Wild Thing! You pull my heartstrings!

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2008)

"Into The Wild" is not based on the astonishing true story of wild choral-child Britney Spears nocturnal escapades in The Bipolar Express. "Into The Wild" is not even based on the "asstonishing" true story of wild Governor-manchild Eliot Spitzer's nocturnal escapades in The Emperor's Club. "Into The Wild" is really based on the astonishing true story of wild child Christopher McCandless who abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings to charity, and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Just like Britney and Spitzer, his "assets" get frozen because of his desire to roam free. Director Sean Penn's compelling film pulls into the heartstrings on the quest of ultimate solitary freedom. "Into The Wild" is more into the journey that McCandless took within the friendships he experienced on his hitchhiking route to Alaska. That roster included an affectionate middle-age hippy couple, a fast-talking farmer, and a lonesome geriatric widower. McCandless does reach the apex of solitaire euphoria when he encounters an isolated wrecked bus in Alaska which in turn he calls The Magic Bus. Chris becomes The Who of the Magic Bus by living in it until the song stops playing in his life. It is no secret on what happens to Chris so I am not playing spoiler when I say The Magic Bus becomes The Tragic Bus because he dies in it because of a poisonous fruit he ingested. Chris was eventually going to die anyway from lack of nourishment, so I guess Chris picked his poison. His fragile body was so emaciated that a slight "McCandless in The Wind" would have tipped him over. Emile Hirsch's courageous performance as McCandless was enthralling enough to be into the best male leading acting efforts of the year. Hirsch lost an enormous amount of weight for the role; I guess he must have eaten many "Hirschy Bars" to gain the weight back. Hirsch's roadie entourage were also into the acting: Hal Holbrook broke our hearts by effectively portraying the emotional senior Ron Franz, Vince Vaughn's "vaughnisms" talked the talk and walked the walk as farmer Wayne, and Catherine Keener & Brian Dierker's performances as the hippy Rainey & Jan were hip hip hooray! William Hurt & Marcia Gay Harden as the desperate McCandless parents and Jena Malone as the philosophical McCandless also were into their supporting acting. Eric Gautier's gorgeous scenic cinematography was as cold as ice at times but warm at heart at others. Eddie Vedder of Peal Jam jammed it in with a high score by contributing a nicely-tuned thematic musical score for what "Into The Wild" entails. However, it was the Pennmanship of Writer-Director Sean Penn that revitalized Christopher McCandless incredible journey into cinematic reality! I hope I got you into the mood to go "Into The Wild". ***** Excellent