure if this is the THX certified version used for the European version, but it's still rock solid.
I just want to say that with the French commentary track, it's suprising that they didn't include the 5.1 isolated music score/composer commentary that was on the European release. The music itself is worth the price of admission, on top of the goregous visuals and wonderful performances.
Overall, if you're a fan of Seven or the film noir genre in general, I highly recommend The Crimson Rivers. It just would have been nice if Columbia Tristar had a done a better job describing what exactly is on their Special Edition disc.
Movie Review: TERROR IN THE ALPS
Summary: 4 Stars
Director Mathieu Kassovitz whose movie La Haine (Criterion Collection) has just entered the prestigious Criterion collection, co-wrote and directed THE CRIMSON RIVERS, based on Jean-Christophe Grangé's Blood-Red Rivers, in 2000. Mathieu Kassovitz, like Luc Besson and a few others, belongs to this new generation of French directors who try to deliver films shot "à la Hollywood" without losing their particular and local specificities.
I liked a lot the first half-hour of THE CRIMSON RIVERS with its tragic and heavy mood and its flamboyant direction but I am a little less convinced by the second half of the film as soon as it becomes a buddy movie in the LETHAL WEAPON style. Too many references or hommages to American films, too many easy jokes and sometimes almost laughable dialogues. But, all in all, THE CRIMSON RIVERS is a movie I sincerely recommend to those of you who aren't satisfied any more with the actual Hollywood production.
A DVD zone it's French but it's not boring.
Movie Review: "I am the team!"
Summary: 4 Stars
A very good movie, The Crimson Rivers, sheds light on a series of horrendous murders committed in the French countryside. When a pair of investigators team up to solve the mystery they soon realize that all is not as it seems in this quiet and picturesque valley...
There are slight hints of Seven, the Bone Collector, and the X-Files, so the movie falls into the action/adventure/mystery/thriller/horror type of category.
Jean Reno, Vincent Cassel, and the rest of the cast carry out their performances very well, allowing for a highly entertaining movie.
On the negative side, Vincent Cassel's character seems to go a little overboard with his "tough attitude" (it's a bit much).
In addition, as the actors, writer and director have pointed out in the extras, it is a difficult movie to follow, thus do watch the extras for a little enlightenment (it helps).
Aside from that, the plot, the setting, and the music are all very good.
Overall, it is a movie definitely worth watching, as it is one of those films that gets you and keeps you thinking long after it's over and it will surely provide for an evening's entertainment!