Movie Thoughts: Against the Wild: The Journey Home (2021)

• Released: 23 March 2021
• Directed by: Richard Boddington
• Running time: 1 h 30 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A blind man gets stranded in nature and now must find his way back to civilization. His only company: an Alaskan malamute.

My Thoughts

Okay, so something I did not know at all prior to watching this is that this is actually a threequel to a movie simply known as Against the Wild. Like, how was I supposed to know? This movie doesn't have a "3" anywhere in the title, there's enough context for the audience to figure out what's going on and this movie's alternate title (Hero Dog: The Journey Home) makes it seem like it isn't a part of the Against the Wild trilogy at all (none of the other two movies have the Hero Dog part in the title).

But like I said before, you don't need to watch the others for context. This feels like a perfectly contained story. I like the plot and the perils our characters face. Royce is a likable character and you really root for him to make his way back home despite the odds of him being lost alone in nature. Sure, Chinook is with him, however he's not a service dog, simply a pet. So Chinook isn't exactly a great guidance, either, although he is helpful at several occasions. 

The part of the movie I did not care for, however, was the two annoying child characters going to look for their dad. I get it, they want some children to make the movie more palatable for a younger audience, but these two were just so unlikable for a lot of it, fighting and blaming one another for things. And while them looking for their father could be seen as heroic, it actually works against them since it means that the rescue forces looking for Royce now also have to look for these children who ran away into the wilderness to find their father, taking away attention off of rescuing Royce himself.

And the child characters were just annoying and their acting wasn't particularly great. Honestly, if the movie had just been about this blind man and his dog lost in the wild and trying to get back home, I think it would've been a whole lot stronger. I was genuinely invested in Royce's parts of the movie (heck, even of those of his sister back at home). But each time the children appeared I had to do my best to stay invested. They're not the worst child characters I've ever seen in a movie by any means, but they just feel so needless and like they detract from what otherwise could've been a really strong film.

So not perfect, but it was still a decent film. Just...could've done without the child characters and plot thread.