Legacy Peak

Jason, a man with no parenting experience, is on an adventure to win the hearts of his fiancé's skeptical kids before they marry. The plan for them to fly to her parent's remote cabin days before she wraps up work quickly falls apart and the adventure turns to a struggle to survive before this new family can start a life together.

**_Family adventure starts decent, but goes off the rails in the second half_** A man (Lucas Black) takes his fiancé’s teen daughter and kid boy on a plane ride to win their favor before the marriage, but they end up having to take a long cold hike to the family cabin. "Legacy Peak" (2022) has great locations and good intentions, but takes a wrong turn at the midway point with the scene involving a ranger station and, unfortunately, never recovers. I don’t blame the actors. The flick needed more time on the script level; and then the actors needed more time working together to make their dialogues & actions feel organic. Worst of all, the thrill-sequences come off unconvincing and klutzy. With 25-30 minutes to go, I just wanted it to end. That’s too bad because, underneath the amateurishness, there’s a meaty story about a good man overcoming his difficult past and rising to the challenge of righteous fatherhood on the family path. With a little more money and time, this could’ve been a worthwhile production. For balance, my wife was able to roll with the flick's flaws and somewhat appreciate it; at least enough so that she didn't feel like she wasted her time. It runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Loveland and Estes Park, Colorado, both of which are an hour’s drive north of Denver, the latter in the mountains and 20 minutes further. GRADE: C-/D+