This is a river rafting thriller from the 1990s with Meryl Streep, David Strathairn, Kevin Bacon and others. If you haven’t seen it, you might be asking what it is about? Is it an adventure movie? Not quite.

Gail (Streep) is a former river rafting guide who planned a rafting adventure for her son, Roarke (played by Joseph Mazzello) for his birthday. Tom is Gail’s husband (and Roarke’s father) who is a workaholic, reluctantly goes along on the trip, even though he has too much work to do, as not to disappoint his wife and son. As they are rafting down the river, they run into two young men, Wade (Bacon), and Terry (John C Reilly), who unbeknownst to the family, are criminals who have committed a robbery and are on the run. Wade and Terry have learned that Gail is a former rafting guide, so they kidnap her and her family to force Gail to help them navigate the treacherous river to evade authorities.

There’s a lot to like about this movie. The little details for example- the family knowing sign language due to Gail’s father being deaf and using that to communicate with each other on occasion without the kidnappers being aware. The also movie doesn’t reek of special effects- which is a good thing, I think. Some people might agree with me, and some people might disagree- but I think many of the movies of the ’80s and 90s are better than many movies today- because back then, there were more focus on the plot and character development, and less on special effects, which made movies better and more real. Too much special effects and action makes a movie more of a blur, and you connect a bit less to the characters and the story. Sometimes a lot of special effects is necessary for certain movies- like the Star Wars and Marvel franchises.

In this movie, the focus is more on the strained relationship between Gail and Tom. The tension between the kidnappers and the family. And the fight for survival. And viewers are able to focus on that without the distraction of too much action or the bombardment of special effects. Check this movie out if you haven’t!