ign logo IGN.com | AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GameSpy | FilePlanet | TeamXbox | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

RT Bug Squash
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
Register for free site & special features! | Log In | What is RT?
                       
MOVIES / ON DVD / INTO THE WILD
Into the Wild

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Into the Wild (2007)

83%
79%
87%
N/A
N/A
N/A
83 %
Reviews Counted: 161 Fresh: 133  Rotten:28 Average Rating: 7.5/10
 
Consensus: An accessible and poignant character study. With his sturdy cast and confident direction, Sean Penn has turned a complex work of non-fiction like Into the Wild into an accessible and poignant character study. more
 
Rated: 15
Runtime: 2 hrs 28 mins
Theatrical Release: 09-11-2007
Synopsis:
Jon Krakauer's bestselling nonfiction book about the life of Chris McCandless is finally brought to the big screen in INTO THE WILD. Directed by Sean Penn, the film opens in 1992, when Chris (Emile Hirsh) is a promising college graduate. Shortly after graduation, Chris gives his life savings... [More]
Jon Krakauer's bestselling nonfiction book about the life of Chris McCandless is finally brought to the big screen in INTO THE WILD. Directed by Sean Penn, the film opens in 1992, when Chris (Emile Hirsh) is a promising college graduate. Shortly after graduation, Chris gives his life savings to charity, burns all of his identification, and begins hitchhiking across America, his ultimate goal being Alaska. Citing passages from his heroes, Thoreau and Jack London, he is determined to escape society and get back to nature. He blows from town to town like a tumbleweed, hopping trains, camping with aging hippies (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker), working briefly with a farmer (Vince Vaughan), and befriending a widowed leather worker (Hal Holbrook). He revels in his newfound freedom, but meanwhile, his parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) have no idea where he is, and are sick with worry. While their relationship with Chris was already troubled, they are nonetheless devastated by his disappearance. Chris's sister, Carine (Jane Malone), narrates much of the film, offering her reflections on the effect Chris's absence has on his family. Chris finally makes it to Alaska, where he hikes out to a remote campsite and discovers an abandoned bus. He manages to survive there for a few months living off the land, but he eventually runs out of supplies and becomes trapped, leading to his tragic end. INTO THE WILD bounces around chronologically, jumping back and forth from the start of Chris's journey to his final few weeks living aboard the bus. This works to great effect as the storylines begin to merge and the tension and dread mount, and we see the fate that will eventually befall Chris. Penn obviously had great admiration for his subject, and while the film appears to differ from the book in places, it nevertheless paints a heartbreaking portrait of this young man's short but fascinating life. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener

Director: Sean Penn
Screenwriter: Sean Penn
Producer: Sean Penn, Art Linson, Bill Pohlad
Composer: Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder

DVD Info

Release:

Apr 3, 2008

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround - English, French, Spanish
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, French, Spanish
  • Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image

While the viewer may sympathise with McCandless's saintly rejection of materialism and his pursuit of eternal truths in a mapped-out world, there's little irony in the film, and the deluded Chris never actually helps anyone else.

Full Review | Comment
11/17/07 06:50 AM
Jason Solomons
Observer [UK]
Ratings Image

One of the best American films of the year, even if you do feel more impatient with McCandless than Penn seems to.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 09:25 AM
Derek Malcolm
This is London
Ratings Image

A young man with plenty of advantages renounces the modern world, wounds his family deeply and is acclaimed a sort of saint.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 09:20 AM
Anthony Quinn
Independent
Ratings Image

Sean Penn's majestic travelogue about a young drop-out on an idealistic quest in the great American outback is the best film the writer-director has ever made.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 08:58 AM
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A dream movie.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 08:47 AM
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
Ratings Image

There is food for thought and food for every kind of feeling in Sean Penn's outstanding film.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 08:19 AM
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Although McCandless’s story is undoubtedly fascinating, and Penn’s film contains moments of magic, it is a lesser piece of work because it prefers to accept its subject at face value rather than ask a few crucial questions.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 07:49 AM
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Thoughtful without being particularly thought-provoking, heartfelt but not always emotionally engaging, it gets my thumbs up due to some beautiful, haunting shots of America at its wildest.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 07:46 AM
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
Ratings Image

Penn's best movie to date rests on a brilliant performance by Hirsch, who gets under the skin of the fascinating character at the centre of the piece.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 07:17 AM
Jamie McLeish
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Into The Wild gets lost in a self-indulgent wilderness.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 07:13 AM
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]
Ratings Image

In his fourth and best film to date, Sean Penn has made an eco-road movie that refreshes and invigorates. Exquisitely shot, robustly acted and deeply felt, it’s a potent ode to wanderlust and human pluck.

Full Review | Comment
11/09/07 06:44 AM
Tom Charity
Total Film
Ratings Image

The photography is of the sort you’d find in any half decent nature documentary, with cloying emphasis placed firmly (and sometimes clumsily) on the idea that our neglectful, selfish and not to mention rampantly capitalist ways are destroying the planet.

Full Review | Comment
11/08/07 09:59 AM
David Jenkins
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Beautifully shot and perfectly acted, Into The Wild will appeal to anyone who has looked out of the office window and wondered what it’d be like to pack a bag and just start walking.

Full Review | Comment
11/08/07 09:57 AM
Rich Phippen
Sky Movies
Ratings Image

With the whole of America as his backdrop, Penn pulls off his most ambitious movie yet. The result is a beautiful and thought-provoking road movie.

Full Review | Comment
11/08/07 09:41 AM
Dan Jolin
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
11/08/07 03:15 AM
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Deserts, mountains, railroads, bears and a sad and lonely epiphany about the nature of human existence!

Full Review | Comment
11/07/07 04:43 AM
Kevin Maher
Little White Lies
Ratings Image

Emile Hirsch captures all of the arrogance, integrity, naiveté and charm of this complex, troubled young man.

Full Review | Comment
11/06/07 03:15 AM
Stella Papamichael
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Impressively directed, beautifully written and superbly acted, this is a genuinely uplifting tale (despite its sobering conclusion) with spectacular photography throughout.

Full Review | Comment
10/27/07 05:18 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
Ratings Image

The self-reflection is powerfully honest, and the landscapes are genuinely spectacular.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/07 05:24 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

A tale of life needlessly lost by a young man who realizes too late that reckless self-reliance is not necessarily the path to self-awareness. That he fails to realize this sooner is tragic; that the film celebrates the misunderstanding is bewildering.

Full Review | Comment
04/10/08 12:57 AM
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
See More Topics...

Related Forums

What is going on with this movie?
by: cdharris 5/11


good art; inaccurate story--spoilers
by: cstrother 5/9


Into The Wild (not!!)
by: sosoub1 4/29


The Way It Was Shot
by: streetsoflondon 4/24


Mistake?
by: jbuff03 4/15
all

Pictures

all

Videos

Jena Malone & Marcia Gay Harden
Watch Now >>
all

News

Jay Cassidy on Into the Wild: The RT Interview
posted by Joanna Cohen March 27, 2008
Jay Cassidy, editor of critically acclaimed film, Into the Wild, talks to RT about his long term collaboration with...


RT on DVD: Into the Wild, Things We Lost In The Fire, My Kid Could Paint That Arrive
posted by Jen Yamato March 03, 2008
Into the Wild, Sean Penn's lyrical adventure about a young idealist on a cross-country trek, leads new releases this...


Into the Wild's Jay Cassidy Talks Oscar Nomination with RT
posted by Joanna Cohen February 22, 2008
Sean Penn's critically acclaimed film, Into the Wild, tells the story of Chris McCandless who hitchhiked into the...


There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men Top ASC, DGA Awards
posted by Jeff Giles January 28, 2008
Perhaps the ASC and DGA Awards aren't the flashiest ceremonies of the season, but being honored by one's peers is always...

Around the Network

• Into the Wild at Rotten Tomatoes
• Into the Wild at IGN
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive

By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.