Any time Netflix drops a new thriller – which is once a week at the very least – there’s a high probability it’ll end up taking a pasting from critics. For the most recent evidence, look no further than Soulcatcher, which is currently the number one movie on the platform despite being roasted by all comers. And yet, River Wild has somehow shaken off its uninteresting origins to gather a stellar reception.
Was anyone crying out for real-life married couple Adam Brody and Leighton Meester to play brother and sister in a loose remake of the star-studded and Golden Globe-nominated 1994 white water adventure The River Wild, which boasted such names as Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, and John C. Reilly? Of course not, but Ben Ketai’s spiritual successor has proven to be something of a gem already.
At the time of writing, River Wild currently holds respective Rotten Tomatoes approval ratings of 83 and 71 percent from critics and audiences, which is very much out of the ordinary when it comes to a genre film that takes up a residency on Netflix. Of course, it’s not technically an in-house exclusive when the distribution rights were acquired from Universal, but that’s just splitting hairs.
Per FlixPatrol, the nail-biting story of an idyllic adventure and chance to reconnect and repair fractured familial relationships has debuted as the eighth most-watched feature among subscribers in the United States, and knowing how the tastes of viewers tend to work, don’t bet against River Wild snaking its way even further up the rankings by the time the weekend is over.
