THE RIVERMAN is a bland and lazy made for television movie that has all the appeal of a dramatization from “America’s Most Wanted.” The movie never makes a statement or reason for the viewer to become invested in the main characters, which are based on the intense real life personas of Bob Keppel and Ted Bundy.
The title, THE RIVERMAN is false advertising since the film tends to focus on officer Keppel’s further conversations with Bundy as he prepares to face death row. The picture never does put focus on Seattle’s infamous “Green River Killer” because has the film progresses it is Bundy’s crimes that we see through flashbacks.
The film starts off promising but then tends to lose the viewers interest quickly. Actors Sam Jaeger and Kathleen Quinlan are prominent in the first forty minutes and then tossed aside making for messy and boring filmmaking. But the messiest part is the thrown together ending to wrap things up at the end, which feels like a narrated afterthought.
The source material for this movie came from the book, “The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer,” which was written by Keppel. Not to mention this material loosely inspired “Silence of the Lambs” and that proves in capable hands this could have been riveting cinema. The problem is how haphazard everything is thrown together by director Bill Eagles. What will annoy the viewer the most is realizing how Eagles took such a fascinating source material and turned into such a bland experience. A major factor for that is that he turned into something formulaic, which it is far from. It has the familiar sense that one receives from watching shows such as “Criminal Minds” and “Law & Order” but the difference is that those shows are allowed to develop characters that you care about over several seasons. It is very hard to become emotionally invested with how the characters are represented in this film with the 90 minute running time.
Mark Harmon set the benchmark in excellence in portraying Bundy in “The Deliberate Stranger,” which Eagles should have viewed before making this picture. From his past work it was impossible to tell that Harmon would be able to play this realistic human monster so well and his performance is the proper way to convey Bundy to an audience. Bundy lead the ideal life that had endless potential, which was marred by this dark side he was trying to hide.
Cary Elwes portrays Bundy with no flair whatsoever in “The Riverman.” Elwes doesn’t have the acting chops to play an intriguing sociopath and captivate the audience. Elwes has not done anything worthwhile since “The Princess Bride” and THE RIVERMAN is no exception.
Now, on the other hand actor Bruce Greenwood is a solid actor when given the right role (“I’m Not There”) but he is seriously miscast as Keppel. His character is never psychologically examined throughout this tedious film and in the end this character is never given any new perspective to the audience. In the end you can just read the source material or grab a copy of “The Deliberate Stranger” from the Warner Achieve Collection.
However, the DVD released by North American Motion Pictures, provides an excellent widescreen transfer of the film despite the fact the back of the box read full frame. It is accompanied by some lame trailers for the company’s future releases and a still gallery.
THE RIVERMAN will not shed any new information on the lives of Bundy, Keppel, or the Green River Killer, and is ultimately pointless. The movie does have a few followers from when it aired on A & E in 2004 and they will appreciate the release but everyone else can skip this one.
– Anthony Benedetto
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
