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| Movie Review: Into the Wild Alternate Title: King of the Road
Story: Those of you who read
Jon Krakauer's fabulous book, Into the Wild,
know, as I do that Christopher Johnson McCandless shed
the outer trappings of family, society, possessions and expectations
and walked into the wilderness. His adventure was unraveled, mystery
style in the novel, by tracking down the people and places he had visited
via bits of information. What started as a 9000 word article in Outdoor
magazine in 1992, now has a cult following and is a major motion picture
by director and writer Sean Penn. That said, the movie's direction is not the same as the book and if
you can wrap your head around that vision you will most likely enjoy
large parts of the film. Penn has focused on McCandless' adventurous spirit, courage, intelligence
and ability to literally drop out and be as one with nature. Others
might simply view him as a careless, thoughtless 23 year old who did
a foolish thing. Whatever your view of this young man, you can admire
some of the things he accomplished and you can surely admire the luscious
scenery we get to enjoy on his fantastic adventure. The good news is that the acting is terrific, the location shots are
beautiful and I applaud someone who can drop the creature comforts of
our consumer culture and simply walk away. The bad news is that it is
overly long, occasionally trite and could have used about a twenty minute
trim to tighten up the power of the film. Acting: Emile Hirsch as McCandless
is appealing, warm, has an award wining smile and Hollywood loves when
an actor loses a lot of weight during a movie. The supporting cast is
very good with special kudos to both William Hurt and
Hal Holbrook. Marcia Gay Harden,Vince Vaughn,Catherine
Keener, Brian Dierker, Jena Malone and Kristen Stewart
all worked well too.
Predilection: I loved the book
Critters: There were far more critters than people
in the film. Sadly, many of the critters ended up as the Food in the
next category. We got to see, moose, birds, dogs, cats, cattle, bears
and any other creature you might think you would see in the wild, including
flies and larvae.
Food: See above.
Sex Spectrum: Male nudity seems to be the next big
thing in Hollywood. Hirsch is seem (from a distance, in the nude, in
the water). We also get to see some boobs and other body parts in a
passing nudist colony. The act of sex, on the whole was absent - just
implied.
Blatant Product Placement: Alaska
Soundtrack: Soaring and at times, sappy.
Opening Titles: Too many fonts were used in the opening
titles.
Visual Art: We have quite a beautiful country.
Theater Audience: Mostly male except for my former
Marathon buddy and me. We did feel like taking a long walk after the
film.
Weather: Weather plays an important role in his survival.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: 0 - although some may find the moose
scene a bit squirmy.
Drift Factor: I started to look at my watch after
an hour.
Predictability Level: High
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: Who knows?
Nit Picking: Penn added some unnecessary scenes into
the film that added to the length but not the depth of the film.
Big Screen or Rental: Big screen for sure. For some
other Emile Hirsch films, try renting: Lords of Dogtown, Imaginary
Heroes, The Emperor's Club and the very fine Dangerous Lives of Altar
Boys
Length: Almost 30 minutes over the two hour rule.
LOBO HOWLS: 7
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