Beautifully photographed story about an empty life.

Rating: 3/10 (15 December 2008)

If I were granting stars on the basis of the story of Chris McCandless and his "personal journey," I would only be giving this film one star (or less, if I could.) However, I have to admit that Penn did put together a good-looking movie, so I gave it a couple extra stars.
On the flip-side of Penn's work, is...crap. (I'm going to assume that everyone knows the basics of the McCandless story and is at least aware of Krakauer's excellent book.) Penn has made some very poor decisions in his direction. The voice-over narration by Jena Malone as McCandless's sister is irritating and completely unnecessary. Penn's general attitude about the government, society, and the place of personal self-discovery is pushed in your face, all the more curious considering how much he owes his personal success to the people he is apparently angry with. (Just how many of the inevitably kind, honest, and friendly hippie-types/free-spirits in this film are likely to have invested in producing his films or even bothered buying tickets to see them?)
I also have to make a leap of faith here and assume that Penn in some way admires, or at least empathizes with, McCandless's personal quest and is trying to show us that there is at least something that is worthwhile about it. If this is true, then Penn has really screwed up as a director, since McCandless is actually portrayed as a self-indulgent, narcissistic, ego-centered, foolish, and totally unpleasant young man. (I guess my theory is wrong if Penn actually INTENDED to depict McCandless in this way.)
Overall, an average movie about a person who doesn't deserve one. (Read Krakauer's book, as it is much more rewarding and, in fact, more neutral in its tone.)