Truly Dreadful Film

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

"The Crimson Rivers" is by any means a decent thriller. Throughout the whole movie, you get entertained, not least because of the appealing acting most of the cast shows. There's a high level of suspense that keeps you guessing, some creepy little extras that distinguish it from your everyday TV-crime and a set of likable characters.It is all the more sad to say, that time and again some small mistakes tend to endanger this otherwise positive impression. First of all I'm never a big fan of making up cities. Even though I understand quite well that no city or university wants to be connected to such events, it just doesn't fit into a movie written in a realistic setting for me. Secondly some of the characters are just a bit simple. There are the unintelligent village policemen that mispronounce literally everything they come across and problematic policemen that just randomly beat up people and destroy property without anyone bothering. A bit more depth would have suited some of these characters well, especially the policemen. Lastly I hope that no university would grand doctor's diplomas for topics like this and if so I put my trust in the rest of the scholar world to protest it.So if you're not too strict with logic or reality what you get here will be an excellent thriller. If you, like me, prefer a more realistic setting to some extent, you will have to look over issues some times.

Over the top thriller with a detective duo on the heels of a serial killer, one a legendary sleuth and the other, a hot blooded rule breaker. Bizarre and gruesome murders high in a glacial mountain community uncover a eugenics conspiracy with a late twist reveal that doesn't feel earned, but typical for the genre. Understated performances by Reno and a handsome Vincent Cassel. Mention must be made of the out of left field fight scene between Cassel and some skinheads, which plays out like a video game complete with ridiculous sound effects. Stakes never feel as high as they should be, but otherwise it's an enjoyable way to pass the time.

Parisian police commissioner Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno) is called in to investigate a murder of 32-year old single professor Rémy Caillois of mountain-side picturesque university in Gueron. He's been horribly beaten left naked in a fetal position on the side of a mountain. The university is an isolated self-sufficient incestuous place. Meanwhile volatile inspector Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel) is investigating a grave desecration and a school break in.I really like the start with the creepy isolated location and the vicious murder investigation. I like the tone of it and I love Jean Reno's work. Then they split the movie into two investigations. I have nothing against Vincent Cassel or his side of the story. I just couldn't wait for them to get back to Reno. It just breaks up the movie and takes away the tension. The two investigations give off different tones anyways. Around midway, the two detectives are forced together but it needed to happen sooner. They form a fine combative duo. With more time together, they could create more chemistry in the relationship. The mystery is a convoluted one and not altogether satisfying. There is just one too many craziness going on.

There can on occasion be found an unneeded snobbery amongst genre fans, a tendency to regard the mainstream as some tawdry monolith spewing trash while the best of genre cinema can only be found at the fringes, from foreign realms or the underground. The Crimson Rivers stands as an ideal corrective to such thinking, a French film beautiful, shallow, silly and fun. In short it does little better than most of its ilk, getting its biggest boost from swoon worthy locations but ultimately forgettable stuff with only a couple of especially bright spots. Its a killer thriller, a bound and broken body minus hands and eyes is found hanging from a mountainside, further remains are found and an expert from Paris gets on the case, backed up by a provincial copper who finds their case involving grave desecration pulls them into the same grisly plot. As the expert elder of the piece Jean Reno is his useful self in a performance of low key cool and grizzled authority, a decidedly familiar turn but fairly amusing to watch as he generally is. Vincent Cassel fares better as his younger counterpart, more of a live wire energetic type he puts in more of a compelling effort, together the two work well, they never get beyond the clichés of such a pairing but they are good to watch as they go through the predictable motions. Rounding out the mains is Nadia Fares in a one note sexy/tough kinda role, she has the looks and presence for the character so she fills it quite nicely, without making much of an impression. The film is at its best in its first half, building a sense of mystery and strangeness, luxuriating in its mountain setting with some great aerial shooting and breathtaking scenes atop a glacier then delving within a crevasse. There are a couple of suitably grisly after the fact corpses (the opening a good example, complete with insect ravaged wounds and whilst some of the dialogue is over expository and silly there is a certain sinister pull to events. But when the strands of Reno and Cassel entwine the film rapidly looses the plot and by the end has become outright laughable. Its not that the explanation isn't a good idea at all, just that the film presents no characters or themes with any kind of depth and by the end the film is getting into subject matter that does require some depth. After all, this isn't a giallo or a slasher where such things can be successfully avoided, it needs commitment to work. Still, I was never bored exactly and I did get some chuckles even as the film was going south. Probably a worth one time watch, but there isn't anything here to get too excited about, 5/10 from me.