Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free First Class Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
11 used & new from £1.39
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
River Queen [DVD]
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images

River Queen [DVD]

DVD ~ Stephen Rea
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
Price: £5.18 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £10.81 (68%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Items for dispatch to UK will be sold by Amazon's Preferred Merchant. (Why?) Gift-wrap available.

7 new from £2.97 4 used from £1.39
Learn about Lovefilm
Amazon's choice for DVD rental.
With a 14 day FREE trial. Learn more

Frequently Bought Together

River Queen [DVD] + Desert Saints [DVD] [2002] + I Fought The Law [DVD] [2007]
Total RRP: £41.97
Price For All Three: £17.42

Show availability and shipping details

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

River Queen [DVD]
84% buy the item featured on this page:
River Queen [DVD] 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
£5.18
Desert Saints [DVD] [2002]
5% buy
Desert Saints [DVD] [2002] 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
£8.47
I Fought The Law [DVD] [2007]
4% buy
I Fought The Law [DVD] [2007] 3.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£3.77
Slumdog Millionaire [DVD] [2008]
4% buy
Slumdog Millionaire [DVD] [2008] 3.6 out of 5 stars (111)
£11.98
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Actors: Stephen Rea, Samantha Morton, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison, Kiefer Sutherland
  • Directors: Vincent Ward
  • Format: PAL
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Universal Pictures UK
  • DVD Release Date: 9 Jun 2008
  • Run Time: 109 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000XPUARA
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 16,388 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Reviews

Synopsis
Sarah (Samantha Morton, Elizabeth –The Golden Age) is a young Irishwoman who lives with her father Francis (Stephen Rea, V for Vendetta), a surgeon at a British garrison on the North Island of New Zealand. In 1854, she becomes pregnant with the son of a Maori man. Several years later, Sarah's son is kidnapped by his paternal grandfather and Sarah embarks on a long search to track him down. Finding herself in a Maori village during her quest, she falls for her son's uncle and becomes a vital member of her community due to the medical knowledge she learnt from her father. Sarah finds her loyalties conflicted when the British colonials and the Maori warriors engage in all out war against each other.
New Zealander Vincent Ward (What Dreams May Come) has made a visually stunning epic that fully takes in the beauty and splendour of the country whilst also featuring breathtaking action sequences.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Desert Saints [DVD] [2002]

Desert Saints [DVD] [2002]

DVD ~ Brent Roam
4.3 out of 5 stars (3)  £8.47
I Fought The Law [DVD] [2007]

I Fought The Law [DVD] [2007]

DVD ~ Radha Mitchell
3.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £3.77
3:10 To Yuma [DVD] [2007]

3:10 To Yuma [DVD] [2007]

DVD ~ Russell Crowe
3.6 out of 5 stars (73)  £4.98
The River Queen - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The River Queen - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

~ Karl Jenkins
£13.69
24 - Redemption (Extended 2-Disc Collector's Edition) [DVD] [2008]

24 - Redemption (Extended 2-Disc Collector's Edition) [DVD] [2008]

DVD ~ Kiefer Sutherland
4.1 out of 5 stars (17)  £14.98
› Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
(2)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A mildly interesting failure, 29 Jun 2009
By Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
What happens to an auteur film when a petulant star has the auteur fired? Infamous for star Samantha Morton's diva-like tantrums and occasional refusal to work that saw the film go overbudget and the backers accede to her demand that writer-director Vincent Ward - possibly the only director who makes Terry Gilliam look lucky - be fired from his own picture rather than start from scratch, it would be nice to be able to say that River Queen survived its many wounds and came out at least a potential cult movie. But sadly it's not much more than a mildly interesting failure with the odd good idea and good moments that never becomes the kind of great film it wants so much to be. [Although Morton reportedly wanted to take over direction after Ward was fired, the last three weeks of filming were directed more or less by proxy by his regular cinematographer Alun Bollinger (their collaboration was apparently so close that Ward was almost directing by remote control via phone calls and emails) before he returned for post-production.]

To be fair, even with a more amenable leading lady, Ward's stab at a very New Zealand epic about love and identity would still have been flawed: he has always had a problem making you care about his characters and true to form the opening 20 minutes tells us everything we need to know to set up the story except why we should care.

Not quite a Kiwi Searchers, it sees Morton as the daughter of army surgeon Stephen Rea who falls for an ill-fated Maori boy only for her son to be abducted by his uncle to be brought up in the old ways. Determinedly searching the rivers and tribes for him with a little encouragement from lovesick Oirish soldier Keifer Sutherland (complete with comedy accent), it's only when her medical skills are needed in the middle of a doomed rebellion that she's reunited with the child only to find that he's not overjoyed to see her. There's certainly no shortage of ambition here in its tale of immigrants fighting for their oppressors as they steal a new land and find themselves having to choose a side, but it rarely works half as well as it should.

Morton's performance certainly isn't worth all the tears. It's competent enough but there's neither enough heart or charisma there to carry the movie, while her habit of mumbling her lines in a thick brogue makes you glad the DVD comes with subtitles. Worse, without her narration papering over the unfilmed gaps you'd be hard put to know what she's supposed to be thinking or feeling on her journey in the film's smaller moments. Aside from Cliff Curtis' British scout turned rebel, Rawiri Penbe's Boy and Temuera Morrison's rebel leader whose visions cause him to snatch failure from the jaws of defeat, few in the cast stand out. Sutherland and a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Rea seem there just for marquee value while Anton Lesser's dogged British officer seems caught between not always underplayed dementia and dastardly melodrama. The film does capture the humid atmosphere of the river and there's an effective prolonged ambush/battle sequence, but the film's epic aspirations at times seem hemmed in by the decision to shoot in 1.85:1 rather than a more expansive 2.35:1. The end result is a frustrating film of occasional moments caught between romantic melodrama and a desire to delve deeper that ends up just filtering out into irrelevance as the surviving characters edge out of the path of history and into the comfort of tedium.

Universal's DVD is a decent 1.85:1 widescreen transfer. The only extra is a trailer - what, you were expecting a director's commentary? Now that would be interesting!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful storytelling, 30 Dec 2008
By Casey Bridges "goddessmarian" (Wolverhampton) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Watching this film was similar to reading a book, the story was in depth and delightful. Each scene was breathtaking, the acting was excellent and the storyline was interseting and thoughtful. If you want a film that is about love and (a little bit) of war then this is for you.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Samantha Morton Steals The Show !!!, 11 Jul 2008
By David Byrne "David Byrne" (United Kindgom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This film is amazing. It is defonately a must see and a must have. Samantha Morton is just brilliant in this film , everyone in the film plays there parts really well. The music is really heart warming and sets the emotional tone for the film just perfect. The war scenes are wicked to...If you ain't seen this film then get to your local Blockbusters NOW !!!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums
  • drama  (110 discussions)

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Fun for Everyone

Christmas Gifts
Achieve over 15,000 RPM with our great range of Powerballs.

›Shop the Powerball store

  

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

›More info on Wish Lists

  

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

›Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates