This is the true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch). Freshly graduated from college with a promising future ahead, McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people — a fearless risk-taker who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature.A superb cast and an even-handed treatment of a true story buoy Into the Wild, Sean Penn’s screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book. Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, scion of a prosperous but troubled family who, after graduating from Atlanta’s Emory University in the early 1990s, decides to chuck it all and become a self-styled “aesthetic voyager” in search of “ultimate freedom.” He certainly doesn’t do it halfway: after donating his substantial savings account to charity and literally torching the rest of his cash, McCandless changes his name (to “Alexander Supertramp”), abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his bickering, clueless parents and Jena Malone as his baffled but loving sister, who relates much of the backstory in voice-over), and hits the road, bound for the Alaskan bush and determined not to be found. For the next two years he lives the life of a vagabond, working a few odd jobs, kayaking through the Grand Canyon into Mexico, landing on L.A.’s Skid Row, and turning his back on everyone who tried to befriends him (including Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as two kindly, middle-aged hippies and Hal Holbrook in a deeply affecting performance as an old widower who tries to take “Alex” under his wing). Penn, who directed and wrote the screenplay, alternates these interludes with scenes depicting McCandless’ Alaskan idyll–which soon turns out be not so idyllic after all. Settling into an abandoned school bus, he manages to sustain himself for a while, shooting small game (and one very large moose), reading, and recording his existential musings on paper. But when the harsh realities of life in the wilderness set in, our boy finds himself well out of his depth, not just ill-prepared for the rigors of day to day survival but realizing the importance of the very thing he wanted to escape–namely, human relationships. It’d be easy to either idealize McCandless as a genuinely free spirit, unencumbered by the societal strictures that tie the rest of us down, or else dismiss him as a hopelessly callow naïf, a fool whose disdain for practical realities ultimately doomed him. Into the Wild does neither, for the most part telling the tale with an admirable lack of cheap sentiment and leaving us to decide for ourselves. –Sam Graham
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May 17, 2008
#1
Amazon, why are you allowing non HD DVD Reviews? This title will be released on March 4, 2008.
May 17, 2008
#2
This film is a hippe eddie vedder music video with the same 5 mins of film re-done over and over. Lame and very stupid. All the happiness he could have had but he hates society and craves “freedom & beauty” so he would rather die in a bus alone in the brush. There are pills for that.
May 17, 2008
#3
Into the Wild is a movie that’s based off of the Jon Krakauer (just your ordinary, average, former fisherman who assumed he could become a writer not through education, but by merely being an outdoorsman-wannabe) novel (in itself a pitiable joke as it’s really only a cheating expansion of Krakauer’s 1993 article, “Death of an `Innocent,’” from Outside magazine) of the same name. As such, there’s been some volatile temptation to go out and call this unoriginal movie a “drama,” “biopic,” “action,” or even “adventure” flick. NO, NO, NO and NO!!!! All the aforementioned, wrongly used descriptions of this film are totally off since the actual category Into the Wild truly, honestly belongs to is horror. That’s right: H-O-R-R-O-R! This is a film that should get the award for the most blood-curdling, spine-chilling and unsettling horror flick of all time, easily besting predictable candidates like The Exorcist or Friday the 13th.
The reason for my easily convincing categorization of Into the Wild as a horror movie is because the story–which is real, by the way, making it EVEN MORE SCARY–is so disturbing that it just upsets one’s normal and natural notions of what constitutes decency among people. See, the story revolves around the late Chris McCandless who, because of his maniacally unsafe and attention-planned exploits, should ironically be called Chris McCandiea*s, a true liberal in every horrifying sense of the word. As such, as Into the Wild proves, he embodied all the disreputable qualities of liberalism, which ultimately led to his death: delusional idealism, a lack of a functional plan, directionless tendencies, being anti-establishment, anti-capitalism, arrogant altruism, insanity, and, ultimately, self-destruction (how all liberal ideologies eventually end up, ie. Communism et al).
McCandless had the makings for the foundation of a successful life since he was a college student at Emory University with about $24000 in savings. Then, bizarrely and mournfully, liberalism seized control of his exorbitantly gullible way of thinking. After evil liberalism got its hold on him, McCandless really started perpetrating the epitome of what sane, responsible people can only rightly deride as “stupid stuff.”
His first perpetration of the aforementioned “stupid stuff” is–in a classic yet corny cliché of liberal rebellion against his apparently materialistic father–squandering his $24000 in savings (pretty decent for a college kid!) by donating it to social justice (oxymoron if there ever was one) outfit Oxfam, a liberal organization that has its head in the sand since its implausible mission is to find solutions to poverty!!!! Clearly, Oxfam’s “work” is so implausible that it’s even dumber than what the libs mock President Bush for when he christened the post-911 response the “War on Terror.” Ironically, if McCandless’ ploy was really to help the poor, he should’ve stayed in college and gotten a degree, which would’ve enabled him to earn more money. Then, once he held a job, he could’ve really contributed in more meaningful ways to idiot organizations like Oxfam all he wanted, certainly amounting to more net donations over the course of his working career than a one-time donation of $24000.
Anywho, McCandiea*s’–whoops, sorry, I meant to write “McCandless’”–”stupid stuff” syndrome continues when he basically decides to lose his everlovin’ mind in the pursuit of his confusingly insane, ultimate goal. Are you ready for this, folks? I’m not kidding; here it is: to drive cross-country in his economy car (read: vehicle which will never get him laid…ever!) to live alone and off the land in barren Alaska!?! WTF????
Right at this pivotal point, it was clear that I was watching a most grisly, horror movie because it was frightening beyond belief to see a liberal’s hazardously insane thought process displayed in such stark reality on the big screen. I also felt the horror in this horror movie by the overwhelmingly noticeable theme of self-hatred and self-destructive nihilism in McCandless’ seeming descent into liberal, mental disorder. See, his goal of living in Alaska (for which he ultimately died because of mindless lack of preparation) after sacrificing a budding, college career is the epitome of suicidal tendencies to me and many other sane reviewers.
But, wait for it: McCandless’ expose of why liberalism is such a brain-dead ideology is starkly showcased in even more episodes of self-destructive thoughtlessness. You know, I might even be tempted into thinking of Into the Wild as a laughable, slapstick comedy due to the hopeless and bumbling, self-inflicted demise of McCandless, yet I still classify it as a horror movie due to the serious consequences.
McCandless, still on his way to that barren wasteland called Alaska, somehow manages to lose his babe-magnet, his economy car, in a flash flood! Then, because this late dork actually was so anti-capitalism that he burned what little cash he had left on him, he resorted to hitchhiking, ending up taking about two years to get to Alaska! Never mind the fact that most parents will agree that hitchhiking is very unsafe (and so this film glorifies irresponsible, personal misconduct, too), the aforementioned unfolding of McCandless’ dumb*ss journey is so aimless and disorderly that it would be a great slapstick comedy in the tradition of The Three Stooges, were it not so real-life tragic.
McCandless’ self-inflicted, miserable journey of his mentally disordered, liberal mind continues when, after finally arriving in the “promised land” (AKA, Alaska), he takes to living inside a bus…seriously. Dubbed the hippie-and-stupid-sounding “Magic Bus,” McCandless’ already on-the-fritz mind takes a turn for the worse as he actually deludes himself into being convinced that he “enjoys” this sordid existence!!!! So, what does the liberal-in-training do next? You’d think that maybe, just maybe, he’d snap back to reality and get some common sense, finally, right? HELL NO!!!! Instead of realizing how the liberal ideologies of anti-capitalism, environMENTALism and hippiedom have landed him–as Gordon Ramsay would say–in the s**t, this clown actually starts writing a book about his slapstick misadventures. WTF????
At this point in the film–and, I kid you not, dear people reading this–I was all-out in tears, bawling my little eyes out because of the grief I felt at what liberalism had cruelly done to a once-budding, idealistic college student! I mean, look at McCandless at this point in this horror movie: he’s friggin’ destitute, lives in a friggin’ “bus,” probably smells rancid, and has no foreseeable hope for his future!!!!
Nonetheless, gathering up my last shreds of courage, I managed to soldier on in the face of this showcase of harmful, liberal ideology in McCandless’ life and watch Into the Wild into conclusion. McCandless’ self-inflicted death served him right and was the just deserts he earned after living in such a reckless, suicidal state of mind. The film details how–being the genius he was (sarcasm fully intended!)–this clown then failed to plan for the Alaskan, spring thaw, which ended up separating him from food because of the onset of increased waterways. So, brilliant liberal thinker that he is (why, he’s just about a regular Al “I invented the Internet” Gore or Barack HUSSEIN Obamster), he resorts to eating plants as the food lessens.
However, as any half-sane person should or could anticipate, not all plants in the wild are gosh-darn safe enough to consume, a pitfall which ultimately and mercifully ends McCandless’ sordid life. Despite being the half-nit he was by having brought along a trusty book to guide him on the edibility of plants–wouldn’t you know it?–this great, liberal thinker STILL CONFUSES a poisonous kind of plant for–hahaha, and here’s where The Three Stooges comedy really kicks in, folks–an edible kind! Only, unlike slapstick comedy, this turned out to be mortal for old McCandless!
That’s how Into the Wild ends: it essentially fulfills the foreshadowed prophecy of a liberal clown who decides to make one reckless and radicalized misjudgment after another until he kills himself. Into the Wild is essentially a very horrifying and painful window into something called long-term suicide that this liberal loon, McCandless, plotted ever since deciding to desert college and become a hippie. Based on this disclosure and analysis of Into the Wild, all the disingenuous apologists and outright promoters of this film should be ashamed of themselves because there’s nothing meaningful or praiseworthy here. The only thing there is is McCandless’ STUPID STUFF!!!!
May 17, 2008
#4
Another Hollywood hatched job on the “evil” United States. Instead of celebrating this expansive, great land of ours filled with immeasurable opportunities, it’s depicted as a cold, callous place where men like Christopher McCandless must go to extremes to find peace–ultimately leading to his death. Actually, I have dreamed my entire life of doing exactly what Christopher McCandless did (as do countless others)–moving into the Alaskan bush country. However, I think I would be a bit more prepared for life in the Alaskan bush with more than a 20-lb. bag of rice. Countless men–and women–have gone to Alaska to find solitude, peace and wonderment. This man is known merely for being one of the few who was found dead–in a school bus abandoned in the wilderness, no less. Jon Krakauer’s biography was much better, the typical polemics against American culture and society not as blatant as in the film. But the film, directed by superman Sean Penn, takes the typical, banal Hollywood route of condemning anything and everything American. Is anyone else sick and tired of this? To me, the idea of a man traveling far and wide, in search of himself, freely without any constraints, would be a positive thing. Oddly, Hollywood sees this as pathological. Do Hollywood’s millionaire snobs not want us unwashed masses traveling around unescorted? Are we too stupid to handle life on our own? Are they afraid of us? Why do they only see ugliness in America, but beauty everywhere else? They seem to even find beauty in war torn Europe more than free America where one can travel when and where he wishes. Again, the issue here is freedom–individual freedom. The Left feels that freedom creates dissonance and confusion in the lowly ones (that’s you and me, by the way). In a society less free (like Cuba, North Korea), McCandless never would have ended up dead in a school bus in the Alaskan bush. But isn’t that what freedom is all about–taking chances and risks? Sad that snoots in Hollywood fail to see the beauty in this.
May 17, 2008
#5
This was made into a movie??!! Such tripe!! This guy wasn’t a hero, he was a true mental case that couldn’t deal with his issues and injected everything and everyone he met with shallow, selfish quotes. I wish people would do that thing they did with disco albums in the 80′s at that baseball stadium – gather all the copies of this movie they can and build a bonfire and burn they all. The WORST movie I’ve ever seen!!