Somewhat tedious to sit through, haunting in retrospect nonetheless

Rating: 5/10 (27 September 2007)

I loved the heart of this movie, but it is delivered with such a dull-paced, self-important pandering that I cannot help but feel Penn's romanticized, vicarious camera clouds any real psychological backbone behind our lead's motivations. He is doing a good deed to bring this debatable inspiration to the screen, and at times his reverence for the material really shows. So it is with hesitation to mention that this too-revered interpretation does not contain as much truth as the visual splendor led me to believe.
Emile Hirsch headlines the underwhelming cast, sprouting a cute little man-beard, not-very-believable philosophical manifestos, wide-eyed boyish looks, and little else. In brief moments, at certain angles, when he wears glasses and shaves in a few sequences he reminded me of River Phoenix, which in turn sadly reminded me of what a great young actor could be. I am happy for Hirsch's career, as I see a lot of praise for his (mostly just physical) demanding role here. He has been doing all the right things to branch away from the dreaded "that guy in The Girl Next Door" syndrome, but he still has ways to go. Delivery-wise, Hirsch comes across like a younger DiCaprio in The Beach part 2. He just does not have the insight, nor the creativity to make this amazing character really jump off the screen.
We can't really fault the lead too much though, working with an indulgent, preachy, but still lazy script (obviously an angled perspective from the book) and a direction that shows Penn more in love with the idea then the result. Yes, the scenery is often stunning (arguably reason enough to see this anti-cgi beauty in the theater), as nature tends to be. Yes, the film should resonate afterward with the inner romantic or idealist in all of us, perhaps for the finale with an epilogue revealing (to unprepared theater-goers) the fact-based material inspired for this release. But through some murky, melodramatic expository scenes, numbing supporting characters (with rare exception), all awkwardly contrasted to intriguingly put together 24-styled montages, Into the Wild feels more tame, selfish and safe then it's thematic content would suggest.