Where a young man with a wild heart makes a bad call.

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2011)

I read the book soon after it was published, in the mid-1990s, I think. It was an impressive piece of writing to chronicle the wanderings of the misguided Chris McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch) who finally decides to forgo all human contact in the wilds of Alaska. If nothing else, McCandless had the courage of his convictions, even if he was remarkably ill-prepared for his adventures.
Convictions, however, can come back to bite you, unless you're prepared to learn from experience and change your ways. In that regard, the film fails to deliver the whole story. Hence, I'd urge interested viewers to get the book from a local library and read it – if not all of it (although, it's a relatively short non-fiction narrative), then definitely the end.
The photography, though, is excellent. The acting by all the characters is very natural – indeed, almost flawless and with special mention for Hal Holbrook (as old Ron Franz) who has scenes with Hirsch that are truly amazing in their emotional effectiveness.
Hirsch, of course, carries the film and story. I'd not seen him before in a film; without doubt, however, he is excellent in the role. Though, it would be instructive to see him in another story and context. Sean Pen produced and directed this and did a competent job for a pedestrian (no pun intended) story that some say is overlong. Perhaps it is.
The film is remarkable for me from another aspect, however: with a total of fifty-four film locations, I think this film wins, hands down, as the one that's traveled to the most. Even the epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962) went to only thirty-two; and the other epic from that same year, The Longest Day, managed to get out to only a dozen or so. There is no Oscar for highest number of locations, though.
Overall, though, I think, this type of film would have been better handled by Werner Herzog, famous for many fiction and non-fiction films – particularly Grizzly Man (2005), a documentary about another young man who thought he could live with wild bears. That's a better movie story than Into The Wild.
However, if you want to see many barren and lonely parts of the USA, followed by the wild, forbidding beauty of Alaska, then do see this movie. Or, you could just see a National Geographic documentary, instead. For the whole story about Chris McCandless, though, get the book and read it.
I recommend this film for Penn fans, mostly, and nature lovers.