The River King (2005)
Abel Grey is sent to investigate the death of a boy from an exclusive local school, who is found floating in the river. Fearing scandal, the school insists it was suicide. But after discovering from the boy's girlfriend, Carlin, that he was being badly bullied, Abel suspects that a dangerous schoolboy initiation has gone horribly wrong and he secretly solicits the help of a sympathetic teacher, Betsy. He is warned off the investigation by his boss, as the school is a generous benefactor to the Police benevolent fund. Abel, however, cannot let the case go, not only because his own brother committed suicide years before, but also it seems that the spirit of the dead boy is leaving them clues as to what really happened that night.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
The River King is based off the novel of Alice Hoffman. The movie is about a detective Abel Grey who is played by Edward Burns. He is sent to investigate the death of a student. The police department believes that the death of the student is a suicide. But he believes that students death is not. The movie starts off slow but starts to pick up some speed towards the middle. I thought that Edward Burns did a good job in the movie but even he can't save the movie. I thought the was good until I got to the end of the movie. The movie is not going to be for everyone and because of the way the movie ends I can't recommend the movie to anyone.
This deliberate mystery about the death of a young man at an exclusive boy's school is surprisingly good. Edward Burns is a local police officer who suspects that foul play was involved. The body was found drowned in the local ice-laden river but his lungs contained traces of things found in toilet bowls. Was it a hazing accident? Well -- close but no cigar.Burns' investigation must struggle through a thicket of opposition. His colleagues don't want to push the matter because the Haddon School is their benefactor. The school, with its frigid headmaster, isn't interested in probing too deeply because, well, after all -- foul play at Haddon? Burns himself is impelled mainly because he once helped his older brother commit suicide and perhaps, in solving the riddle of this case, he can partly redeem himself. Along the way, he spends a good deal of time with the dead boy's girl friend, a frizzy red head. And he meets and makes love to Jennifer Ehle, a blond photographer who is about to wed someone else. In the end, Burns, having found out the answer, decides that disclosure isn't necessary and certainly won't promote anyone's happiness, so he invents an explanation that absolves everyone of guilt.The performances are all good, mostly from unfamiliar performers. Rachel Lefevre is the dead student's girl friend, not exactly gorgeous, plump-lipped and long-haired and sturdy looking, but she's quite attractive in an everyday way. Jennifer Ehle as the slightly whimsical photographer is Meryl Streepish and her romance with Burns isn't in the least convincing. Burns is rather good. He's a fine actor, and a fine actor without the brutish charm of a Johnny Depp or a Brad Pitt. His voice is high and it cracks often. Its most important feature is that it sounds believable. If Burns himself is particularly handsome, the fact was beyond my grasp, but I hope not. If he gets the applause he deserves, it would be cheapened a little if he were a heart throb. WILL KEN DITCH JENNIFER? I can see him in the tabloids now. But with any luck he'll be no more supermarket fodder than Anthony Hopkins or Ian McKellar.If there's a problem with the film it's that it's a little TOO deliberate. And it swings from one sub-plot to another and back again and sideways, like a simple harmonic oscillator, just passing through the central story line from time to time. There are moments when it's entirely possible to forget what the movie is about.Partly because any viewer is likely to be distracted by the gorgeous, wintry Nova Scotia settings. At time the snow is blue or yellow and seems to have leaped straight out of a post-impressionist painting. The small-town streets are choked with drifts and the village itself, which ought to be pretty dismal, looks more like a vacation snapshot. Rarely has a winter landscape had such luster.One of the qualities that makes it so easy to recommend this is that it's made for adults -- or, more precisely, for people with an attention span that hasn't been cut off at the knees by MTV and commercials and glitzy news sound bites. You have to settle back to watch it, fold your hands behind your head, relax, and sort of slit your eyes slightly.
I am not sure why THE RIVER KING went STV. It is a compelling crime drama, beautifully photographed, directed, written and acted. Ed Burns plays a cop investigating the untimely death of a prep school student, a social outcast whose body is found drowned in a frozen river adjacent to the school. Was it suicide or murder? No suicide note has been uncovered, and Burns suspects foul play, even if it means quitting the police force to keep investigating on his own. He is aided in this by a little boy who pops up here and there and never leaves footprints behind in the snow. The film is very moody, downright spooky at times. There are ghosts involved, but perhaps not in the way you might suspect if you are familiar with such otherworldly classics as THE OTHERS, THE HAUNTING and even GOTHIKA. Burns as the disaffected cop is low key and terrific as always, a thinking man's Ben Affleck. He is ably supported by several familiar Hollywood and TV faces, including John Kapelos as his bent partner and Jennifer Ehle as his love interest, a teacher at the spooky school. Watching THE RIVER KING, I was reminded of CRIMSON RIVERS, one of the best modern Gothic thrillers of the last 50 years.
"The River King" was not much of a king at the box office probably because there was no box office. It was because it went straight to DVD. Unfortunately, its play at some of the Canada film festivals was not enough for distributors to deep into their pockets to circulate "The River King" to theatrical releases. I could see why! The film is like your basic ABC Sunday Night Movie of the Week (they still have that?). Ed Burns stars as Abel Grey, a northern small-town detective who gets unraveled in a death of a young college boy. The young lad's death was called a suicide even though Grey sees it in more "Shades of Grey" and thinks it more as a homicide. Abel also has issues with his brother Cain! Wait! This is not a religious epic! What I meant to say that Grey is also dramatized by the childhood experience of witnessing his older brother commit suicide. Could the two be connected? Director Nick Willing did a formidable job in depicting the northern small town experience. However, Willing was not willing to push the envelope and provide us a more thought-provoking narrative. I am an avid fan of Burns , but I do not think that the Northern cop thing suits Eddie. It was a cold decision for him to take this role. You will love the northern exposure of "The River King" but the murder mystery aspects will drown you with boredom. *** Average