Simply Perfect

Great Film overall

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A Brilliant Conflict

Maybe the book this was based on is better, maybe it's just as dire as this straight to TV movie which in reality should have gone straight in the bin. An astronaut dies and reawakens under water on a mysterious planet. It's not actually that mysterious as it looks Earth like still and the atmosphere is evidently breathable. After breaking free of his binding and swimming for safety he finds a capsule on the beach which has all the clothing he needs to survive on the baron landscape, a few cotton clothes which when unfolded make nice trousers and a shirt. He turns around to face the sea and all of a sudden a wave of people are swimming for shore too. They each have a capsule of clothing too. Disturbingly the clothes all fit the people perfectly and they aren't all the standard shape and cut, some of the woman manage to find capsules with skirts in, some of them have strapless tops in them. I noticed none of the capsules have underwear in them but all the people somehow have flesh coloured pants and bras. It becomes evident that people from all ages of Earth's like are on the beach together, people from the American civil war, Neanderthal's from the stone age, modern people… it's a who's who of people who lived and died on earth - including an alien who died on Earth in the future. This is not heaven nor Hell, it's like a purgatory where anyone who died on earth eventually goes. It seems Earth is no longer, these people are the surviving children of Earth and they have been reborn on Riverworld. This fresh crop of people are soon hunted down and trapped by existing inhabitants on Riverworld. The premise of the film from here is that the Astronaut leads a revolt to rescue the people who then set about travelling the river on a big boat looking for adventure and answers. I really can't say many good things about this. Perhaps the novel by Philip Jose Farmer was really good but this film adaptation, directed by Kari Skogland really isn't. The film was filmed in New Zealand and this was about the only saving grace as it offered lush landscapes and backdrops. The acting was wooden and laughable, the effects were poor, and the flow of the film was bad. Like the universal but unique clothing no answers to why everyone speaks a universal language is explored, nobody seems really to care that much that they are all dead but still alive - I'd want to celebrate that. The ending was left wide open, presumably for a TV series branch off or a follow up film but I really hope nothing comes of it. As this was made super cheap and broadcast on the Sy-Fy channel I can't see much coming of the open ending. I'm giving this 1 out of 10 and I'm thankful that I won't have to watch this ever again.

I re-watched this today, and still like it. Phillip Jose Farmer's works were always fun but no great classics, so I don't mind that the movie deviated a lot from any of the books. Books is books, movies is movies. The scenery of New Zealand is almost worth watching just to see it - it is truly spectacular. The story is the expected thud and blunder of folks showing up nekkid on a new world, so I was willing to put up with that just to get the riverboat launched. Hale, Sam Clements, and Nero seem interesting enough and good enough; with this kind of movie, the plot and the effects are mostly what matters. Of course, with Sam Clements on board, we could expect more inventions with the flavor of the "Connecticut Yankee ...". I hope that they make more of these -- c

Fans of Farmer's remarkable novels will be sickened by the butcher job done by the producers of this turkey. Outside of borrowing a few character names and the basic premise of the world-girdling river, the movie has practically nothing in common with the books. Every important story development concept is thrown away in favor of seemingly endless violence. And what isn't gory is one stale cliché after another. (The engine room scene near the end is taken lock, stock and barrel from at least a dozen Star Trek episodes). The ending obviously left itself open for a sequel or two. God, I hope not! A tragedy second only to Hollywood's rendering of Asimov's "Nightfall".

I finally came to a startling conclusion. I think I'm a fan of would be epics that are made for Television. There is something imaginative and fun about these films that have to work with smaller budgets and might not feature state of the art effects or big movie actors. Riverworld was a whole new concept to me, I have not read the books nor had I ever heard of it before. I kept looking at it in the video aisle and thinking about seeing it.Riverworld is the story of a dimension, planet, other worldly place of some sort where those who die are resurrected under water onto a lush, beautiful landscape with many others who have died. There are higher powers at work but they perform mysteriously from the outside without revealing themselves. They release the people from under water cocoons when they are "reborn." The planet is inhabited seemingly by those only resurrected but some have been there longer than others giving them time to try and dominate everyone else. Jeff Hale who died while doing a tour of space for Nasa finds himself trying to bring together the other people who are resurrected at the same time he is including none other than Emperor Nero. They are quickly captured and forced to slavery by the current ruler of Riverworld Valdemar. Hale escapes with the help of a mysterious being and by the time he rescues everyone else Emperor Nero has overtaken Valdemar and created his own empire in the hopes of rebuilding Rome on Riverworld. Hale leads the others with the help of a mysterious Alien being who also died and was resurrected on the planet, to another group of people led by Sam who are building a riverboat in order to explore the world more. When Nero attacks them Hale and others must fight him off in order to escape and find out what lies beyond in Riverworld.Although short the movie is well directed and beautifully shot and uses some very nice special effects even if they are low budget. Brad Johnson who I love as Rayford Steele in the Left Behind films does a really great job. He's a terrific, very under rated actor who looks the part of a big star. He commands the screen and is a great leader. Jonathan Cake as Nero is equally as great. He appears to be someone who should be in an Epic about Rome and instead is dropped into Riverworld which is perfect for this part. This film definitely cries out for sequel or series and mostly this was made as an introduction so I hope they don't stop it here, otherwise this film is really pointless on it's own but it's a great introduction. Fortunately the film is short enough that it never has to hold your attention for very long. The gore is minimal and never shows any serious violence despite the sword play. The main focus is on Johnson's character and he holds his own quite well. I am definitely looking forward to sequels. Check this out for something low budget and a good time.7/10