...up a window on some of the finer qualities of life and shows some of the uglier side of society.
Back to Emile Hirsch; the young actor is the true drive of the film. The twenty two year old actor has appeared in a number of lesser-known films including "Lords of Dogtown," "Alpha Dogs" and "The Emperor´s Club." With "Into the Wild," Hirsch delivers a very strong performance for a young actor and reportedly lost forty pounds for the role. He brings intelligence and an adventurous spirit to Christopher McCandless and shows plenty of emotion and heart as he brings the ill-fated boy to the big screen for others to determine if McCandless should be viewed as a hero or a fool. Regardless on one´s own opinions on McCandless, it cannot be argued that Hirsch isn´t very good in this film and I think the long running time of the film would have been difficult at times without the charismatic Hirsch in the lead role.
"Into the Wild" isn´t just a well acted film and beyond its romanticism of McCandless and the overly poetic prose of the narration used by Sean Penn to bring more background information to the character, it is a beautifully crafted film. Penn has delivered a captivating tale of one young man´s shedding of society and untimely demise in a wilderness he was not prepared for and although he survived for longer than six months, McCandless never returned from the spiritual journey that showed him life was happier when others were around to share it with. While I thought the film gave too much credit to McCandless as being a man with a well thought out plan and a strong reasoning to undertake his adventure, I felt Penn delivered a film that explored the big hearted nature of the film´s primary subject. This is a beautiful film that tells a sad story, but delivers a few nice life lessons that remind us of the better parts of living.
Video:
Another strong asset of "Into the Wild" is the beautiful scenery and cinematography used throughout the film. One wonders if Sean Penn wasn´t taking careful notes while working with Terrence Malick during the 1998 film "The Thin Red Line" because Penn brings that director´s eye for beauty to the cameras. As McCandless kayaks down an Arizona river, the riverbanks and wide angle vistas look stunning; as does other stops along McCandless´ journey. His final destination of Arizona was filmed roughly forty miles from the actual location of the ´Magic Bus´ found by Christopher McCandless and once the film reaches the location of Alaska, the individual frames of "Into the Wild" simply drip with gorgeous scenery of the Alaskan wilderness.
"Into the Wild" is delivered to DVD with a stunning looking 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The stunning scenery captured by director of photography Eric Gautier´s cameras nearly leap from the television with vivid colors and highly detailed imagery. The textures of the desert landscape and the rushing waters of the Alaskan river that sealed McCandless´ fate are strong. The strong hues nicely replicate flesh tones, although the film does have a brighter set of colors when the sun is at its strongest. During the film´s few darker moments, detail remains strong and black levels are fairly strong, although perhaps the only knock on the transfer was one or two moments where the blacks spewed out by the digital mastering were tainted by the lighting in the scene and a bit on the weak side. The transfer itself is clean and clear and you´d be hard pressed to not be pleased by this beautifully shot film and the strong DVD mastering delivered by the title.
Audio:
My initial interest with "Into the Wild" was wholly based around the fact that Eddie Vedder single-handedly crafted the soundtrack for the film. Pearl Jam is my absolute favorite band and having their front man create a theatrical soundtrack for a film about a man not satisfied with society and having a soul searching adventure almost seemed too good to be true. I snatched up a copy of the CD on the day it was released and was more than happy to see Vedder win the Golden Globe for his song "Guaranteed" and will scratch my head for a few years to come as to why the Academy snubbed Vedder with an Oscar nomination. Maybe I´m biased, but the musical selections from the film create another character in the film and set the mood for the various chapters it is broken down into as we follow McCandless on his journey.
The picture arrives on DVD with a rather good English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix that nicely delivers the spacious outdoors to the home theater. A less capable English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track is also provided, as well as French and Spanish 5.1 mixes. Subtitles in English, French and Spanish are also contained on the DVD. While the film´s more dramatic moments involved the rushing waters of the Alaskan river or the flash flood that took his beloved car away from him, the film is full of nice ambient sounds and environmental effects. Rear surrounds are used rather effectively and the .1 LFE channel booms nicely throughout the film. The sound kicks up a notch whenever Vedder´s voice cracks the film´s musical selections and this certainly pleased this die-hard Pearl Jam fan. Dialogue is also clean. "Into the Wild" delivers the sounds of the wild with spunk.
Extras:
Billed as a 2-Disc Collector´s Edition, "Into the Wild" contains no supplements on the first disc; that platter is dedicated entirely to the 148 minutes film. However, the second disc contains two somewhat lengthy supplements pertaining to the picture and the film´s Theatrical Trailer. The first, The Story, The Characters (21:52) looks into the genesis of the story and the ten year plight by Sean Penn to bring the film to life. It relates the imagery and storylines of the film to the book in which Penn found inspiration for the film and research with McCandless´ parents to provide a realistic look at the free spirited boy. This documentary featured some nice behind-the-scenes moments, but was mostly comprised of talking-heads interview segments. The great Eddie Vedder appears for about thirty seconds. The second featurette, The Experience (17:18) digs a little deeper into the actual shooting of the film. It is essentially a continuation of the first feature and altogether, the second DVD platter contains a forty minute documentary on the film. There was even more Eddie Vedder in this second half. For something labeled as a 2-Disc Collector´s Edition, this release feels a little thin in features, but what is contained is worth checking out.
Closing Comments:
The DVD release of Sean Penn´s "Into the Wild" looks and sounds great. However, the supplemental materials of this ´2-Disc Collector´s Edition´ are thinner than one would expect with a release spread out onto two DVD platters. I don´t fully agree with the romantic view of Christopher McCandless that Penn brought to life and felt the director purposely dodged a few key points in the death of the ill-fated free spirited boy. He died at an unfortunately young age, but part of his demise rested on his own shoulders. The film avoided this fact. Still, "Into the Wild" is a beautifully crafted film that possesses stunning nature sequences and some inspired acting from Emile Hirsch and the supporting cast, which included first time actor Brian Dierker, who was the kayak instructor for the film. While I won´t call this a brilliant film, I feel that "Into the Wild" opens up a window on some of the finer qualities of life and shows some of the uglier side of society. Nobody should be a fool and rush out on their own Alaskan adventure, but people should remember that McCandless was a young man with a lot of heart that has now touched many people in both life and death.
"Into the Wild" isn´t just a well acted film and beyond its romanticism of McCandless and the overly poetic prose of the narration used by Sean Penn to bring more background information to the character, it is a beautifully crafted film. Penn has delivered a captivating tale of one young man´s shedding of society and untimely demise in a wilderness he was not prepared for and although he survived for longer than six months, McCandless never returned from the spiritual journey that showed him life was happier when others were around to share it with. While I thought the film gave too much credit to McCandless as being a man with a well thought out plan and a strong reasoning to undertake his adventure, I felt Penn delivered a film that explored the big hearted nature of the film´s primary subject. This is a beautiful film that tells a sad story, but delivers a few nice life lessons that remind us of the better parts of living.
Video:
Another strong asset of "Into the Wild" is the beautiful scenery and cinematography used throughout the film. One wonders if Sean Penn wasn´t taking careful notes while working with Terrence Malick during the 1998 film "The Thin Red Line" because Penn brings that director´s eye for beauty to the cameras. As McCandless kayaks down an Arizona river, the riverbanks and wide angle vistas look stunning; as does other stops along McCandless´ journey. His final destination of Arizona was filmed roughly forty miles from the actual location of the ´Magic Bus´ found by Christopher McCandless and once the film reaches the location of Alaska, the individual frames of "Into the Wild" simply drip with gorgeous scenery of the Alaskan wilderness.
"Into the Wild" is delivered to DVD with a stunning looking 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The stunning scenery captured by director of photography Eric Gautier´s cameras nearly leap from the television with vivid colors and highly detailed imagery. The textures of the desert landscape and the rushing waters of the Alaskan river that sealed McCandless´ fate are strong. The strong hues nicely replicate flesh tones, although the film does have a brighter set of colors when the sun is at its strongest. During the film´s few darker moments, detail remains strong and black levels are fairly strong, although perhaps the only knock on the transfer was one or two moments where the blacks spewed out by the digital mastering were tainted by the lighting in the scene and a bit on the weak side. The transfer itself is clean and clear and you´d be hard pressed to not be pleased by this beautifully shot film and the strong DVD mastering delivered by the title.
Audio:
My initial interest with "Into the Wild" was wholly based around the fact that Eddie Vedder single-handedly crafted the soundtrack for the film. Pearl Jam is my absolute favorite band and having their front man create a theatrical soundtrack for a film about a man not satisfied with society and having a soul searching adventure almost seemed too good to be true. I snatched up a copy of the CD on the day it was released and was more than happy to see Vedder win the Golden Globe for his song "Guaranteed" and will scratch my head for a few years to come as to why the Academy snubbed Vedder with an Oscar nomination. Maybe I´m biased, but the musical selections from the film create another character in the film and set the mood for the various chapters it is broken down into as we follow McCandless on his journey.
The picture arrives on DVD with a rather good English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix that nicely delivers the spacious outdoors to the home theater. A less capable English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track is also provided, as well as French and Spanish 5.1 mixes. Subtitles in English, French and Spanish are also contained on the DVD. While the film´s more dramatic moments involved the rushing waters of the Alaskan river or the flash flood that took his beloved car away from him, the film is full of nice ambient sounds and environmental effects. Rear surrounds are used rather effectively and the .1 LFE channel booms nicely throughout the film. The sound kicks up a notch whenever Vedder´s voice cracks the film´s musical selections and this certainly pleased this die-hard Pearl Jam fan. Dialogue is also clean. "Into the Wild" delivers the sounds of the wild with spunk.
Extras:
Billed as a 2-Disc Collector´s Edition, "Into the Wild" contains no supplements on the first disc; that platter is dedicated entirely to the 148 minutes film. However, the second disc contains two somewhat lengthy supplements pertaining to the picture and the film´s Theatrical Trailer. The first, The Story, The Characters (21:52) looks into the genesis of the story and the ten year plight by Sean Penn to bring the film to life. It relates the imagery and storylines of the film to the book in which Penn found inspiration for the film and research with McCandless´ parents to provide a realistic look at the free spirited boy. This documentary featured some nice behind-the-scenes moments, but was mostly comprised of talking-heads interview segments. The great Eddie Vedder appears for about thirty seconds. The second featurette, The Experience (17:18) digs a little deeper into the actual shooting of the film. It is essentially a continuation of the first feature and altogether, the second DVD platter contains a forty minute documentary on the film. There was even more Eddie Vedder in this second half. For something labeled as a 2-Disc Collector´s Edition, this release feels a little thin in features, but what is contained is worth checking out.
Closing Comments:
The DVD release of Sean Penn´s "Into the Wild" looks and sounds great. However, the supplemental materials of this ´2-Disc Collector´s Edition´ are thinner than one would expect with a release spread out onto two DVD platters. I don´t fully agree with the romantic view of Christopher McCandless that Penn brought to life and felt the director purposely dodged a few key points in the death of the ill-fated free spirited boy. He died at an unfortunately young age, but part of his demise rested on his own shoulders. The film avoided this fact. Still, "Into the Wild" is a beautifully crafted film that possesses stunning nature sequences and some inspired acting from Emile Hirsch and the supporting cast, which included first time actor Brian Dierker, who was the kayak instructor for the film. While I won´t call this a brilliant film, I feel that "Into the Wild" opens up a window on some of the finer qualities of life and shows some of the uglier side of society. Nobody should be a fool and rush out on their own Alaskan adventure, but people should remember that McCandless was a young man with a lot of heart that has now touched many people in both life and death.
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[release]22631[/release]