After seeing Demolition, I was advised to check out Wild. Jean-Marc Vallee has an interesting style that I enjoyed in Demolition, got irritated at times in Wild, and was slightly less memorable compared to the epic performances in Dallas Buyers Club. I didn’t dislike Wild, but it also feels forgettable in many ways. I’m not a fan of the character and while it is a feet to take that trail it isn’t something that others haven’t done so I have to be on board with the character in order to care about this story. Reese Witherspoon does everything she can to make the character likable and gives a terrific performance but the movie falls into the Decent Watch rating for me.
How Wild does it get?
Cheryl Strayed (Witherspoon) is walking the Pacific Crest Trail, 1,100 mile hike, alone as a way of trying to redeem herself after a personal tragedy.
Cheryl doesn’t have too many admirable qualities. Based on the memoir of this journey, it makes it slightly harder to connect with the character. She’s built a lot of the burden she is dealing with and there isn’t much to show she is changed. Witherspoon does a great job with this character, but, much like McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, doesn’t mean the character will earn my sympathy. There were times when I was worried for the character given the circumstances she finds herself in, but I wasn’t invested in her so much as any person in those circumstances would warrant my concern.
Laura Dern does a great job of playing the optimistic mother of Cheryl and really is the only other character with memorable screen time. Her character contrasts with Cheryl significantly and makes me dislike Cheryl a little bit more. I am all about redemption stories, but I didn’t feel this achieved a believable redemption on screen. Maybe it did in real life, but on screen it was a series of moments intersected with flashbacks that were a bit chaotic in timing.
Vallee made some choices that didn’t quite sit right with me. The opening sequence feels like a cold open you get on TV dramas that allude to something we will see later In episode. There isn’t really a reason except to hook you to find out how that character got in such dire straights. However, she really isn’t in that bad of a situation…ever really. Most of the trials on the trail seem potentially life threatening at times only to be just a minor bump in the road. Building that sense of suspense and drama throughout with it never paying off is like riding a roller coaster that climbs and then goes straight only to start to climb again never reaching the thrilling drop. The true conflict of the film is internal, but it feels as though they didn’t trust that internal conflict enough that these pseudo-conflicts were needed.
Maybe my head wasn’t into this film tonight. There is some cool ideas in it, but they didn’t really pull me in like I had hoped. I wanted to really enjoy the movie, but wound up only liking Witherspoon’s performance. Yet, I didn’t like the character she was playing.
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