Despite stellar performances from much of the supporting cast, including Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook, Marcia Gay Harden and some of the others, a few things turned me off. First of all, I never got a satisfying sense of Christopher’s motivation. There had to be more to it than that his parents (and society) were hypocrites. Whatever else made him tick was elusive in this film. His “profound” Jim Morrison-esque poetry was supposed to fill in the blanks, but it was merely bad in that youthful (read: naive) sort of way. Eddie Vedder’s warbling didn’t help either, and I was insulted that scenes were sung to me as if I couldn’t see for myself what has happening – Into the Wild: The Musical. Lastly, I didn’t buy the ending. I don’t want to dispense with a spoiler but the smile was too tacky – kind of like a hallmark moment. I have been a big fan of Penn as a director (and of Jim Morrison’s poetry and Pearl Jam), but this one missed the mark for me by a long shot. I think Penn wanted to portray Christopher’s actions as admirable and daring rather than selfish and stupid or as the ultimate cop-out. Instead his protagonist comes off like a spoiled brat, a wounded animal, and an “innocent” who ended up doing something a little admirable but a lot stupid – and who died for it. Some say, “If you can’t find something to live for, you best find something to die for.” But the way the film tells it, Christopher’s actions don’t warrant glorification.