This is perhaps the best performance of Emile Hirsch’s career and he does a really great job of bringing this character to life.

| Original Score: A | Aug 16, 2024

Shot by cinematographer Eric Gautier, Penn’s film is beautifully realized, with full attention to the sublime beauty that Chris loves and respects.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 8, 2024

Anyone who’s read Jon Krakauer’s best-selling nonfiction account knows the details, but actually seeing McCandless’s travels is still thrilling. Yet... are we ­supposed to salute this foray into the wild or shake our heads at the sheer ­idiocy?

| Sep 8, 2023

Into the Wild is especially memorable in the manner in which it offers no absolutes.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 21, 2023

In its preoccupation with Mother Nature, free spirits, and the pursuit of new experiences, it forgets to tell a worthwhile story or remain consistently entertaining.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 26, 2020

Emile Hirsch perfectly highlights [his] untamed character. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 3, 2020

Penn and Hirsch test our patience with a time-tripping style of cinema that mixes fiction and nonfiction narrative styles, physical and emotional nudity, facial hair and hard-to-watch hunting scenes.

| May 26, 2020

Into the Wild captures the recklessness, the passion, and also the cruelty of youth.

| Jan 28, 2020

This is a film that is full of life, showing how much living the young man did in his short time on earth, yet it's laced with the tragic realization that his life was somewhat wasted.

| Original Score: A | Oct 29, 2019

A masterpiece; a rapturous, quintessential American odyssey that earns its place in the pantheon of the great "road" films and at the pinnacle of this year's very best.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 6, 2019

Penn's direction intuitively acts as a spiritual proxy for McCandless' own rapturous way that he processes his journey.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2019

Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's non-fiction book is a bracing cinematic plunge into the odyssey of Christopher McCandless.

| May 22, 2016

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Every once in awhile, a movie will come outta nowhere and blow your socks off.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Apr 5, 2011

Crafting his meditation on the men who answer the call of the wild, Sean Penn's adaptation is heavy on mood and ambiance but sadly lacking in depth, giving up on the wider comparisons to focus fully on McCandless, who may not be up to the scrutiny.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 27, 2011

It's a bit heavy-handed, but ultimately a rewarding watch.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Feb 9, 2011

Even in its harrowing final moments, it reaches a spiritually transcendent pinnacle - the idea of ending one long, strange trip and plummeting into an even-greater unknown with both fear and elation. A stirring American drama of comfort and conflict.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 23, 2010

Even Penn's more indulgent flourishes seem to enhance the film's keen feeling.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2010

Penn's film displays a deep and abiding love for America, set against a critique of the uglier aspects that exist alongside all that the beauty.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 10, 2010