“Into the Wild” has quite a bit in common with the surprise 2003 hit “Monster.”

Neither is particularly uplifting, more so in the case of the brutal “Monster.” Each runs a bit longer than it should. And both are good films made better by the performances of their respective stars.

In the case of “Monster,” it featured Charlize Theron in her Academy Award-winning role as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. In the case of “Into the Wild,” directed by Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, it features Emile Hirsch, 22, solidifying his status as one of Hollywood's top young actors and one of its brightest future stars.

“Into the Wild” is based on the real-life story of Christopher McCandless (Hirsch), an upper-middle class kid who, after graduating from college, gives away all of his money, shreds any form of identification, burns his car and, as “Alexander Supertramp,” sets out on foot for Alaska.

Throughout of the course of McCandless' many travels, he encounters a pair of hilarious love-struck hippies (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker) a not-so-law-abiding farmer (Vince Vaughn) and a widowed old man (a brilliant Hal Holbrook).

The latter of those encounters, unquestionably the most touching of the three, features McCandless and his elder statesman forming a father-son type of bond, one that appropriately wraps up the film and adequately captures McCandless' inability to reveal his inner self.

Despite all of the supporting players, “Into the Wild” — too long at 143 minutes — is Hirsch's film.

The scenes of him holed up in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness are chilling, particularly since a majority of the audience will know how this particular story ends.

And even when he shares screen time with more established actors such as Keener, Vaughn and Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden (who plays McCandless' mother), “Into the Wild” is always Hirsch's show, not unlike Theron's performance in “Monster.”

Perhaps Hirsch, like Theron, will get his just due when awards season rolls around.

CLINT HALE | 210SA