Alan (Sean Astin) is a city boy from NYC. His parents send him off to camping and wilderness survival with Vic (Kevin Bacon). Alan has reservations but is too scared to object. They are joined by three other boys. Alan is not a happy camper clashing with the strictness of Vic. The reward is a mountain climb.Alan is whiny which keeps me from fully liking this movie in general. Vic is the kind who throws a baby into deep water. Neither is worth the rooting interest. There is a way to play both of these characters to create some sympathy for them. This fails to find the sweet spot and the emotional conflict comes off clunky.

I am still trying to figure out how the canoe magically transported itself across the shaky bridge to the mountain lake. The scenery in the movie is outstanding but the progression of the changing geography and scenes makes less sense than the story line. I give the movie a 2 for the scenery.And now I am required to write an addition 5 lines that no one will read. Let's see. the river rescue scene at the end. At first Alan and Kevin Bacon's character start out on a huge river which narrows down to a much smaller white water river. Nowhere in the world does this happen Somehow Alan by himself gets Kevin with a broken leg down off the mountain and loads him in the canoe for the final white water scenes. There are numerous dumb inconsistencies in the story line just like that. Maybe the way to watch this is every time the movie flubs is take a straight shot. Then by the end you will not notice or care about all the lame mistakes.

Before Kevin Bacon tackled the wilderness' harsh rivers in "The River Wild (1994)', he played Vic a spiritually in touch hiking guide who takes some city boys in to the mountainous wilds to learn more about themselves and to push the best out them. But his methods come under the eyes of the boys, with his constant testing of the young, inexperienced lad Alan. But soon enough we find the tables are eventually turned around on just who relies on each other.'White Water Summer' is a respectably bold and hearty, if unspectacular presentation that Ernest Kinoy and Manya Starr's actively mediative and theme-grown material feels unsure to what it truly wants to be, as it treads between feel-good adventure, psycho-territory and being morally hounded in finding the mental toughness to go beyond your limitations and fears. Jeff Bleckner's direction is well-measured and slickly handled, as the standouts range from the excellent white water rafting scenes and rock climbing views. The harrowing tension within these passages seem to bubble, but Bleckner also gets a great bunch of performances, especially from his young confident cast (Sean Astin, Jonathan Ward, K.C. Martel and Matt Adler) who show binding chemistry. That when a change in Bacon's character begins to show, the suspense and dangerous air kicks in the adrenaline as the boys begin to feel the circumstances change. Astin is impressive as Alan, as he goes head on with stupendously hard-pressed Kevin Bacon. His way is the right ways… don't question it. As he goes on to test them out individually and as a team to become dependant on one and each other. But does it become beyond breaking point to get these results.What I could have done without was the flash-forward smart-mouth laced narration pockets of an older Sean Astin talking to the screen, while cutting between the central story. They somewhat lessen the impact and became off-putting. Even the soundtrack with its squealing rock tunes became a little overbearing, as it regularly pumped it out. Michael Boddicker's soothing original score does a better job in camouflaging with its surroundings and activities. John Alcott's striking cinematography naturally hovers over the beautiful backdrop getting amongst organic growth and swirling waters to isolate the viewers along with the small party.

This review reveals crucial events in the overall plot.Young teenaged boys indeed swear and use the very best of profanities amongst each other. This kept the dialogue surprisingly believable-it didn't seem contrived and wasn't overdone.I also found very believable Vic's character as wilderness guide to these young teenagers. Even when he left Allen on the other side of the bridge and later hanging by the cliff-he reassured Allan that the group would be just a little further ahead waiting for him. Vic seemed to me to be trying to teach Allan that indeed he could accomplish what the other kids had just done. He almost told Allan this word for word. Wasn't that the whole point of the trip? Vic was harsh but he didn't break any laws or otherwise act unscrupulously punitive.However, it is true that Vic was scapegoating Allan. He made all the other kids carry the canoe and then took Allen for the ride-an insidious decision that Vic tried to pull off as spontaneous. And Vic was far too punishing when he left Allan alone (especially overnight!) on the island because he caught the fish the wrong way.I found it extremely unbelievable how the kids ended up almost killing Vic, and then so resolutely decided to just leave him there (only Allan behaved remotely believably). Vic did not abuse his authority so much as to incite in those kids that kind of desperate mutiny-of-sorts. If this ever happened in reality it would be most unusual and remarkable.