At last.
After two years of waiting and waiting I got to wait some more before getting the chance to catch this tonight. I was thoroughly impressed and walked away entirely satisfied from this movie. The film captures the storyline in a way I really wasn't expecting, as I didn't go into it with the highest of hopes. Kerouac's long-winded narration throughout the novel is integrated throughout the film with no stone left unturned. Also, Mortensen plays an excellent Burroughs.
The novel has always held a special place in my heart. Reading it for the first time as a bored teenager felt like a shot in the arm; evoking a lust for life, adventure and a will to travel to new places. Watching the film felt nostalgic and very much the same.
I don't give films a 5/5 as a rule, so I'll give this one a 4.5/5.