Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel star in Mathieu Kassovitz's The Crimson Rivers |
QUICK REVIEW:
4 small hearts for this easily forgotten but entertaining, stylized and pictorially heavy (cinematography by Thierry Arbogast (Léon (1994)) buddy cop-action-thriller from the French Alps, in which a bitter, beautiful, young woman and her twin sister abuse and murder with much ingenuity.
The film stands in great debt to David Fincher's Se7en (1995), but is no match to the modern serial killer classic.
The enthusiastic genre-play in Rivers, - for instance in the artistic fight scene with Vincent Cassel that seems to come out of the blue, - takes, - together with several other misrepresentations, - credibility from the mystery that otherwise sparkles with humor and an irreverent treatment of the university-world.
Director Mathieu Kassovitz went to Hollywood after the success of Rivers and made forgettable Gothika (2003) and Babylon A.D. (2008). His most recent film is the French Rebellion (2011) about hostages in a French colony, starring himself in the lead. His best film seems to be widely recognized as his small, early drama Le Haine (1995) that stars Cassel.
Rivers was followed by the sequel Crimson River 2: Angels of the Apocalypse (2004) by Olivier Dahan with returning Jean Reno and Christopher Lee.
Related reviews:
Vincent Cassel: Mesrine: Killer Instinct + Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008) - Epic Cassel gangster extravaganza
Jean Reno: The Big Blue (1988) - Dolphin mishap # uno
Jean Reno with a shotgun in Mathieu Kassovitz's The Crimson Rivers
Watch the trailer for the English dubbed (yes) version of the film here
Budget: 14 mil. $
Box office: 60 mil. $
= Big hit
What do you think of The Crimson Rivers?
Please contribute your opinion, if you've seen other Kassovitz-films
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