Genre: Dramas
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener
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.
One of the best American films of the year, even if you do feel more impatient with McCandless than Penn seems to.
A young man with plenty of advantages renounces the modern world, wounds his family deeply and is acclaimed a sort of saint.
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.
Top Critic There is food for thought and food for every kind of feeling in Sean Penn's outstanding film.
Top Critic 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.
Top Critic 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.
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.
Top Critic 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.
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.
Top Critic 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.
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.
Top Critic Top Critic Deserts, mountains, railroads, bears and a sad and lonely epiphany about the nature of human existence!
Emile Hirsch captures all of the arrogance, integrity, naiveté and charm of this complex, troubled young man.
Top Critic Impressively directed, beautifully written and superbly acted, this is a genuinely uplifting tale (despite its sobering conclusion) with spectacular photography throughout.
The self-reflection is powerfully honest, and the landscapes are genuinely spectacular.
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.
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