Francis Lawrence
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The Hunger Games (2012)
Directed by Gary Ross
influenced The Long Walk (2025), Red Sparrow (2018)
Themes
…and “The Hunger Games” franchise, which shares the same director, Francis Lawrence, as “The Long Walk.”
The scenario is like a more dystopian, less stage-managed version of “The Hunger Games,” except Lawrence (who’s directed all but the first movie in that franchise) is holding back very little of the story’s viciousness.
With a clear thematic kinship to The Hunger Games, Lawrence proves an astute choice…
The Long Walk has been unfavourably compared to Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games saga…
It would be easy to see this as a precursor to the Hunger Games franchise, with which Lawrence has been cinematically involved since nearly its beginning.
It’s a statement that Francis Lawrence previously made with his Hunger Games movies…
Aliens (1986)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Visuals Plot
Yet, the film's big signature set-piece -- where the team is down in dark and wet tunnels and must contend with fast-moving, voracious and large-mouthed monsters -- feels like an homage to (or if you're more cynical, a direct rip-off of) similar scenes from "Aliens."
A tidal wave of deadly oil and an underground tunnel full of mutants – in a scene reminiscent of Ripley fighting off the creatures in Aliens – are both brilliantly realised, hinting at Collins’ devious imagination.
Now Lawrence and the filmmakers use that celebrity for suspense: There's a horribly great sequence in a sewer that pays homage to Aliens, a quiet nail-biter wherein Katniss, now disguised as a Capitol resident, is recognized by a toddler.
Director Francis Lawrence rips off "Aliens" mightily - does Katniss really need to participate in just another bug hunt? - but never convinces us why having unarmed creatures paw and hiss at the heavily armed heroes would be a strategic advantage for the Capitol.
Francis Lawrence makes every sequence potentially life threatening and the Aliens homage with the battle against the mutts is definitely one of my favorite action scenes this year.
It leads to talk of suicide and to a subterranean sequence that reminds a great deal of the final escape in Aliens, ending in a death of a beloved character that's frankly difficult to take--even for someone like me, who has no other relationship to said character except the dim memory that he got married at some point in the first, already-blurry portion of this instalment.
Through no fault of its own, The Running Man happens to be released mere months after another Stephen King adaptation that centers on a physical trial built by a dictator-like overlord that masquerades as a way to escape poverty when it’s merely reality tv fodder for the rich. The Long Walk was released in September and is a far grimmer exploration of the ways people in power want to keep those in poverty fighting amongst themselves rather than recognizing the real enemy.
Sure, walking is lower-impact than running, but The Long Walk is just as thematically impactful as The Running Man in its exploration of extremely similar ideas.
That’s an issue, albeit on a case-by-case basis (The Long Walk is excellent), with adapting old(er) IP with then-topical or urgent themes.
That also ensures it’s never as bleak as the recent film version of King’s thematically similar The Long Walk…
2025 has been the year of Stephen King adaptations with The Monkey, The Life of Chuck, and The Long Walk.
This cinematic year has given audiences The Life of Chuck, The Monkey, and The Long Walk, each one offering a different philosophy through diverging genres (drama, dark comedy, thriller), and Wright’s The Running Man is a hybrid of them all…
Directed by Francis Lawrence, Red Sparrow wants to combine the lurid danger of La Femme Nikita with the cerebral suspense of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
But Red Sparrow isn't an ass-kicking female-driven flick in the vein of Atomic Blonde, Haywire or La Femme Nikita, or even the action spin on Black Swan that it nods to in its name.
And no, the Oscar winner can’t quite pull off the Black Swan-meets-La Femme Nikita role.
It’s another in a line of female-centric thrillers that began with Luc Besson’s 1990 La Femme Nikita, in which a woman’s power is always double-edged.
Our heroine is soon unleashed onto the world, a little like Luc Besson’s “La Femme Nikita” but without that film’s visual coherence or empathy.
Red Sparrow is basically La Femme Nikita (and its American remake, Point of No Return) with a Russian accent and a lot more graphic sexual content.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Directed by Frank Darabont
influenced The Long Walk (2025)
Themes Characters
It belongs on the shelf next to The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist, and Stand by Me as a rare example of a filmmaker getting a King adaptation completely right.
…the resilience, persistence and human spirit of Shawshank…
…the thirst for survival recalls The Shawshank Redemption…
…there are shades of Shawshank Redemption’s central pairing within this tale’s protagonists…
“The Long Walk” is too lockstep to match “The Shawshank Redemption” as the best film adaptation of a King non-horrorshow, but it’s a tale excitingly and movingly told.
…they talk, like Andy Dufresne and Red Redding in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), with hard truths and intimate secrets spilling without shame over the miles…
Finch (2021)
Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
influenced by I Am Legend (2007), Red Sparrow (2018)
Themes Plot
Alone with his dog like Will Smith in “I Am Legend” (2017), Hanks combines the doggie daddy duties of “Turner & Hooch” (1989) with personified pals like Wilson the volleyball in “Cast Away” (2000).
The elements of the story, like a man alone with his dog post apocalypse are reminiscent of I Am Legend , and Jeff, although physically different has similarities to Wall-E .
Despite the immediate similarities the film conjures up in its opening minutes, reminding viewers of everything from The Walking Dead to Midnight Sky to WALL-E to The Martian to I Am Legend , Finch does find its way to a unique tale soon enough.
If you wanted to analyze the DNA of Finch’s story, it’s a cross between Wall-E , I Am Legend, and I, Robot – but the movie borrows sparingly from each of those films, and only does so when it comes to macro ideas.
Not unlike Will Smith in I Am Legend , this is a movie star who is largely alone, save for a dog and a robot portrayed by a terrific Caleb Landry Jones using motion capture.
The problem that keeps this away from the kind of cozy catastrophe that we normally expect from films with this sort of isolationist bent — and what separates it from fucking I Am Legend (2007) — is that Finch is dying from radiation poisoning, and rather than let his beloved pal starve to death in his absence, the scientist has spent the last several months of his life working on a plan to make sure that he is cared for.
…while that era’s biggest hits, like 2012, I Am Legend and The Day After Tomorrow offered sweeping, action-packed visions of Earth in the end times…
The Dog Stars may disappoint viewers wanting an explosive action-horror comparable to I Am Legend, The Last Of Us or 28 Years Later.
…tiene elementos de «Soy Leyenda» la saga de «Exterminio», entre otros…
Will someone write in if “I Am Legend” (2007) inspired Heller’s book?
There’s the loyal dog of I Am Legend, the manic berserkers of Mad Max (though without their wit or characterisation) and even the bonkers future-nostalgia of Fallout at one point.
THE DOG STARS is a movie that immediately reminded me of I Am Legend when I watched the trailer.
Battle Royale (2000)
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
influenced The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015), The Long Walk (2025)
Themes Plot
Since then, there have been scores of movies devoted to similar barbaric schemes like “Battle Royale” (2000)…
A paterfamilias to The Hunger Games, Squid Game, Battle Royale, and a slew of other imitators and descendants…
…acerbic genre films such as Battle Royale…
Kids have been offered up for sport in dystopian stories from "Battle Royale" to "The Hunger Games,"…
Sure, it looks good, but somewhere along the line, The Hunger Games series lost what little social commentary or relevance it had and resorted back to its high concept, borrowed from Battle Royale premise.
In 2012’s “The Hunger Games,” the conceit of pitting teenagers against each other in a fight to the death was already familiar (“Battle Royale”), but with 2014’s “Mockingjay, Part 1” and this dreary final picture, it’s clear that the reality-TV survival story was actually the strongest framework of the series.
In today’s age of “Squid Game,” “The Hunger Games,” and the impending “Running Man” remake, “The Long Walk” feels like their stripped-down, somber cousin: less spectacle, more soul.
They’re calling this the American “Squid Game,” but Stephen King got there first.
…and “Squid Game.”
A paterfamilias to The Hunger Games, Squid Game, Battle Royale, and a slew of other imitators and descendants…
They’re driven in a similar fashion to the characters in Squid Game, and this movie feels like a stripped-down take on that premise.
…from Lawrence’s many Hunger Games installments to Netflix’s Squid Game…
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
influenced The Long Walk (2025)
Themes Plot
“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” for Gen Z — texts that traffic in the extreme outcomes of American capitalism…
The high concept suggests the gruelling dance marathons of the Depression that provided the inspiration for Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
…closest in misanthropic spirit to Sydney Pollack’s shocking 1969 “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” with cinematographer Jo Willems applying a similar dustbowl aesthetic…
It’s like They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? on steroids.
If Stand By Me suggests lost innocence, then a truer cinematic companion is Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969). Both films fixate on endurance and the spectacle of despair.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Directed by Tomas Alfredson
influenced Red Sparrow (2018)
Themes Plot Visuals
Lawrence no alcanza el formalismo de obras de la talla de Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, pero los clásicos espías de John Le Carré no parecen haber sido el norte del autor Jason Matthews, cuya novela homónima llega a la pantalla a través de la adaptación de Justin Haythe para introducirnos a una agente del gobierno que no ejerce este oficio por voluntad propia, sino a modo de amenaza y tras una cruenta serie de abusos.
It’s presented as a slow, cerebral espionage thriller, more in the vein of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy than a female-led action movie like Salt or Haywire.
You don’t need to have seen Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or A Most Wanted Man, amongst recent films that may’ve served as inspiration to Lawrence, to know where this goes, which isn’t so much an unexpected direction, as just an expectedly unexpected direction.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, Red Sparrow wants to combine the lurid danger of La Femme Nikita with the cerebral suspense of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
But even as we are appreciating what is successful, starting with the impeccable work of Irons, Rampling and Schoenaerts, it’s hard not to notice that the level of intensity, intelligence and involvement here does not reach the level of classic all-in spy movies like the Bourne films or Tomas Alfredson’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and Anton Corbijn’s “A Most Wanted Man,” both based on novels by the genre’s master, John le Carré.
Red Sparrow is like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but only if it were directed by Showgirls-era Paul Verhoeven.
Triumph of the Will (1935)
Directed by Leni Riefenstahl
influenced The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
Visuals
The parade of tributes reflects both the Fascist and gladiatorial aspects of the Hunger Games, the scale recalling "Ben Hur" crossed with Reifenstahl's "Triumph of the Will."
A parade scene for the upcoming games gives off a fascist “Triumph of the Will” vibe, while the fight sequences are taut, visceral and anything but glamorous.
That power cannot help but corrupt is among Collins’ more potent themes (hinted at here in shots of a District 13 rally that can’t help but evoke “Triumph of the Will”), but one likely to be explored in greater depth — and ideally, with a freer hand — when “Mockingjay — Part 2” arrives at this time next year.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Directed by Irvin Kershner
influenced The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Themes Plot
And the film franchise blossoms in that book’s uncertain middle ground, exploring the implications and consequences of action, inaction, and deception, and exhibiting a willingness to embrace uncertainty and defeat that’s reminiscent of one of the all-time great middle installments, The Empire Strikes Back.
Not since 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" has the middle chapter in a cinematic series eclipsed the dramatic scope and technical quality of its original while leaving us breathlessly dangling from a closing narrative cliff the way "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" does.
This is Empire Strikes Back stuff.
“Catching Fire” ends on an “Empire Strikes Back”-style note of irresolution (the final book, “Mockingjay,” will be split into two movies), and I expected the movie would end with some big plot twist, or grand visual effect.
“Catching Fire” is the new “The Empire Strikes Back,” a smashing sci-fi sequel that takes its blockbuster franchise into deeper, smarter, more dramatically engaging territory.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Directed by David Leitch
influenced Red Sparrow (2018)
Characters Plot Themes Visuals
But it’s impossible to watch it without comparing it to last summer’s stylish and kinetic “ Atomic Blonde ,” another physically demanding espionage thriller starring Charlize Theron .
With her bottle-blonde locks, facility with a knife and dour Eastern European playground, Jennifer Lawrence's "Red Sparrow" is seemingly the 2018 version of Charlize Theron's "Atomic Blonde."
But Red Sparrow isn't an ass-kicking female-driven flick in the vein of Atomic Blonde, Haywire or La Femme Nikita, or even the action spin on Black Swan that it nods to in its name.
This spy thriller has been marketed as a trashy exercise laden with sex à la Atomic Blonde , but this actually wants to be a slow-burning intellectual spy thriller à la Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as well.
It chooses not to tread the same ground as Charlize Theron's Atomic Blonde by making the heroine a talented ass-kicker, instead making Lawrence's talent that of seduction, and that does definitely give it a particular sleazy charm that the former film hinted at, but didn't commit to.
Indeed, Red Sparrow contains little of the wit and wisdom of the best of yesteryear’s spy flicks — that gathering includes last summer’s unjustly ignored Atomic Blonde, an espionage caper as stylish as this one is stuporific.
Oblivion is so much like and influenced by so many other movies that it doesn’t top or transcend — The Matrix, I Am Legend, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, Aliens, Vertigo, Cloud Atlas, Inception, An Affair to Remember.
From all of the zombie flicks to disaster movies like "The Day After Tomorrow," "Planet of the Apes," "I Am Legend" and even Pixar's "Wall-E," audiences usually line up in droves to see the filmed version of REM's well-known lyric, "It's the end of the world as we know it."
Oblivion must be the only science-fiction film that borrows substantially from I Am Legend, WALL-E and Sleepless in Seattle — itself a remake of 1957’s An Affair to Remember, which was a remake of 1939’s Love Affair.
A dash of "Wall*E," some "I Am Legend," a climax straight out of "Independence Day," and all of it based on a graphic novel by director Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed "Tron: Legacy."
…or the life-changing journey in Stand By Me (adapted from King’s novella The Body)…
Like in “Stand By Me,” camaraderie emerges, further proof that King’s stories often shine brightest when built on the fragile bonds between boys under pressure.
There are moments where Ray and his comrades are walking in a line together, shooting the shit, that feel like a scene out of Stand By Me, only the bodies that they eventually see are their own.
…the gold standard of coming-of-age stories about white boyhood in "Stand By Me"…
…in the vein of Stand By Me…
The Long Walk stands out as a dystopian riff on Stand By Me, where a totalitarian nightmare replaces sentiment and nostalgia.
The Long Walk is a tense, surprisingly emotional film that play out like a mix of Stand By Me by way of Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games.
But since these are young boys, there’s a Lord of the Flies element that creeps into the proceedings.
I’d describe it as Lord of the Flies on foot, but it’s really more like The Hunger Games for dudes (complimentary)…
The Rhythm Section (2020)
Directed by Reed Morano
influenced by Red Sparrow (2018)
Themes Characters Plot
The film recalls such female-fronted recent efforts as “Atomic Blonde” with Charlize Theron and the best-forgotten “Red Sparrow” with Jennifer Lawrence.
Recent movie flops such as “Anna,” “Red Sparrow” and “Atomic Blonde” (with “The Rhythm Section” inevitably joining the list) are an indication that audiences are rejecting this concept that female assassins—no matter how badass they are in their gun-toting, disguise-changing ways—are still reduced to being sexpots who are following orders from men.
Indeed, even given its globetrotting among various exotic locations and international intrigue, this is perhaps the least glamorous of the subgenre dealing with ordinary women being pressed, or pressing themselves, into service as assassins, which has ranged from the oeuvre of Luc Besson to the Jennifer Lawrence vehicle Red Sparrow .
As opposed to her usual red-carpet glamorous side, Lively receives a full makeunder to great effect: She doesn’t overdo it with the English accent and her character isn’t as hypersexualized as, say, Jennifer Lawrence in “Red Sparrow.”
What's interesting is Morano's almost-clinical approach to sex (even substantial experience with prostitution somehow can't turn Stephanie into a full-on black-widow sex murderer a la Jennifer Lawrence in the less scrappy, larger-scale spy thriller Red Sparrow ).
The Rhythm Section plays as a sort of mix between two very underseen and underrated thrillers of recent memory: Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer and Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow .
Director Francis Lawrence, along with cinematographer Jo Willems and editor Alan Edward Bell, fashions a languid atmosphere that might cause you to recall the one Hitchcock managed in classics like “Notorious,” and they are abetted in their efforts by a surprisingly lush and evocative score by James Newton Howard, whose shimmering strings have a touch of the romanticism Bernard Herrmann brought to films like “Vertigo.”
Specifically, a good chunk of this movie owes a large debt to Notorious, from the relationship between a European national and an American spy, the question of who’s on which side, and the 1946 film’s deliciously wicked final moments.
His style of dress seems to have taken some critics by surprise; they have apparently forgotten Victor Buono's identically garbed Satan in The Evil, where he referred to hero Richard Crenna as an "insignificant speck of vomit," a moment that makes Constantine seem positively decorous by comparison.