Genres

Visitors Review

johnnycandle 2012-05-24 23:28:27

Beautiful but dumb

As the above suggests, I was ultimately unimpressed with this movie. Itis lovely to look at, the scenery is lush, but the detail of the story,in particular the characters, are totally unbelievable. Films don'thave to be believable, but films like this, with a political edge andsocial commentary do. Similarly, I have no problem with commercialism as such, but onceagain, films like this shouldn't be making casting decisions purelybased on box office draw. This is absolutely the case with Sutherland,who is frankly rubbish as Doyle. His accent was far from authentic, buthe fell into the biggest trap of all, his accent IS his performance,and we end up with a caricature of Irishness with no personalityoutside of his nationality. I find it totally implausible that anyoneinvolved thought he was the best man for the job. All in all, this is aclear case of commercial interest over quality and when you're tryingto be The Mission, this kind of thing wrecks your chances of success.Speaking of accents, there were a couple more problems, one being thestriking modernity of Boy's accent which acted to dispel the feeling ofbeing transported to another time. More surprising was SamanthaMorton's much lauded Irish accent, which was variable to say the least.Her voice meandered between strong north and soft south, even in thevoice-overs, where I would've expected any such discrepancies to bepicked up.However, these are minor gripes compared to the motivation and actionsof Sarah. She never seems at home with the English, and almostinstantly at home with her son and his tribe, the dilemma between thelife she knew and the life she if offered just seems like a no-brainer.Perhaps a lot has been lost in editing, perhaps this was meant to be athree hour film or a mini series where these things could've beenfleshed out, but I can only judge what I've seen.Now the biggest problem, Sarah's (Morton) relationship with Doyle(Sutherland) is incomprehensible. The fact is that her affection forhim is not conveyed in any way until her having to choose between himand her son, the conflict she goes through at this point was franklyridiculous and killed the movie for me. As you may have guessed. this movie didn't work at all for me, but itis top notch to look at, you really won't see anything more stunning interms of scenery, there are some good performances and my wife likedit.

2012-05-24 08:38:14

A huge disappointment

For weeks I had been looking forward to seeing this movie only to findmyself hugely disappointed after wards. In my opinion, the only goodthing 'River Queen' had going for it was the amazing scenery used asbackgrounds. The story line was all over the place, Samantha'scharacter Sarah was very difficult to understand and what on earth wereall the many close ups of her face for? It brought absolutely nothingto the story-if there was one at all!A better actor for the part of Boycould also have been selected, to me it sounded like he read his linesstraight of the script while shooting his scenes.Overall, a real shameas it could have been such a good movie.

2012-05-17 19:21:02

This battlefield was behind the scenes as well as on the screen.

This historical drama, set in 1860s New Zealand, focuses on the beautiful Whanganui River valley and a widowed Irish settler's seven year effort in trying to find her half-caste son, kidnapped by his Maori grandfather. All the while, colonials and Maori are engaged in guerrilla-style warfare. This is probably Ward's best film to date and probably the best Maori themed film yet made. The settings and photography alone are worth the viewing, even though the film is not perfect. I was left with the feeling that some further improvements were needed with editing. But given the production problems, there may have been some filming needs that were not fulfilled. Very much worth seeing.

2012-05-17 08:03:57

Happy to have found this

This review is from: River Queen (DVD) I am happy to have found a movie that was done out of the USA and available at a good price. It came fast and in great condition.

2012-05-17 07:06:10

Notorious New Zealand flop

The troubled production of this film is far more interesting than the end product. Director Vincent Ward was temporarily fired and the cinematographer Alun Bollinger filled in. Star Samantha Morton was ill for much of the time, which accounts for the extensive use of voice-over narration.The action takes place in 19th century New Zealand where Maori (the indigenous people) and the colonial English are engaged in conflict around a river. Director Ward has tried to create an epic in the mold of Herzog's "river" films but his terrible script leaves the actors nothing to work with. A notorious flop in New Zealand.

cadpgmr 2012-05-16 13:32:03

excellent on many different levels

When I saw the two stars that the NZ Herald gave it I was notdiscouraged because the same critique gave King Kong 5 stars, which wasthe worst movie I've seen all year! River Queen was a beautiful movie.The depiction of the musket wars of colonial NZ was outstanding. Theunique beauty of the NZ scenery was stunning, the music, which seemedto be an amazing mixture of Maori and Irish influence was very movingand added a great deal to the energy of the movie as a whole. Thedramatic musical piece that was played just before the battles enhancedthe anticipation of it all.I also have to add that when Boy did the solo I was so mesmerized byhis voice that I didn't realize that he was singing an Irish song! Iwould see the movie again just for that scene alone! I enjoyed watchingthe characters. I don't think the acting was brilliant, although theboy was superb in the one scene where he's telling his mother off, butthe actors themselves were attractive and enjoyable to watch.I would highly recommend this movie if you enjoy stunning scenery,visual artistic effects with water and color, a good story based onhistory, and nicely placed and original use of music, or if you enjoylearning the history of a very unique culture that so few people knowof.

flaviosurf18 2012-05-07 09:28:14

Worst Post Production in History, really

wow, i just got one watching this.How CRAPPY post production is on this movie.I kid you not, I literally could've done a better job myself.ALL of post production is flawed, all of it. Whoever cut this filmshould be banned from the film industry.That aside, the script was a trainwreck. absolute rubish.Not to mention Jack Bauer and his Patchy the Pirate in Spongebobaccent. WTF is his character doing there? But to me, the biggest flawof all was character development, intereaction, dynamics, dialogue.WOW. I cant believe how bad it was.I give this movie a 2 out of 10. 1 for Samantha, who is a greatactress, too bad the production made everyone look like amateurs outthere.the other 1 goes to cinematography, which was indeed good.Other then that my friend, this is one bad movie.I don't even feel like making an elaborate post on this, it was justhorrible production. Poor actors, didn't know what they were gettinginto...

phillipa komene 2012-05-07 02:52:04

Proud to be Maori!

This film was great as i'm still buzzing about the movie weeks laterrecommending it to heaps of others. For a New Zealand film it waswonderful, it really showed how beautiful New Zealand is and identifieshow Our Maori people are unique and watching it makes me feel even moreproud to be Maori. Boy (Rawiri Pene) was cool as thats exactly how iwould say our Maori boys are like, he really did us all proud and has abig future a head of him. I liked the way they showed how smart,cunning and clued on the Maoris were during the war. All the criticsneed to remember how little New Zealand is compared to other Countriesand at least the most important people believe in the movie and thatsall that matters.

2012-05-05 23:41:58

River Queen Review

Reviewed by Neil Smith _______________________First seen two years ago in its native New Zealand, River Queen belatedly washes up in British cinemas like so much flotsam. No doubt director Vincent Ward had higher hopes for his period drama, a 19th century saga about a young Irish woman (Samantha Morton) caught in the crossfire between warring British colonials and indigenous Maori tribesmen. Fine cinematography and the occasional battle scene apart, alas, the result is a sluggish bore that's as hard to fathom as Kiefer Sutherland's bizarre Oirish accent.The 24 star plays Doyle, a soldier stationed at the remote North Island garrison where Morton lives with her surgeon dad (Stephen Rea). It's 1854, and the settlers are facing increasing hostility from the local populace. That, however, doesn't stop Morton's Sarah having an affair with a Maori lad who doesn't live long enough to see the son it produces. Six years later the boy is abducted by his grandfather, prompting Sarah to spend the next seven years looking for him."BRUISING ACTION, PREPOSTEROUS FINALE"That jumpy chronology is just part of the problem in this unwieldy opus, which sees Sarah's loyalties veer erratically between Maori warrior Cliff Curtis, Kiefer's disillusioned private and her eventually located son all the way through to the film's preposterous finale. Ward punctuates the story with some bruising action, while DoP Alun Bollinger (who stepped into the director's chair himself at one stage during the troubled production) makes the most of the exotic scenery. Ultimately, however, you can't helping feeling all concerned are up the proverbial creek without the metaphorical paddle.

2012-05-05 17:00:05

New Zealand colonial wars film that had its own "wars".

This historical drama, set in 1860s New Zealand, focuses on the Whanganui River valley and an Irish settler's seven year effort in trying to find her son, kidnapped by his Maori grandfather. All this while colonials and Maori are engaged in guerrilla-style warfare. This is probably Vincent Ward's best film to date and probably the best Maori themed film yet made. The settings and photography alone are worth viewing, even though the film is not perfect. I was left with the feeling that some further improvements were needed with editing. But given the many production problems, there may have been some filming needs that were not fulfilled. Very much worth experiencing.

jfrehua 2012-05-02 13:15:34

River Queen

The anticipation of seeing Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis AND KeiferSutherland all in the one movie had me salivating! However while Iwouldn't say I was exactly disappointed with the movie I did feel thatso much more could have been explored. I was left with some thingsunanswered. Why did Sarahs Dad go away? Why did Sarah pop on a weddingdress (this after apparently everything had been destroyed)?prepare tomarry Doyle, on his deathbed, then have an intimate time with Wiremu? Ifelt that some aspects of the movie simply did not add up and I wasunconvinced by the acting talents of Samantha Morton,she was neithertough chick or helpless femme and I couldn't embrace her character atall.I guess for me thats just an important aspect of any movie. As afemale I want to identify with the female, especially if she is thelead character. On the positive side the Maori fight scenes were raw,real and raunchy (well Temuera had a great time!)but again I was nottotally convinced. Look, it was a good movie, easy to watch,andentertaining in its own way. Be warned though if you are looking for atight storyline,deep sincere acting and mind blowing thrills this isnot for you. Having lived in NZ for 12 years I also had somefrustration that I didn't see more of the great country. The scenery,while beautiful was also limited,same lake scene over and over,although maybe Vincent Ward was hoping to steer away from thebreathtaking scenes a la'Lord of The Rings',if this was the case thenVincent succeeded. With the line up offered maybe I just expected toomuch. At the end of the day it was not a bad movie it just lacked thatsomething special.

Puckles83 2012-05-01 16:53:54

Thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing film

Boy did I enjoy River Queen. The scenery was stunning, the actingsuperb, the story brilliant, and the music was a hauntingly beautifulmatch to an incredible film. I always thought it would be great if afilm was set during the Maori wars that was similar to Michael Mann's"The Last of the Mohicans". Well this it, with shades of Joffe's "TheMission" to boot.River Queen grabs you and draws you into a world that you only learnedabout in history books. It does not take sides but portrays thebeautiful and the ugly in both sides to the conflict. The chemistrybetween the main actors is powerful and moving and keeps the people ofthe story to the fore, stopping them from being engulfed by thepowerful images of the war.I always thought it would take our own Peter Jackson (should be SirPeter) to make a film of this quality in New Zealand and about NewZealand. But I take my hat off to Vincent Ward. River Queendemonstrates that there is an amazing depth of movie making talent inthis small country that time and again punches way above it's weight.

BorrisB 2012-04-30 12:58:44

Visionary filmmaker polarizes public again

All Vincent Ward's movies have a heart, a visionary heart. It amazes methat he has managed to make as many movies as he has, as none of themhave been block busters. They have all been personal and intense, andthey have all added something to the world. None of them are justanother genre type a,b or c movie. I had heard conflicting reviews about this one, but given his previousfilms particularly Navigator and What Dreams May Come I just had to go.It really got under my skin, it's a historical drama, but dream,desire, and vision saturate the story, making it like no other.Also being from Aotearoa and with Maori blood having been mixed into myveins, it was fantastic to see such a good film finally being made ofthat clash of cultures. How personal and close the wars were. The landscape and the Wanganui River were filmed to perfection.This movie haunts me. It's great to finally have another Vincent Wardmovie. If only they released the other ones on DVD!

dlev18 2012-04-30 08:56:14

Dude..... Kiefer Sutherland is in this!

Wait... wait... wait... wait... wait... wait..... WHAT!? This movie isterrible, absolutely terrible. 1. The only reason Kiefer Sutherland ison the cover is to sell it to Kiefer fans, only to have their heartsbroken. He kills one guy, gets shot, and dies before half the movie isover, not to mention he was only in the first 10 min and thendisappeared until the point which he died...WHY put him on the cover ifhis character BLOWS. 2. Where are the EPIC battle scenes promised inthe preview on the back cover? 3. It was way too confusing, i meanwhats up with the girl? She had to narrate the movie to TRY to get ourattention, she failed! 4. If Kiefer dies in a movie..... it fails. NowI am going to go watch 24..... THIS MOVIE FAILS!

Mo Jones 2012-04-28 02:51:08

A Disappointing Movie

I was really looking forward to this movie but sadly it didn't live upto expectation.A good movie has the audience identifying/empathising/sympathising withthe main actor. Unfortunately this was very hard to do with SamanthaMorton.The storyline seemed very disjointed and didn't flow as it should/couldhave done.Keifer Sutherland appeared to be little more than window dressing andmade me wonder why he agreed to play what appeared to be a bit part.Beautiful scenery and the acting of Tem Morrison and Cliff Curtis wasabout the only plus.Maybe by being a kiwi I set the bar higher for locally made films.Maybe the change of director/ supposedly hard to work with main actorhas biased my opinion.Maybe I'm just trying to make excuses for a movie which could have beengreat.A lot of maybes which still does not explain why this movie just lackedanything special.It could have been great, it wasn't.

Simes 2012-04-27 16:24:49

Beautiful but disappointing

River Queen attempts to pack a complicated, sweeping, historicalnarrative into just under two hours. There are some breathtaking battlescenes and the Wanganui scenery is beautifully captured. However, thefilm did suffer from some poor leads - Samantha Morton (Sarah)especially came across as unconvincing. There seemed to be anindecisiveness about how the role should be played - as a helpless waiftossed by fate or as a strong, determined character with a clear viewof her destiny. Kiefer Sutherland's character - Private Doyle - seemedto be pointless and for the most part - unintelligible. Keifer's Irishbrogue needs a little polishing. On the other hand, Cliff Curtis,Temuera Morrison and Rawiri Pene (as Sarah's son "Boy") were wellrounded and believable.The last 20 minutes of River Queen came across as particularlycompressed and rushed. It seemed as if they decided they had to tie upall the loose ends before 120 minutes were up. E.g. How on earth didWiremu know how to find Sarah and Doyle? No explanation and veryunsatisfying.I did go to this movie with an open mind. I hadn't read or heardanything much apart from its troubled production. What I experiencedwas a mish mash of New Zealand history, beautifully photographed butultimately disappointing.

Michael O'Keefe 2012-04-24 20:58:25

Bloody boring.

Set in the mid 1800's when the British is clearing New Zealand outbackwilderness to establish colonies. The daughter of a British armysurgeon, Sarah(Samantha Morton), falls in love with the son of one ofthe Maori leaders. The Maori is an indigenous tribe and a dangerouspeople for the Europeans to deal with. By the time Sarah's child, whichshe calls "Boy", is born, his father is dead. By the age of six, "Boy"is kidnapped by his father's family and Sarah will begin her search forhim with a man(Kiefer Sutherland),who is deeply in love with her.Two-time Oscar nominee Morton is definitely the star of this movie.Sutherland is a total waste. Also starring are: Cliff Curtis, StephenRea, Temuera Morrison and David Rawiri Pene. This movie is rated R forsome sexual content and violent battle scenes. I find the title RIVERQUEEN very misleading and the DVD cover with Sutherland only and makingyou believe he is the leading star should be a crime.

TrevorAclea 2012-04-24 10:16:47

A mildly interesting failure

What happens to an auteur film when a petulant star has the auteurfired? Infamous for star Samantha Morton's diva-like tantrums andoccasional refusal to work that saw the film go overbudget and thebackers accede to her demand that writer-director Vincent Ward -possibly the only director who makes Terry Gilliam look lucky - befired from his own picture rather than start from scratch, it would benice to be able to say that River Queen survived its many wounds andcame out at least a potential cult movie. But sadly it's not much morethan a mildly interesting failure with the odd good idea and goodmoments that never becomes the kind of great film it wants so much tobe. {Although Morton reportedly wanted to take over direction afterWard was fired, the last three weeks of filming were directed more orless by proxy by his regular cinematographer Alun Bollinger (theircollaboration was apparently so close that Ward was almost directing byremote control via phone calls and emails) before he returned forpost-production.} To be fair, even with a more amenable leading lady,Ward's stab at a very New Zealand epic about love and identity wouldstill have been flawed: he has always had a problem making you careabout his characters and true to form the opening 20 minutes tells useverything we need to know to set up the story except why we shouldcare.Not quite a Kiwi Searchers, it sees Morton as the daughter of armysurgeon Stephen Rea who falls for an ill-fated Maori boy only for herson to be abducted by his uncle to be brought up in the old ways.Determinedly searching the rivers and tribes for him with a littleencouragement from lovesick Oirish soldier Keifer Sutherland (completewith comedy accent), it's only when her medical skills are needed inthe middle of a doomed rebellion that she's reunited with the childonly to find that he's not overjoyed to see her. There's certainly noshortage of ambition here in its tale of immigrants fighting for theiroppressors as they steal a new land and find themselves having tochoose a side, but it rarely works half as well as it should.Morton's performance certainly isn't worth all the tears. It'scompetent enough but there's neither enough heart or charisma there tocarry the movie, while her habit of mumbling her lines in a thickbrogue makes you glad the DVD comes with subtitles. Worse, without hernarration papering over the unfilmed gaps you'd be hard put to knowwhat she's supposed to be thinking or feeling on her journey in thefilm's smaller moments. Aside from Cliff Curtis' British scout turnedrebel, Rawiri Penbe's Boy and Temuera Morrison's rebel leader whosevisions cause him to snatch failure from the jaws of defeat, few in thecast stand out. Sutherland and a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Rea seemthere just for marquee value while Anton Lesser's dogged Britishofficer seems caught between not always underplayed dementia anddastardly melodrama. The film does capture the humid atmosphere of theriver and there's an effective prolonged ambush/battle sequence, butthe film's epic aspirations at times seem hemmed in by the decision toshoot in 1.85:1 rather than a more expansive 2.35:1. The end result isa frustrating film of occasional moments caught between romanticmelodrama and a desire to delve deeper that ends up just filtering outinto irrelevance as the surviving characters edge out of the path ofhistory and into the comfort of tedium.

dugong1 2012-04-22 03:11:22

Samantha Morton

K, I haven't seen the film yet... BUT - SO looking forward to it! I'd just like to make note of the dramas around the filming of 'RiverQueen'. Samantha Morton became 'sick', which meant production stopped.Vincent Ward was fired - thankfully Alun Bollinger replaced him, so hisartistic vision wouldn't have been altered drastically - untilpost-production, or until Samantha Morton left the country. Rumourswent around about Morton being the reason Ward was fired. Ward evadesquestions on Morton. In selling the film, various stars comment on the... ('special-ness, treatment, issues) in working with Morton.General consensus is that Miss Morton is never going to work in thiscountry again. Hurray Vincent Ward. Long Live Vincent!

Noel Brown 2012-04-21 10:53:26

A troublingly good film, trying too hard

I grew up in New Zealand, and have some knowledge of the land warsthere of the mid-1800's, which continue in different ways right up tothe present. I have also been on the Whanganui river, a mysterious andbeautiful place. These are the historic and geographic backgrounds forthis tantalizing film. Last nite I watched the Brazilian release of thefilm with English subtitles and language track. The plot issue of thefilm is simple: in the midst of the Maori/British conflict over landuse in the late 1850's, a young Pakeha (in this case Irish) woman(Samantha Morton) becomes pregnant by a young Maori. The growing boyis, in turn, kidnapped by his Maori grandfather. (the boy's father hasbeen killed). The central issue of the film is the mother's search forher son, and whether she will stay and live with him in Maoritanga, orbe able to return with him to her British world. Morton (who playsSarah) has the difficult task of acting out her conflictedness betweenher Pakeha world and the Maori world of her son. Many reviewers havebeen critical of her "limited" emotional portrayal, forgetting that notall women live with their emotions on the outside of their life. Sheis, after all, the daughter of a military surgeon, who has herselfbecome a healer which requires her to suck it up and do what has to bedone. Keifer Sutherland (who plays the Irish soldier Doyle)plays alimited part in the film. He appears to have been included as thestar-magnet for production finance and audience appeal. DirectorVincent Ward gives us great location shots from the central NorthIsland area of New Zealand - mostly long-lens river shots, a fewgorgeous aerial shots, supported by action shots in the battle scenes.This film is a period-piece, and has to be seen from that perspective.e.g. it may seem strange that Sarah could find a bridal dress in goodcondition in a hut the middle of nowhere, unless it is remembered thatin that period,such an item would have been the treasured possession ofthe woman of that hut. (I thought it would have been in a trunk and nothanging up.) Or, again, the chief having intercourse during a battlewould not have been symbolic; such an interpretation has lost sight ofthe period of the film. The film is rushed and disjointed in places,but at 114 minutes long, Ward may have felt he was working against theclock. In spite of that, Ward has captured the anguish of a mother whohas a terrible decision to make. He has also drawn attention to thedifficult ambivalence of the Maori's themselves who had to decide whichside of the land war conflict they were going to be on; which resultedin Maori fighting Maori. In spite of its weaknesses, I found this to bea film that captured much of the difficulty of its period, and many ofthe choices that had to be made.