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Into The Wild
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (27th December 2008). |
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The Film
 For those who know me well, know that I love reading non-fiction. Especially when it’s about something or someone exciting, I've gone through my biographies phase and onto tragic events that shaped the world. Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild" is in my 'to read' pile and one I'm excited to read considering I just finished watching this excellent motion picture. "Into the Wild" adapts Krakauer's book about tramper Christopher McCandless, who in the early 1990's set out into America with a dream to trek to Alaska and live among nature away from society and its trappings. Actor, activist and sometime filmmaker Sean Penn brings Chris' adventure to the big screen in enthusiastic fashion. Chris (Emile Hirsch) just graduated College; his parents want the best for him and have high hopes for their boy. But Chris has other plans in store for his life, instead of living a life dictated by society, wearing a suit, earning money and accumulating material possessions he plans to hoof it across country - living in the wild away from civilization. To escape the control of his parents and to simply live life as an ongoing adventure and along the way he meets up with interesting people like two hippies travelling the road in a van, Rainey (Brian Dierker) and his partner Jan (Catherine Keener). Wayne (Vince Vaughn), owner of a wheat farm with a side-business in selling illegal cable-TV hook-ups and also Ron (Hal Holbrook), a kindly old man who learns as much from Chris' spirit as Chris does from him. The notion of giving away all you own, burning your money and living among the wild is a romantic one. The freedom and simple beauty is something that appeals to many but the reality is - that like any adventure in life, it too is difficult. Chris comes to realize this when he needs money, human contact and occasionally finding his way back to cities. But in essence he is courageous enough to risk it all and live out on his own, one with nature. Emile Hirsch was not an actor I'd have known a couple of years ago, he's only really made a name for himself relatively recently with turns in "The Girl Next Door" (2004) and "Alpha Dog" (2006). His portrayal of Chris is his finest most mature work yet. He captures the adventurer's youthful spirit quite well and managed to glue this reviewer to the screen for the entire 148 minute runtime, simply mesmerizing. Hirsch's performances was matched by an equally great supporting cast that includes William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart and my personal favorite supporting performer, Hal Holbrook. His final goodbye to Chris as he watches him leave was one of the saddest moments of the film and incredibly moving. His Supporting Actor Oscar nomination was well deserved. One can't talk about this film without mentioning the photography that shows off the wilderness in all its glory and splendor, the images are breathtaking and matched with them is Eddie Vedder's haunting songs written for this film. How the Academy ignored this soundtrack is a mystery. In fact the film was generally snubbed from the major awards, I never expected a 'Best Picture' nomination but music and photography should have been a shoe-in. "Into the Wild" is a long investment in entertainment, nearly two and a half hours in length but the story is immersive, the characters interesting and the editing style in which Penn chose jumps back and forth through time keeping viewers at attention. Rarely has there been a film that had me thinking 'what if?' that's moving beyond simple suspension of disbelief as I found myself involved in Chris' actions and whether I would ever have the guts and stamina for such a thing. The short answer is no, but I found myself thinking about this film long after the credits rolled. "Into the Wild" is the most moving and enthralling picture of 2007 and I certainly recommend it wholeheartedly.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this transfer is delivered to viewers in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and has been created using VC-1 compression. Upon initial viewing one would suspect that this image is the same used on the previous HD-DVD release, but it's not. The HD-DVD release used AVC MPEG-4 compression codec while this Blu-ray version is in VC-1. The difference is not initially noticeable until compared, the bitrate on this disc is much higher being presented on a 50GB disc and thus the image looks a slight better in terms of sharpness and detail. The image features not single flaw that I can detect, the image is clear and blemish free, the image is sharp and detail is amazing which allows you to take in the incredible cinematography. The colors are vibrant and lush, the film's exteriors come alive in their grandness and scale. Furthermore, flesh tones appear accurate and black levels are bold and deep. The image is clean of dirt and overall is as breathtaking as the film itself.
Audio
Four audio tracks are included in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 as well as standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround tracks in English, French and Spanish. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its TrueHD track. I was looking forward to being impressed with this audio mix but I wasn't. It was a solid track but I was looking for something a bit more aggressive and immersive. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, music is well placed as is ambiance and environmental surrounds. But the overall track was lacking in punch, it didn't immerse me, I wasn't floored nor was I tempted at any point to pull the volume back because it was too loud or engrossing. It's a very good track that presents the film well, but it could have used more punch... perhaps Paramount should start to embrace uncompressed PCM tracks? Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Paramount has released this film with the same extras as seen on the previous DVD and HD-DVD editions, included are two featurettes and the film's theatrical trailer. Below is a closer look at these supplements. The first extra on this disc is "Into the Wild: The Story, The Characters", a featurette that runs for 21 minutes 53 seconds. This clip explores the making of the film, as we hear from key cast and crew including the book's author as we follow Pen in his journey to bring Chris' story to the big screen. The clip looks at the story and its themes as well as delves into the characters. This is probably the better extra on this disc but still left a lot to be desired as I really wanted the clip to go on for another hour, I'd love to see an in-depth documentary on the making of this film but for the time being I guess this will have to do. Next up is "Into the Wild: The Experience", the second featurette on the disc and which runs for 17 minutes 19 seconds, this is more the EPK style clip which runs through the basics of the film. Providing a general understanding about the project without delving too deeply. You'll learn about the film's locations and also on the production design elements of the film among other things. Rounding out the extras is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds.
Overall
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