River Runs Red (2018)

Directed by: Wes Miller | 94 minutes | action, thriller | Actors: Taye Diggs, John Cusack, George Lopez, Luke Hemsworth, Gianni Capaldi, Briana Evigan, RJ Mitte, Steven Berrebi, Jaqueline Fleming, Jennifer Tao, Tshombi Basemore, Joseph Belk, Michael Clofine, John D. Hickman, Spencer Kingsley, Curtis Nichouls, Mey Novak, Jou Jou Papailler, Yvette Parish

Released in 2018, ‘River Runs Red’ is eerily topical. Police brutality against African Americans is a hot topic to say the least. In this film, however, there is no mention of an organization like Black Lives Matter. That means that the father of the victim who was shot dead by white cops should take the law into his own hands.

In River Runs Red, the son of a black judge (Taye Diggs) is murdered by two white cops. The father discovers that the police officers are not clean on the grade and had drawn their weapons too quickly, the judge decides to take the law into his own hands. This cold-blooded murder of a young African-American cannot go unpunished, even if the court acquits the officers.

A revenge thriller is a genre that – just like the horror film – is often made up of clichés. That’s okay, as long as the genre fan gets what he or she expects. In this case, hard action and a sense of justice. Unfortunately, ‘River Runs Red’ isn’t the movie for them. This revenge movie is excruciatingly boring. Despite the cast full of famous people (such as the fallen eighties star John ‘Give me money’ Cusack) and adequate actors (Diggs has a charismatic appearance and is pleasant to watch), the acting does not last for a moment. The characters are made of cardboard. For example, the judge is a righteous man, while the cops are foaming caricatures of corrupt cops. there are no shades of gray.

The biggest criticism of this film is the editing. This thriller – rather a drama – is incredibly slow. The boring characters, flat camerawork and lackluster soundtrack make it difficult to keep your attention. The contrived dialogues don’t make it any better. What remains is a completely interchangeable genre film. With a better script, this could have been an interesting film, but now it is mainly a film that stays with you because of its current theme. It’s a theme that doesn’t get done.