Sean Penn Sold Chris McCandless's Soul

Rating: 3/10 (20 December 2007)

I felt Krakauer's story was compelling enough. For Sean Penn to throw such fictionalized crap into the mix, it is hard to accept.
McCandless was barely developed as a character and what we see is a very self-absorbed, humorless, one-dimensional kid. Penn's anti-government views are unnecessarily thrown into the movie--the rude ranger at Lee's Ferry and the sheriff's boat blasting their siren through the Grand Canyon, unable to catch up to a kayaker, sure. The idea of McCandless pushing his kayak on a shopping cart 42 miles from Page to Lee's Ferry was also absurd. The whole kayak-through-the-Grand-Canyon story line was totally unfathomable. How many idiots will try it now? As was Wayne Westerberg getting busted by the FBI (for what--driving his combine too fast? Why does Vince Vaughn have to be in every goddamn movie?), McCandless burning all his money yet holding on to his gold watch, (all vagabonds who are rejecting society need to know the exact time), McCandless riding the rails, (stereotypical "bull" encounter--but did McCandless ever hop a train? I don't think so), McCandless not giving Ron a hug or at least a handshake when he said goodbye to him, McCandless hiking up his belt another notch about fifty times (must be losing weight, duh), McCandless not having a discernible personality, McCandless about to phone his parents but thinking the better of it (what was the point of that?) Also hard to believe was McCandless not banging the Tracy chick (Tolstoy would have banged her!) This must be Penn's version of McCandless deification, that he was too "moral" to bang a hot chick in the middle of the desert.
The hippie couple and Tracy were good actors. Hal Holbrook, good to see he's still alive. Emile Hirsch at least looked like McCandless, good to see Sean Penn didn't turn him into a Haitian stowaway or a guy with scissorhands. Hard to understand why he was mugging for the camera, though. The whacked-out Danish couple on remote beach seemed realistic. There are lots of nude and nearly nude European tourists running around remote parts of the American west. That was the movie's biggest connection with me.
Eddie Vedder's soundtrack was totally forgettable. You suck, dude. I guess we should be thankful Helen Reddy wasn't Sean Penn's buddy in the music industry, eh? Too bad no "Travelin' Man"/Bob Seger, "Ramble On"/Led Zep, even some old '70's Jackson Browne or '60's Byrds would have helped. And since McCandless was out there during the pinnacle of the grunge era, some music from that period also seemed required. "King of the Road"/Roger Miller was the only tune that fit.
McCandless in LA, McCandless catching a train out of LA, McCandless getting beat up by the "bull", McCandless having a weird Sean Penn moment where he imagines he is Leonardo DiCaprio at a Hollywood party ... I doubt any of those things ever actually happened. And like I said, I thought the original story was compelling enough.
Good to see The Gap (S of Page) and the road leading down to Lee's Ferry on the big screen, but I doubt McCandless ever went down it. There wasn't any particular shot that came close to capturing the real essence of hitching, and what a freaking shame. McCandless can't even say "thanks for the ride". Stunning how Sean Penn can make a movie about the most famous hitchhiker of our lifetime and not have even one consultant on the set who has ever hitched.
The scene where McCandless mocks elderly man Ron for not making the "most" of his life left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. If someone puts you up overnight for an extended time and wants to adopt you, be gracious about it, not a sanctimonious jerk. I'm sure Chris McCandless' parents were thrilled to see their son depicted this way.
Also hard to believe is that no one came forward during the making of the movie to further clarify McCandless' journey. No rides in Canada, nothing. Rather than fictionalize what may have happened that Krakauer didn't unearth in his research, Penn fictionalizes what did happen. In reality, McCandless kayaked from below Parker Dam to the Sea of Cortez through relatively tame Colorado River waters. Penn has him negotiating class 4 rapids in the heart of the Grand Canyon--a total sell-out to attract the extreme sport crowd.
Closing shot totally ridiculous. The river looks to be about ankle deep, and it's flowing from the wrong direction. No attempt by McCandless to even cross the river. What a joke.
From what I read, McCandless in real life was a congenial guy, a great bar person. He had a joie de vivre for hitching and meeting other people. He wasn't the single-minded, Alaska-obsessed prick that Penn makes him out as being. That's what I choose to believe. Shame on Sean Penn for not illuminating us more as to who Chris McCandless actually was.
Krakauer's version of ending with Billie and Walt McCandless helicoptering in to visit the bus was gut-wrenching enough for me. Too bad it wasn't good enough for Sean Penn, that great Hollywood visionary.