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Cast: Rossif Sutherland, Douangmany Soliphanh, Sara Botsford, Vithaya Pansringarm
In the south of Laos, an American doctor (Rossif Sutherland) becomes a fugitive after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman. When the assailant's body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control.
"River" tells the story of John Lake, a young Doctor volunteering in Laos. John takes his work there to heart and when he loses a patient his boss tells him to take a little time off and think about the work he is doing and if it is the right thing for him. So he travels south for a little down time but when he stumbles over a local young lady who was sexually assaulted he intervenes only to get in a fight with the assailant but the man is then found dead in the river the next day. Now wanted and on the run John who is scared and confused attempts to make it out of the country without being caught.
"River" is a thriller that keeps you engaged the entire time. You feel for John right from the start of the movie as you see him caring for the sick in Laos and you feel for him even more after he confronts the assailant because he could have easily kept walking but he did what he thought was the right thing and now it can easily cost him his life because the man he killed was the son of an Australian Politician
The plot is pretty simple and straight forward, in fact we have all seen similar films before where a guy is accused of murder and then goes on the run but this particular film does it a lot better than most for several reasons. For starters the entire cast did a terrific job playing their roles but Rossif Sutherland is the star of the movie and he delivers a heart felt performance packed with emotion as John, son of Donald Sutherland you can really see acting is in his blood. Another thing that made the film so good was the settings and locations, filmed in Laos, Thailand and Vientiane, Laos the locations are like another character in the film. They really help in setting the atmosphere and mood which makes the film dark, gritty and extremely tense.
The film also has a great pace to it and like I said before you have no problem felling for John as he attempts to make his way to safety against what seems like impossible odds. If I had a little complaint about the film it would be they seemed to rush the ending a bit, I think the film could have used ten more minutes or so to explain things a bit more but that is nothing more than an after thought for me. I liked the twist ending and the final surprise which really only proved what the audience only knew, John is a noble guy who just wants to help people and do the right thing. I really enjoyed this little Indie gem and I hope others will get out and go to the theater to support the film. "River" is an intense, suspenseful and thought-provoking thriller that is sure to please all fans of the genre. Available on DVD and Blu-ray, you can order the Blu-ray HERE and the DVD HERE.
Released by Well Go USA Entertainment
*** 3/4 Out Of *****