A spoiled hike With all the artistic merits, the film first of all clearly demonstrates as one “larvae of the human personality”, which does not yet represent anything special, but at the same time its conceit skyrockets, can spoil and turn into a nightmare any good undertaking. Instead of sticking the delicate strings of her selfish and spoiled soul, at least for a short time, far away, she begins to see terrible injustice, excessive pickiness and non-existent resentments everywhere. From the very beginning of the film, we see how the adult protagonist, as if trying to justify his cowardly and capricious behavior, again and again continues to go through the vicissitudes of that long campaign with a done-smart look and flaunting bombastic, but empty phrases in fact.
The attentive viewer will not understand at the expense of what hidden inner qualities with the main character could occur such a striking metamorphosis, when already in more privileged conditions the "bleak slut" (recall that the boat was dragged down the hills all the time by three of his comrades, of whom no one has ever been outraged by this state of affairs) suddenly turns out to be able to drag behind him older, prepared and strong guys, not to panic (as he did before throughout the film) and to build a difficult construction for the rise of the same person, who again received his serious life, as he finally being so traumatized and having no experience. In general, a fairy tale, and only.
The characters of other guys are practically not disclosed, mood swings are similar to obvious mental problems, rapid variability (from complete trust in the leader to the readiness to hammer him with a paddle and stone him) causes bewilderment and disbelief in everything that is happening. Vick's motivation is understandable, but sometimes difficult to accept, unfortunately, the film does not show his background, who he is and why he does so (a short scene of his powerless loneliness at the campfire only briefly reveals his soul). It is worth noting that his actions, decisions and behavior are the most logical and acceptable from the point of view of a sane person.
First, he repeatedly tried to find a common language with his new and inexperienced ward and adjust it to the general wave of the team, but he immersed in teenage experiences in every possible way defended his “bright individuality” and independence, which is stupid and inappropriate in a tourist trip. Secondly, despite the excessive radicality and extravagance, Vic's method each time bore fruit - Alan rafted along the river, the suspension bridge crossed, the abyss jumped, although each time there was a long annoying whining, drooling and snot. Well, and thirdly – albeit imperceptibly, but Vic (whose experience and skill was manifested at every step) undoubtedly controlled all the actions and steps of the guys and would not allow really serious incidents.
No matter how hard the filmmakers tried to put Vic in an unfavorable light and show pity and sympathy for Alan, in this case it turned out exactly the opposite. The film reaches a neutral rating only because of the incredibly charismatic Kevin Bacon, stunning natural shootings of wild American nature and excellent musical accompaniment from the blessed and already so far from us 80s.