Into the Wild (2007)

Note: In retrospect, my review for this film starts out the same as my review for A Mighty Heart. I guess I repeat myself sometimes. Maybe I need to start a category of "movies based on great stories where the stories are greater than the movies"?

I can't decide if Into the Wild was a great movie or if it's just a great story. After taking some time to think about it, I lean toward the latter, but in saying this I don't wish to devalue the efforts of Sean Penn and his great cast. Who knew that a movie about a guy who wants to be alone would have so many fantastic performances?
From a filmmaking point of view, I found Into the Wild to reveal evidence that Penn has not found his style yet as a director. There were so many different styles of camera work thrown in the bag here...different pacings and even two or three storytelling tactics (words on the screen, shifting voiceovers, in-the-scene dialogue). It made me wonder if maybe Into the Wild was really tough to adapt. Maybe it was, in which case Penn did a good job but not a great one.
I admire, however, the nature cinematography, particularly the closeups and long shots. And I think Penn did amazing work as a director of actors!
While Catherine Keener is as good as always, I found Emile Hirsch to be absolutely riveting, Vince Vaughn to be strangely perfect for his role, and Hal Holbrook, for me, gave the most heartbreaking and touching performance of the year.
As for the message of Into the Wild, I love that Penn seems to leave that open to some interpretation. At first I was annoyed with this kid who thinks that he doens't need anyone else. He doesn't need money or people or permanence in any way. But as the film wears on you realize that every human that Chris (Hirsch) comes in contact with on his selfish adventure reinforces the same truth: we need each other. People need human interaction. We are an interdependent species.
I don't know if that's what Penn wanted me to get out of it, but the way this strongly registered for me at the end of this film made the movie feel passion-filled and inspiriational. Inconsisent filmmaking with a powerful tale to tell (even if it's the book's doing).

3.0 out of 4