Ray Liotta plays Jack Verdon, a Seattle cop investigating a string of brutal murders, with all the targets being women he's slept with in the past. Immediately a suspect, Jack has to tangle with FBI Agent Vuckovitch (Slater) work outside his job to catch the killer.
The script seems fairly straight-forward but it has a very compelling religious aspect that comes in when we meet the killer. I'm not spoiling anything by saying that we meet the killer fairly early on. His character is written in a way that kept me interested as to his intentions. I had a hard time believing Liotta's character would remember all the "100's" of women he'd slept with, but whatever. Verdon and the killer are definitely the strongest characters, though, with the Vuckovitch character being a constant strain.
Liotta, Slater, and Ving Rhames are the bankable stars advertised on the cover, but all three men could have switched roles and you would have had the same movie. For instance, if Slater played Verdon, Liotta the Police Captain, and Rhames the FBI Agent, or so on. All three do an adeqaute job, though Slater served more as comic relief than anything else. Liotta's wife is played by the gorgeous Giselle Fraga, whose beauty just about saves her flat acting. Michael Rodrick shows some real potential as the killer, his cold performance stood out from the supporting cast.
Cinematography caught the drizzly Washington weather perfectly, though as someone not a Seattle native, I was confused as why it was never really brought to light which river the title alluded to.
"The River Murders" makes for a nice day off or rainy day mystery movie to watch with some popcorn. I'd recommend it.
The script seems fairly straight-forward but it has a very compelling religious aspect that comes in when we meet the killer. I'm not spoiling anything by saying that we meet the killer fairly early on. His character is written in a way that kept me interested as to his intentions. I had a hard time believing Liotta's character would remember all the "100's" of women he'd slept with, but whatever. Verdon and the killer are definitely the strongest characters, though, with the Vuckovitch character being a constant strain.
Liotta, Slater, and Ving Rhames are the bankable stars advertised on the cover, but all three men could have switched roles and you would have had the same movie. For instance, if Slater played Verdon, Liotta the Police Captain, and Rhames the FBI Agent, or so on. All three do an adeqaute job, though Slater served more as comic relief than anything else. Liotta's wife is played by the gorgeous Giselle Fraga, whose beauty just about saves her flat acting. Michael Rodrick shows some real potential as the killer, his cold performance stood out from the supporting cast.
Cinematography caught the drizzly Washington weather perfectly, though as someone not a Seattle native, I was confused as why it was never really brought to light which river the title alluded to.
"The River Murders" makes for a nice day off or rainy day mystery movie to watch with some popcorn. I'd recommend it.