It's been a few years since a movie made me immediately fall into this sort of love with it. Not only from the cold, film critic perspective, although I did find it flawless, but for personal connections I could make with the story. I could go ahead and rave about it for several paragraphs, but I'm sure you can read reviews that share my sentiment that are much more eloquent. I'm just going to hype it up by saying it's the first film this year that I can without a doubt call one of my all-time favorites.

Wooooo..

I'm so hyped!

Compelling story and characters. B+.

I wasn't thrilled with the trailers or anything I knew about this at all (other than maybe the visuals which were expectedly beautiful), but it ended up pretty much blowing me away. Few films are as profound and moving.

Saw both Into the Wild and Jesse James today and all I can say is....WHOA

Both movies had things in common, they were really great to look at, mesmerizing, and both werent just films, but a piece of art that can be admired for a long time. Sean Penn really knocked this film out the park, you can see the passion and rawness that is there, personal is the word thats been thrown out a lot regarding the film and thats the right word, just a very personal film. Never a real big fan of Emile Hirsch but he did a fine job here, as good a performance that I think could be made out of this character, the perfect role for him and would definitely be deserving of a nomination if this year wasn't so stacked as it is. Anyways, just a wonderful film that I would recommend to just about anyone.

Grade - A

Wow, you all found it that good?

It seemed to be a bit on the pretentious side to me. Good to hear better news on it.

dunno about pretentious, but a friend of mine said he thought it looked melodramatic, which I can see. It did come off as kinda light and self important in the trailer. I pretty much expected it to be some sorta like, i dunno, boring wilderness thing, yknow? I was dreading the lack of human interaction and an interesting story.

but the truth is, there's a lot of really solid story (not only his, but his sisters, his parents, the people he meets) and it's just a really great great film. It's structurally and thematically deep and complex and you get so many viewpoints and opinions and ideas on so many different subjects. I really don't have the time or clarity to really speak in depth on it (especially since i left the theater and went to a party where i drank way too much (well, relative to how little I enjoy drinking, anyway), in the process forgetting most of what I would have raved about), but I really loved this movie. I'm definitely gonna watch it again if it comes closer to me than the one theater its at now, but I'd recommend it to just about anyone.

It's a good film.

One thing, I thought Chris was kind of naive and self-indulged, particularily when dealing with his parents. I sympathized with them more than him for most of the movie, they had their problems but still loved the kid and tried to give him everything, but he was brutal to them, totally brutal. Not to mention he planned out his trip horribly, he should've taken the river into precaution, he should've brought a radio for total emergencies, he should've been more careful with the berries, etc.

What I did really love was the base of the whole thing, that it's a great tragedy in its purest form, where the man only has himself and his naive-ness to blame for what happens to him. Maybe it's because I knew the ending coming in, but watching him go find and go through this awesome simple life, meeting all these great people and finding his real place in life, and then passing it over for a wacky Alaska pipedream only to have his self-realization and discover what we knew all along when it's too late, it's beautiful irony. Made me want to yell "What are you doing! Leaving all this! Idiot!" at him through it all, which is a good thing, it's involving.

Penn really surprised me here, I had a few issues with the screenplay, but as a director he knew exactly what he was crafting with his shots and surroundings, and the film is filmed very nicely. For now, he's proved himself as more than a typical actor turned director gimmick, he has real talent. Hirsch does a good if not spectacular job, Keener, Vaughn, Hurt, etc. round out the cast finely in support.

It's not a perfect film, it's a bit too overly fluffy, sentimental, and pushes the line for metaphorical and philisophical statements. In particular I didn't like the old man chapter 5 sequence, it just made the movie longer and didn't add anything that the Keener clan already had. The 12 years to paddle down a boat scene, Hurt's flashback blow-up and his last shot on the road, kind of hokey. And yeah I didn't like/agree with Chris' view on life, I thought he was living a pipedream and living more blind than the society he supposibly hated.

But all the same, and I can see where people would fall in love with this, even if I didn't totally. Highly recommended.

B+

It sounds sorta like you didn't like it at all...certainly not B+. : (

I pretty much disagree with everything you said, btw. Can't decide whether or not to fix your opinion tho.

Well, all the criticism of Chris being naive and etc. isn't a knock on the film at all, that's just the way I felt about that character... Like saying "That character was cruel" in a film with a cruel lead. So my review isn't as negative as it sounds, I did like it a lot.

There's no way I think anyone will be able to convince you to give this film any kinder of a grade if you really believed that Chris was just a spoiled brat who threw away everything he was given. While the film is trying to mythologize McCandleless, it's not celebrating his choice to stop communication with his family as much as his decision to live a life less ordinary, to take risks and decide his own path. You don't have to agree with his view on life, but to think he was blind for turning his back on society and the sort of life we're all supposed to live... Well honeslty, I think you completely missed the whole concept of the film. Have a happy life with your normal career, wife, 2.5 kids and retirement home.

I agree with Shack's assessment on Chris's selfishness, understanding the concept of the film without agreeing with his approach. I think it is a testament to Sean Penn's great direction that the movie still is so great despite the protagonist being "naive and self-indulged".

Oh living your own life the way you want is fine. Where my naive and self-indulged comment came from was Chris being so damn high on his path, to the point where he actively hated people like his parents who lived that normal life, blind to the fact that living that life is as much a decision to them as being a hippie was to him, people just do what makes them happy. He treats himself as such a heroic figure and considers himself above them, so much that he a) Completley banishes his family b) Doesn't listen to any of the people he meets, walks into Alaska thinking he can survive without being prepared, and of course kills himself. And calls himself Alexander Supertramp.

Here's a quote from Ebert that I think is pretty accurate:



I actually thought it was made clear at the end of the movie that Chris realized his self-indulgance and wrong, with the "Happiness is only true when shared" line and the flashback to his parents. He realizes that being so bent on himself and his heroic pipedream was his big mistake, just too late.

Anyways like I said, my view on Chris didn't hurt the film at all, it actually maybe helped it by solidifying the ironic tragedy bit. The reason my grade is B+ instead of higher is because like I said, not a fan of the dialogues and it's too long, though I still liked it quite a lot. I suppose it's a strength to the film that we can both love it while looking at it different ways, as alex said.

Hey Shaq, did you see it in the theater?

yep

In that case, I won't be grading it better either. I know the true story (read up a lot on it when the movie was announced) and all I can say is that I pretty much agree with the assessment above. Many people deicde to go on that kind of "soul-trip", to leave a materialist's life behind, abandon the conventions and whatnot. All the best to them. By all the things I know, not all of them are as stupid, naive and brainless as that Chris guy. He really had no freakin' clue what he was getting into and got his paycheck right at the time.

The film does not present the material like that at all. If you bring that opinion into the viewing, that's one thing...but I really can't see anyone getting that out of this movie (which is why I don't really understand Shack's opinion on the guy...I genuinely don't see those problems with this character, at all. Rather than naive, spoiled and stupid, I think he's shown to be intelligent and enlightened. I dunno. I see a lot of compassion and understanding in every facet of the film. Meh.)

I will, most certainly, bring that opinion into my viewing because that's how the story presents itself to me considering all I know.

That said, I will of course try and judge the movie on its own merits, but if the way it presents a character doesn't correspond at all with the overall picture that sources are giving of him and the incident, I think I'll be a bit bothered.

Well, I don't know anything about the guy outside of this film. What does the consensus seem to be? That he's dumb because he cut up his social security card and went into Alaska with nothing more than a backpack? Cuz yeah, that's pretty much what happens...but I don't see a problem there, nor can I imagine what other story people could know. So. I dunno.

When does it open where you're at?

Not sure it is our place to bring any preconceived notions into this movie regarding the main character, no matter the fact that it is based on a biographical book. We should let the movie stand for itself, on its own merits. Let it paint the picture of the main character that it wants, and then decide from there.

Anyways, I will be seeing it this weekend, so big ups to that.

Well, sometimes it is impossible not to do so. You can't walk into a movie about Hitler for instance and still don't have any preconceived notions about him.

And I still loved Downfall.

A small movie like this? Hmm, probably not till next year.

January 10th to be exact. Just checked.

hehehehe yea. imagine a film about hitler where he goes around saving humanity and gives every jew a nice house to live in. yup ... lets judge the characterization based upon the movie THEN!!

hehehehehe ....

For the record, Penn's film presents McCandleless in a far kinder light than Krakauer's book. Where that book was mostly about the facts, this is a celebration of his decision to live a life less ordinary. So as much as I may disagree with your view on McCandleless Lecter, I think I should let you know that you probably won't like this movie, no matter how hard you try to go in with a blank slate. That said, it's a lot easier to really feel for McCandleless watching the movie vs. hearing about what happened, in part to a number of things such as Hirsch's fantastic performance.