When I walked out of Sean Penn’s mesmerizing Into the Wild I turned to the people I saw it with and said, “That is the best film I’ve seen so far this year!” Touching, gripping, emotional, meaningful, beautiful, poetic and ultimately heart-breaking, Into the Wild is all that and endlessly more. Christopher McCandless had a little bit of everyone in him, which made connecting with him that much easier and the eventual result that much harder to watch. But the film lost nothing because of its supposed anticlimactic conclusion, and it had me along for the adventure every step of the way.

Into the Wild is based on a Jon Krakauer book of the same name, and it stars Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless, an idyllic twenty-four year old whose rift with society forces him on a harrowing two-year journey that ultimately ends with his death from starvation in the wilderness of Alaska. There have been complaints about Penn’s direction, the editing of the film, and even the cinematography, but they're all wrong. Into the Wild is as real as movies get. Nothing about the style, the narration, the acting, or the writing is even remotely problematic, and they all fuse perfectly with Chris and his story. This is credit to both Emile Hirsch’s amazing performance and the sheer tragedy of McCandless’ tale.

Another big criticism of the film is that since Chris is such an unsympathetic character it’s hard to like a <SPAN class=kLink>movie</SPAN> that tells his story. While there is some truth to Chris having a narcissistic personality and how it should make him an unsympathetic character, Penn doesn’t romanticize it. I found myself relating to a lot of Chris's feelings and ideas about life in general, with one huge difference: I would never leave loved ones behind like he did. Even if I hated my parents, I couldn't leave my friends. And if I had no friends and made them on the road like he did, I could never leave them behind. So in that way, he was definitely stupidly selfish. But this is the very reason we should feel sorry for him, and everything in the film works towards him finally realizing that he's wrong.

Chris genuinely thought he was embarking on a <SPAN class=kLink>journey</SPAN> that he’d ultimately learn from, and one that he’d eventually return from. The whole film builds towards the notion that Chris did learn to overcome his narcissism, but it cost him his life, and more importantly, a chance at ever being happy. Sure, you have to feel sorry for all the people that loved him and were hurt by his death, but you know they’d be able to find happiness with or without him. Chris's narcissism cost him his life - nobody else’s. How can you not sympathize with that? It's extremely tragic that Chris had to resort to such drastic measures in simply trying to find life’s answer, and if you don't agree, you're a heartless creature -- it's that simple.

Into the Wild works because Sean Penn is a master storyteller, and he knows his way around with a camera. The film is filled with absolutely breathtaking panoramas. In addition to Hirsch’s inspired performance, Into the Wild also has an amazing supporting cast which includes Catherine Keener, William Hurt, Vince Vaughn and of course, the Oscar nominated <SPAN class=kLink>Hal </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink>Holbrook</SPAN>, who gives one of my favorite performances of the year. And finally, there’s the music of Eddie Vedder – music that should’ve garnered golden tinted recognition. Stripping down to a mere acoustic guitar and sometimes a ukulele, Vedder seems to be along with Chris every step of the way, using his deep baritone to convey Chris’s thoughts, feelings and emotions throughout the varying stages of his journey.

One of Into the Wild greatest strengths is its ambiguity. In the end, you'll have to decide for yourself whether you like Chris or not. And who says you have to like him? Most people didn’t, which is why there’s such a discrepancy in interpretations. Perhaps more importantly, does anybody really know how Chris McCandless would've lived the rest of his life had he survived Alaska? Or can anyone say for sure whether or not he'd choose the same route if he could do it all over again from the start? Nobody can answer these questions, and so his true nature remains ambiguous. You may not be able to swallow Chris’s abrasive personality, but you'll still appreciate Into the Wild for flawlessly presenting his tragic tale.

<span id="intelliTxt">What would you do if you were the last person left on earth? Better yet, what would you do if you were the only person left on earth after a viral apocalypse ravaged humanity, and you had to live with the fact that you were the one scientist who could’ve stopped the pandemic? Would you be overwhelmed by the responsibility of your situation and succumb to death, or would you embrace your lonely struggle? If you’re Robert Neville (<span>Will </span><span>Smith</span>) in I Am Legend, you weather the storms of your nightmares, find hope and friendship in your dog Sam, and use your resourcefulness and intelligence to simply survive.

Loosely based on Robert Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name, Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend changes the setting from L.A. to New York, where we join Neville in a desolated NYC approximately three years after the virus goes airborne. Neville’s daily exploits consist of a tightly regimented routine, which no doubt serves to protect his sanity, and includes such activities as hunting animals in the empty streets, “borrowing” <span>DVDs</span> from a video store, hitting golf balls from the tail of a fighter jet, and treating Sam like a real person with lines like, “Eat your vegetables. Don't just push 'em around, eat 'em. I ain't playin!”</span>
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An arguably larger and more important aspect of Neville’s routine is made up by his efforts to keep safe from the Dark-Seekers – the 9% of the population who survived the KV virus by becoming an abominate vampire-zombie hybrid whose only enemy is ultra-violet light. The Dark-Seekers function as both a threat to Neville’s everyday survival and a constant reminder of his past and present failures - then, to stop the spread of the deadly <span>virus</span>, and now, to find a vaccine.

This combination of Neville’s psychological and physical exertion to overcome the incredibly difficult circumstances he’s faced with is undoubtedly I Am Legend’s greatest strength. And who better to attribute this facet to than Will Smith, who does a fantastic job in creating the extremely real character of Robert Neville. As the audience of a sci-fi film, all we can do to judge the film’s realism is put ourselves in the main character’s shoes and then assess whether or not they’re behaving in a credibly believable manner. And in this regard, Smith succeeds in achieving realism through Neville by perfectly fusing a relenting desire to survive and succeed with a fragile fear and desperation that lurks just beneath the surface of his psyche. Initially, it might appear that Smith plays Neville with too much of a happy-go-lucky persona for the last man on earth, but the true strength of the performance exists in the ever present terror and trepidation that he stifles down with every his every move, thought and breath.

In addition to Smith’s <span>acting</span> chops, I Am Legend also boasts some great action scenes, quite a few thrilling visuals, its fair share of dramatic moments, a few laughs, and one of the most suspenseful scenes of the year. The seven minutes that follow Sam racing into the pitch-black darkness of a warehouse are expertly crafted and on par with the most tense sequences from No Country for Old Men. Director Francis Lawrence, who really only has the forgettable Constantine under his belt, shows that with better material and a good actor he can produce a decent film. However, I Am Legend is not a perfect film, as there are a few groan inducing scenes, some minor thematic inconsistencies, and a definite sense that it could’ve been a disaster without Will Smith. But it succeeds in spite of its flaws and in the end it offers solid entertainment, a poignant story with a surprisingly unflinching delivery, and a thought provoking conclusion.

At the very least, I Am Legend offers a great deal more than your average <span>blockbuster</span>, and it’s this deviation from the normal Hollywood schlock that elevates it into a successful mish-mash of the isolation of <span>Cast </span><span>Away</span> and the post-apocalypticism of 28 Days Later. So if you’re a fan of either one of these films, the genres they put forth, the themes they evince, or even just of Will Smith, then I Am Legend is a film you’ll surely enjoy. </span>

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