Into The Wild (DVD)

...year, when I was looking into movies that Vince Vaughn had appeared in and this is one of the most recent ones he's been in. When I read about it, I thought it sounded quite interesting, especially considering the fact that its based on a true story, from the novel by Jon Krakauer. The story of a young mans ambition to travel to Alaska and live off the land sounded intriguing and I was quite disappointed that it wasn't going to be shown at my local ...
...so good at putting movies into genres?! lol), though it is quite slow there are dramatic moments and some aspects may have been guessed to add to the movie but I'm not aware how much of the information is known to be true and whats been added. It mainly covers the themes or issues of family, trust and of living a travellers life, I guess.


- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -

I thought this was almost a poetic ... more

- Introduction -

'Into The Wild' is a movie I first heard about late last year, when I was looking into movies that Vince Vaughn had appeared in and this is one of the most recent ones he's been in. When I read about it, I thought it sounded quite interesting, especially considering the fact that its based on a true story, from the novel by Jon Krakauer. The story of a young mans ambition to travel to Alaska and live off the land sounded intriguing and I was quite disappointed that it wasn't going to be shown at my local cinema. I forgot about it after that and now that ive started renting movies online, thanks to LoveFilms online download rental service, I found that this movie was available there and given the mainly good reviews it has, I decided to download this as my second downloaded online rental.

As it happens, this isn't a particularly well known, or big name, movie but I feel that really, thats a shame and that it should be known more. Perhaps this will be the case, as I notice that IMDb states that the movie has been nominated for 2 Oscars, so that might get it some extra exposure.

Read on to find out more about the movie and what I thought about it...

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/fullcredits)

Director - Sean Penn
Writer (Screenplay) - Sean Penn
Writer (Book its based on) - Jon Krakauer
Producers - Art Linson, Sean Penn, William Pohlad
Executive Producers - David Blocker, Frank Hildebrand, John J. Kelly

- Story (incl. some of the acting cast) -

'Into The Wild' tells the true story of Christopher McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch), a young man who graduates from college in 1990 and is desperate to get away from his family, particularly his parents. He has no interest in material things and simply wants to be a traveller, travelling from state to state, seeing the sights and living a simpler life, I guess you could say. So one day, he decides to write a cheque to Oxfam, giving away all his life savings and he gets rid of most of his belongings, then heads out on the road in his trusty old Datsun. He decides to change his name to 'Alexander Supertramp' and while travelling, he meets many different people, while becoming more determined to reach his final destination of Alaska, where he plans to live off the land. He shares this dream with some of the people that he meets, some of which try to dissuade him against such a plan, for such a young man, its surely a risky idea, especially in such a cold and potentially cruel place, how would he cope? will he manage to get to Alaska, with the few posessions he has left and what about those he has left behind, what do they make of his sudden disappearance, especially considering he had graduated college, with his whole life in front of him, why would he do this? will his family get to see him again? you'll have to watch the movie to find out, of course.

Some other people in the cast include Chris' sister Carine McCandless (played by Jena Malone), his mum, Billie McCandless (played by Marcia Gay Harden) and his dad Walt McCandless (played by William Hurt), as well as the people Chris meets, some of which are mentioned below (under 'Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information').

- Genre/Themes -

This is a true life travel drama movie (if such a genre exists? perhaps im not so good at putting movies into genres?! lol), though it is quite slow there are dramatic moments and some aspects may have been guessed to add to the movie but I'm not aware how much of the information is known to be true and whats been added. It mainly covers the themes or issues of family, trust and of living a travellers life, I guess.

- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -

I thought this was almost a poetic movie, with the main character Chris/Alex explaining, by way of voice over, his observations and re-telling his past, the problems he encountered with family life, with his dysfunctional parents, which gives an insight into why he chose to become a traveller and to ultimately go 'into the wild'. As well as Chris, his sister, Carine, also gives some voice overs, updating viewers on the situations at home, how his parents were coping and what they'd found out regarding his disappearance and what she thought had happened.

Sometimes Chris also writes letters or notes to people, which are shown on screen in his writing, to give the movie a more personal feel. The soundtrack also adds to the feel of the movie, making it more atmospheric. At times it adds to the feeling of optimism, of or for a care-free life out on the road, travelling from state to state and living life and at other rimes its almost spooky, setting a sinister turn for unfortunate things to come.

The movie is split into different 'chapters' too (I don't mean on the DVD but rather on screen it'll say 'Chapter Three' and a title below), each one of these chapters represent a different phase in his life, a new direction he was heading in symbolically I guess you could say and in that way I suppose it is like reading a book but I felt that it was more like I was reading Chris' diary instead and sharing in some of the high and low points he presumably experienced as a traveller.

The issue of family and trust plays a bit part and its hard not to feel sorry for one of the last characters that appear in the movie, a guy called Ron Franz (played by Hal Holbrook), who has his own family tragedy story which he shares with Chris and he becomes very close to him, seeing him as like his own long lost grandson. Its certainly very hard not to feel sorry for Ron.

I felt that overall, the performances given in this movie were good. Emile Hirsch wasn't a name I was familiar with but now I'll look out for his name in other movies, I thought he played his role pretty well and he reminded me in of I suppose a sort of cross between Leonardo DiCaprio and Shane West (which is random but there you go lol). Vince Vaughn was also good as Wayne Westerberg, I'm a fan of Vinces so I had to mention that lol and Hal Holbrook, as I previously mentioned, also gave a very good performance, I felt.

The camerawork is quite good in parts and it certainly does add to the atmosphere of the movie, some scenes at the end of the movie are particularly dramatic and during the movie, showing off the natural beauty of the landscapes Chris found himself surrounded by, so the cinematography is quite impressive in parts.

**Important note/warning! In the next two paragraphs, I note things which could, by some, be seen to be slight spoilers or could give you a clue to the possible outcome of the movie. I always try not to give spoilers but I felt I wanted to add these points, that it added to my review and I felt it best to note this here, so if you'd prefer, please skip the rest of this section/heading and continue to read my review from the nxt section/heading onwards, if you wish to avoid any such spoilers or plot clues (though I don't make it entirely clear what happens but I suppose you could guess it) sorry about that...**

I did find this movie to be quite haunting, particularly knowing that it is based on a true story. The movie ends with a photo of Chris and an update on what happened. Its quite sobering stuff, put it that way, though im not wanting to give anything away, story wise. The real life element made the movie that much more plausible to me, though I don't know alot about the story itself, I know the movie is based on a novel but as to what may have been added to make the movie work better as a movie, I'm afraid I can't comment but as a movie, I feel it is very good, it has a haunting feel to it and its something that will likely stay with you for some time to come.

I felt that seeing him at his end destination, so to speak, in Alaska, was kind of bittersweet, as you can see on one hand he's happy to be finally where he'd planned to be from the start and able to feel 'at one' with his natural surroundings and yet also, after not so long, he seems to be suffering within himself, from the isolation it brings and you can feel or see the doubt in him, about the things he's done.

I feel that I should point out that it is a long movie, at around 2 hours and 20 minutes and the story itself does move pretty slowly, if your not prepared to follow it at the slow pace its given then you'll likely become pretty bored with it after an hour or so, so its not for everyone. As well as this, when I saw the arial camerawork at the end of the movie, showing where Chris stayed in Alaska, I couldn't help but feel this nagging critic inside me complain that it just seemed too convenient, oh of course it just so happened that there would be this abandoned, rusty old bus that just so happens to be easily found in an area with the trees right around it having been felled and so on, I couldn't help but feel like this was slightly too convenient in some way. If you went into the real wilderness, in such a place, whats the chance that you would find such an item as an old bus, just sitting abandoned waiting for you to use it as a sort of makeshift home, with drawers and compartments to use and a place to sleep at night, supposedly in the middle of nowhere? hmmm... there again, at the end moose hunters are referred to, so I suppose I should presume that they put it there and that they used it perhaps only once or twice a year during moose hunting season or something like that, so it could be the case I suppose. Those are my only real criticisms that I can think of though, really.

- Certificate -

'Into The Wild' is rated 15 in the UK, due to some strong language and some (fairly brief) nudity. There's little, if any, violence and no drug scenes either.

- Official Website -

You can find the official website for 'Into The Wild' here:-

http://www.intothewild.com/

Here you'll find information on the movie and the DVD, a photo gallery, a map where you can click on each of the places Chris travels in his journey and find out more and you can read excerpts from some books that Chris read while on his travels. The 'adventure' section seems to relate to a competition thats now closed so ignore that (unless they launch a new one(?)) and you can also find a 'live wild blog' site which loads a different website, containing a blog, comments, music, video and so on, its a sub site from the 'imeem' site, which I've not heard of but it appears to be like a social network/community site. As ever, Flash Player is needed to load the official websites content.

- Conclusions -

Have no doubts about it, this is a long movie and it may well bore the easilybored or impatient viewer. However, I thought that it was a well made movie, Emile did well portraying his character and the viewer is given what feels like a very personal insight into Chris' life, his journey as a traveller, his thoughts and insights and the people that he meets and allows himself to get to know to some extent, which is quite touching at times. Also knowing that it is based on a true story gives it more 'substance', so to speak.

There are some great landscape/scenery shots and it is pretty atmospheric at times, with a decent sountrack or musical score to back it up. This movie is well worth seeing, in my opinion. It should certainly make you think, about relationships and about society, about greed and whats important in life, I guess. It may be a little mushy but it is a seriously made movie and its not overly sentimental in a negative Hollywood way I feel and apart from the slight issue I have about where he ends up setting up home in Alaska, I felt it was pretty believable and given how personal it is, it is a haunting and touching movie that works well. If in doubt, try to be open minded and give it a go, you never know you might quite enjoy it, just don't expect it to be too short and snappy.

I would have liked to have given this movie a 4 and a half star rating, for 'Very good' but not quite 'Excellent', as I feel thats more where this movie belongs. I think its better than just plain 'Good' but its somehow not quite 'Excellent', so if you can, think of this as somewhere between the two, a 4.5 star rated movie.

I hope that this review is useful and thanks, as always, for reading 

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