No longer to be poisoned by civilization, he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2008)

I've been anticipating this movie ever since laying eyes on the trailer, late November 2007. I'm a bit saddened by the knowledge of how insanely beautiful the nature scenes would have looked in the theater, the DVD experience is never the same at all.
Now, let's get to it. 'Into The Wild' stirred up a lot of buzz being a Sean Penn direction and being based on the best selling amazing story of Christopher McCandless. I can't say I've had the pleasure of reading the novel, but a lot of comments deem to conclude Penn has done the book justice.
The first thing that's poignant about ITW is the narrative. Penn makes jumps in time and place, giving the story more variation and creating intrigue. It doesn't make it easier to follow, however ITW was never intended for a non-attentive audience. People who can't keep an open mind and identify or at least empathize with characters will not fully enjoy the experience (a word I don't use lightly) that is ITW.
Besides the writing, there's lots of other stuff to rave about. The music and the performances come to mind. Eddie Vedder was not the reason I urged to see this, but it was, not a doubt in the world about this, a nice bonus for me. He's the vocalizer of my favorite songs and the perfect voice to guide the audience in this unique road movie. He also adds to the filmmakers' credibility, having strong political opinions ,similar to McCandless',of his own.
One glance at the cast should get every pure bred movie lover's heart thumping, William Hurt, Hal Holbrook, Marcia Gay Harden,... Not only did the big names deliver, but the small names almost all surprised me with great to excellent performances. Even down to Brian Dierker, who isn't really an actor! Emile Hirsh, only seen in The Girl Next Door, a film I'm not proud of having seen. His performance in that movie belies his abilities. Even in interviews he comes across as a slick Hollywood run-in-a-mill actor, but his performance really radiates feelings of sincerity and dedication to his work. Another nice surprise was Vince Vaughn, he gives the audience a wonderfully natural performance, easily his best one to this day. Can't forget Catherine Keener, always solid, sometimes excellent. The latter applies for this movie, maybe an Oscar nudge wouldn't have been totally out of place here.
ITW is a movie that keeps on giving, as you may have concluded from the size of my review. It's filled with little bonuses. The dialog is not the usual Hollywood pretentious drivel. Some of the philosophies brought forward actually ring true in my ears, something which can't be said about most movies with 'clever' (sarcasm) dialog.
One of the nicest things about ITW (I can't believe I didn't mention it already) is the feeling you're watching a lot of different wonderful movies, all wrapped up into one (not overly long) movie. Each segment has their own curious and wonderful characters, but the movie manages never to become chaotic. And that alone is a testament to Sean Penn.
About the plot/story: I was happy to know it was biographical beforehand, otherwise some of the events may have seemed to 'out-there', far fetched. And that, I believe, is a testament the real story, the level of amazement it actually offers.
As said in an interview by Emile Hirsh himself, the character really is a dividing line audience-wise. Hate him or love him, you have to respect a good film like this one. Extremely Highly recommended, especially for those who loved Eternal Sunshine.