When The Proclaimers sang about walking 1000 miles, it was meant metaphorically. In Wild, Reese Witherspoon's character does it quite literally and walks an incredible 1,100 miles...

With its screenplay adapted by Nick Hornby, and under the direction of Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club), Wild collates the account of author Cheryl Strayed’s true-life, played by Witherspoon. The title of which shares two meanings. One, that she is out walking in the wild, and two, that she had quite wild behaviour. On her journey, it is not just a heavy 'monster' bag that she carries, but also her damaged past of sex, drugs and death. The hike, or the reasoning behind it, is to 'walk herself back to the woman she once was' and get her life back in the right direction.

Set in 1995 and walking from the Mexican Border to Canada (via the large wilderness) the hike should take an estimated three months. But we catch up with her at different points as the narratives travels through past and present explaining the hardships of how she got into the situation.

For Reese Witherspoon, this is her definitive role and by 1,100 miles a career best. It is far emotional, physical and sexually explicit she has ever been before. All in the name of her new image and production company (Pacific Standard), in which aims to create stronger female orientated films. With Gone Girl and Wild now on their filmography it is fair to say that they succeeding.

What we get as we are taken on this journey with Cheryl, is a darkness of self-redemption. It bares similarities to 127 Hours and Mitty' in terms of character cycle and travel - but more similarly Sean Penn's Into The Wild. At times, Wild hooks you emotionally during flashbacks, more often about her relationship with her mother, played by Laura Dern. But at other points you do not feel as connected and physically tired of taking the journey.