Return from the River Kwai (1989)

A group of war prisoners from the Kwai bridge building camp undertake a harsh journey to Japan.

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

Joan Blair (book), Clay Blair Jr. (book),

Stars:

Timothy Bottoms, Nick Tate, George Takei

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Timothy Bottoms	...	Seaman Miller
Nick Tate	...	Lt. Commander Hunt
George Takei	...	Lieutenant Tanaka
Edward Fox	...	Major Benford
Paul Holm	...	Benford's Patient
Chris Penn	...	Lieutenant Crawford (as Christopher Penn)
Ronnie Lazaro	...	Boonrod
Richard Graham	...	Sergeant Perry
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Major Harada
Denholm Elliott	...	Colonel Grayson
Anna Maria Tirol	...	Meo Girl
Andres Tepongco	...	Anon
Masato Nagamori	...	Lieutenant Yamashita
Pierre Valderon	...	Frenchman in Saigon
Patricia Edmondson	...	Lady in Saigon

Storyline

A group of war prisoners has spilt blood, sweat and tears to construct a bridge over the river Kwai in Thailand. Just when the bridge is ready, an American bomber arrives and destroys it. Camp commander Tanaka wants to set an example and orders that some of the prisoners must be executed. Just in time major Harada arrives with orders that the healthiest prisoners must be transported to Japan by train and boat. A treacherous journey since the allied forces keep a close eye on railroads and practically own the seas. The prisoners are thinking of plans to escape. Meanwhile the American bomber has been shot down and it's pilot, Leyland Crawford, is being rescued by the indigenous people, the Meo. The Meo have formed a resistance group against the Japanese, led by the British colonel Grayson.

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Plot Keywords:

japan | british | train | asia | british soldier | 

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Genres:

War | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 July 1989 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

El regreso del río Kwai

Filming Locations:

Malaysia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roadshow Productions, Screenlife Establishments

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie is not an official sequel to The Bridge on the River Kwai. It does supposedly follow-on from historical events as depicted in that film but the characters in both films are basically different.

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Connections

Follows The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

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Soundtracks

"Auld Lang Syne"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Lalo Schifrin

User Reviews

Very late and totally unnecessary sequel but is it bad as well?

In short; yes, this movie is extremely bad.

It's best not to see this movie as a sequel to David Lean's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" at all, or else you'll be even more offended by this movie. And it's not even like this movie has much to do with the 1957 classic in the firs place. The movie is literately set at the river Kwai for about 5 minutes at most and it focuses on some totally different characters.

The movie tries to be like and adventurous WW II movie, with also some action added to it but it all got done extremely bad. It really doesn't get brought to the screen very well, due to its serious lacking directing, which is most notable during it's so called action sequences. Ultimate low is the extremely lame and laughable fight between Chris Penn and a Japanese soldier at the airfield. Or was it supposed to be a spoof of the famous airfield fight from "Raiders of the Lost Ark"? Even the music hints at this a bit.

The story is really all over the place. At times it's really unclear what this movie is trying to be. The one moment it's being a serious drama, about the horrors of war and the other it's being a simple mindless bad action flick. It also really isn't clear were the movie is heading to. There is a lot of traveling in this movie, which often add to the confusion and it really isn't made clear what is actually being the main plot-line for the movie. Characters are doing lots of silly and unlikely stuff, which doesn't exactly add to the movie its credibility. It all really doesn't make this movie a very pleasant one to watch.

This movie was obviously just a quick and cheap way to cash in. It also seems that the movie its title was reason enough for some decent actors to get involved with this movie. Quite amazing that Edward Fox agreed to appear in this and the movie further more features some other well known and respected names such as Denholm Elliott, Chris Penn and George Takei.

A big mess of a movie, that got very poorly done...and there is even a fart joke in it as well.

3/10

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