Deliverance

No Salvation

John Boorman's Deliverance occupies a special niche in American films. In theory, it is a thrilling tale of journeying down the Cahulawassee River, with horrifying misadventures along the way. When the travelers find the area to be more than they can handle, they grow increasingly desperate. All of this sounds wonderful, especially with the potential for frightening encounters with the locals, the forces of nature, and even fellow voyagers. The wrath of nature, and woods in particular, was chilling in, say, The Blair Witch Project. The ethical and practical challenges of concealing a murder or two provided plenty of suspense for A Simple Plan. For some reason, Deliverance did not actually excite me, despite decent performances and an abundance of plot. As someone who is annoyed by people with poor sense for logistics, I found it very hard to care about the fate of the four city-slickers who should've known they were headed for disaster. The arrogance of the Burt Reynolds character was particularly damaging to any sympathy I would've otherwise felt.