The Ultimate Legacy

After watching "The Ultimate Gift", with Drew Fuller as Jason Stevens, the next 2 films were the ultimate let down. The 2nd, "The Ultimate Life" was tolerable as it went in to the story of Red Stevens more so than Jason, and I enjoyed that part of the story.

But this one was painful to watch. The acting was bad and the story was just full of holes. It was sadly lacking in the warmth of the original, and other than the handful of original cast members, it also lacked in talent. It was as though they were trying to hurry through the tale to get to the end... never mind that it seemed to be missing key details.

I up picked up this movie because it had a great cast: Bill Cobbs, Raquel Welch, Brian Dennehy, Doug Jones, and Lee Meriwether (and what seemed to be a fleeting image of James Garner on a video screen). Unfortunately the bulk of the acting rests on the feeble shoulders of young thespian lightweights you're not likely to hear about anytime soon. Moody Actor #1 plays Joey, a spoiled rich kid who stands to inherit millions from his grandma's estate. The story sets about establishing that he's got "issues", and the young lawyers surrounding him are unprofessional schmucks who are unnecessarily cagey about the terms or "gifts" he has to fulfill in a year (a YEAR!) in order to receive that money. Supposedly Joey is a selfish ass but within the first 15 minutes of the movie he's already redesigning a memorial for his grandma and giving food to the homeless. So what was the jerky behavior that convinced everyone Joey was a pampered brat who needed to spend a year (a YEAR!) to prove his worth?

Moody Actor #2 plays one of the lawyers. He has a beautiful wife and daughter and laments that he can't spend more time with them because he has to babysit Joey and make sure he fulfills his "gifts". Well, dude, why don't you? Whenever his wife asks him to spend more time with his family he's not with Joey, he's at his office, pounding away on a keyboard and having absolutely no paperwork on his desk (gotta love the digital age).

Ditzy Actress plays another lawyer. She wears tiny skirts and heels so high they keep sinking into the lawn every time she crosses it to bring Joey a snack. The inevitability of her ending up with Joey is woefully obvious, and apparently her only purpose in the movie as you never really see her doing any legal work. Rounding out this flaccid cast are the Tolken Black Cast Member, John Davidson's son (looks like him, anyway), and Random White Guys.

I could go on but look, the point is, don't see this movie. Raquel Welch has 5 minutes of screen time, as does Cobbs, Dennehy, Meriwether and Jones. Oh, Doug Jones... I specifically picked up this title because in a recent interview he talked about how much fun it was for him to not have to wear a creature suit in a movie, yet even someone of his caliber is barely on screen. If the pitch for this film was "Let's have a weak story and hire a great cast that we don't use in favor of millennials you've never heard of", this is the result. Save yourself the frustration and rewatch "Hellboy 2".

A story like The Ultimate Legacy has been told a million times over, but somehow, it all comes together near perfectly. The tale of a hot shot coming home to his traditional family is given a twist by asking him how he can redeem himself not just emotionally, but spiritually as well. The film is full of terrific performances, including Raquel Welch, Brian Dennehy, and The Shape of Water's Doug Jones. And the story has a terrific conclusion that left me with a smile on my face. I highly recommend this for families!

There are spoilers here that you can read, but a couple of the people who wrote reviews seem to have missed the entire message of the movie. You owe it to yourself to invest a few minutes to judge for yourself.

You have to watch the first 2 movies to get this one. It doesn't make any sense if you only watch this one.

It's not as good as the first but it still has the same concept and it continues the lessons of the gifts we receive when we give of ourselves.