Some things I liked some I did not.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Great Film overall

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I liked that movie. The story is along the line of SEVEN, but it's not SEVEN. The plot development is very different and compared to SEVEN, anyone will choose the latter as a better movie. But it doesn't mean this one is horrible.The cinematography is great. It sets well the moods and it's like watching a succession of paintings. Much better than what you can expect from a B-movie.The story holds great and there are no real loopholes.I really appreciated the fact that there were a lot of «normal» reactions. For example, the movie begins with the discovery of a body near a river. The detective arrives on the crime scene, obliviously recognize the victim (an old flame) and after learning she was found at the exact spot where they met, he says: «I can't be on this case, I know the victim.» I think it's the first time I see this in a movie or TV show, as opposed to the traditional cop who tries to hide this fact because he or she wants to get the case so badly. No real cop would do something like that, as it would jeopardize any case in court.Another «normal» reaction is the female detective who begins to treat any man she meets as a suspect, as she knows she can be a potential victim. And it is done in a very realistic way, i.e. she's not a nervous wreck that is pointing a gun at every man she meets.Another «normal» reaction is the patrol cars protecting potential victims. They are shown as an effective deterrent instead of having a killer tricking or killing them to reach his victims. The killer must find another way.Basically, no stupid people in this movie. Except maybe for the FBI agent (Christian Slater) which could of give it a rest with the patronizing of the «suspect» detective (Ray Liotta), which was clearly not a suspect from the get go. He was the only one acting weird on the subject.It will not win any awards, but it is nice to watch on a late night.

I have to admit, I have no idea why the movie is called River Murders. Obviously there is something connected to it, but it makes it sound ... well different from what it is. Or I didn't get the connection between the title and the motive. That could be the case too of course. But what starts of nice, maybe even something that might upset you in the sense that you wonder what you'd do, does derail a bit towards the end, which is a shame.Performances are stellar throughout (except Christian Slater, who's doing his "crazy thing" again, but is more annoying than anything else), but not exceptional. There is a supposed punch at the end, which doesn't work so well. If you want real badness, watch "Sleep Tight". Now that's mad bad. Even before that final moment, there is another scene reminiscent of "Seven". Close, but no cigar then!

When the cover says 'not since Seven has a deadly sin been this terrifying,' what I expect is Seven, only much worse, because no respectable movie director attempts to make a movie with any similarity whatsoever to such a legend of a movie unless he's a really shocking director or a really cocky brilliant one paying respect, and the latter are rare. It's got the bible themed killings, except without the gore or the fear or the creativity or originality. And then, lo and behold, at the end the wife is taken captive by the killer, who calls for the husband-cop and Oh My God I never expected it...the cop kills the killer. Seven it is not. But it tries really, really hard to copy it exactly down to the 'shocking' final twist. I have never rolled my eyes as often in a movie as I did in this one. The most entertaining thing about Ray Liotta in this film is the enormity of his beer gut, which proceeds him everywhere he goes.The River Murders is the most predictable movie I've ever seen, with the worst script, cast, and directing in the history of my film watching career. The plot holes are so large you could fall through them from a mile high. And in the background, Christian Slater grabs desperate hold of the only role he could manage to land in what? The last decade? Oh well, he tries his best. There's your regular typecast cop actors as virtual extras. I can't believe they had the nerve to include a 'making of' featurette on the DVD. Needless to say, I didn't watch that just like I shouldn't have watched this film.

Homicide detective Jack Verdon's (Ray Liotta) sex life has been robust over the past 40 years. Unmarried until just recently, Jack played the field and enjoyed every minute of his promiscuous adventures. That is until his former female partners start showing up murdered thus leaving Jack as the prime suspect of an F.B.I. investigation.This is the central plot line for The River Murders, a new direct to VOD and DVD title staring Liotta, Ving Rhames and Christian Slater that is much better than is should be for reasons that we won't be able to fully scope to any reasonable conclusion.The movie begins sharply with the discovery of a female victim that has been found in a local river. Jack arrives at the scene and immediately identifies the girl as someone to which he had prior relations. When the body is taken back to the morgue, a ring is discovered in the dead woman's vagina. Before Jack can come to grips with his connection to the victim, he receives word that his mother has died mysteriously. And then, another murder of a former female acquaintance is found with the same M.O. as the first girl.This prompts an F.B.I. investigation lead by Agent Vuckovitch (Slater) who is an obnoxious and not entirely believable agent who spends more time trying to provoke detective Verdon than he does on the exploration of the killer.The River Murders soon slides into conventional thriller mode and more bodies are found while we are introduced to the killer and we get the two destined story lines of Verdon's confusion and struggles with the F.B.I. and the killer's relentless mission to continue a personal vendetta against jack that will be revealed before the final credits roll.The River Murders is not overly graphic, it's not particularly believable and it has a killer whose motivations are something that can only come out of the Hollywood machine. Yet, we liked it. Maybe it was the always reliable acting by Rhames (who plays Jack's boss) and Liotta. Maybe it was the no nonsense direction by Rich Cowan (Shadow of Fear) that kept things moving without convoluting the plot line or stretching the brisk 92-minute runtime with unnecessary subplots or dialogue traps. Whatever the reason, we thought The River Murders worked and was far better than the average made-for-television fare that the story would suggest suited.The heavy weight of the broad motive of the killer is the only thing that keeps The River Murders away from a better grade and acceptance. But that shouldn't deter you from giving this VOD effort a shot. It is better than most and hardly deserving of a complete ignore.wwww.killerreviews.com