Directed by Francis Lawrence and based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, The Long Walk is set in a dystopian United States that is ruled by a totalitarian regime and follows a group of young men who enter an annual walking contest in which they must maintain a speed of at least three miles per hour or risk execution. The contest ends when only one walker remains alive, for which they receive “The Prize”, allowing them to get whatever they want.
Stephen King has written a number of suspenseful and compelling thrillers over the years but I have always found The Long Walk to be one of the most fascinating thriller novels he has done for its emotional effectiveness, even with such a simple premise. You’d think a story about people walking endlessly wouldn’t be that interesting but you’d be surprised just how investing it can be when written masterfully.
But what may work so well in a novel may not always work in a film, unless you have the right person at the helm, and thankfully for this adaptation Francis Lawrence was the perfect director choice to bring this story to life. Francis Lawrence’s take on The Long Walk is an emotionally grueling and masterful adaptation that perfectly captures all elements of the source material, as well as delivers an immensely compelling and haunting survival thriller that stays with you long after watching it. This has not only become another one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations, but it has also surprisingly become one of my favorite films of the year that came in almost out of nowhere. This film had me completely on edge and tore my heart to pieces all the way through and yet I absolutely loved it for everything it had to offer.
The casting of this adaptation, especially for the walkers, had to be perfect since they needed to be compelling for audiences to care about, for both the simple premise and the fact most of them get killed off one by one as they take on such a perilous journey. But holy hell this cast turned out perfect! Each one of the young cast members truly committed to bringing each character from the novel to life, offering various depictions of human nature with each of their characters that gradually change over the course of the story.
Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson lead the film as Raymond Garraty and Peter McVries respectively, and they were absolutely magnificent together. The moment these two met on screen their chemistry was instant as they truly embodied the characters and their friendship from the novel beautifully, making us feel connected to them the most throughout the film.
Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, lives up to his father’s legacy by displaying incredible emotional range as Raymond Garraty in this film, really making you feel the physical and psychological deterioration of his character in this grueling journey who manages to keep going, thanks largely to his strong motivation to win and the support of his newfound friends on the walk.
After shocking me with his amazing performance in Alien Romulus last year, David Jonsson once again proves to be a rising star with another impactful performance who acts as a source of hope for Raymond and the other walkers. He is a character that has endured so much in his lifetime before joining this fateful walking contest, and yet manages to find light in the darkness that he hopes to give to his friends along the journey no matter how bad things get.
Cooper and David are certainly the central stars of this film but the surrounding supporting cast prove to be just as compelling with each of their own performances. Tut Nyuot as the friendly Arthur Baker and Ben Wang as the cocky Hank Olson bring the right amount of levity and emotion to their characters that bond with our leading pair, forming a beloved team that you fall in love with and feel emotionally attached to in the film as they work together to survive as long as they can despite the fact that they could die at any moment.
Then you have the bad eggs of the group like in the novel, including the enigmatic Stebbins, played by Garrett Wareing, and the sociopathic Gary Barkovitch, played by Charlie Plummer. When it comes to Stephen King stories you can always expect asshole bullies but with these two in particular they are far more layered and humanized compared to the one dimensional kind of characters we’ve had in previous adaptations. They may say or do terrible things over the course of the film but they are still humans with their own individual problems that make them act the way they do rather than just doing it because they want to.
Then there is the “host” of the Long Walk, simply known as the Major, who is played to sadistic perfection by none other than Mark Hamill. I thought Mark Hamill delivered one of the best performances of his career earlier this year with his role in The Life of Chuck, another amazing Stephen King adaptation, but it seems he was not done yet as he delivers another outstanding performance in this film as the Major, making for one of the best villain performances he has done since playing the Joker. Like the novel, the Major is presented as an authoritative, almost mythical figure that awes and haunts the walkers throughout their journey, representing violence, death, and the military institution of this dystopian setting. Despite not being on screen as much as the rest of the cast his presence can be felt, and when he is on screen Mark Hamill truly gives his all to make this character get under your skin and terrify you without the need of being a horror monster like in some of King’s other stories.
The film’s premise, like the novel, is very straightforward yet manages to be extremely investing with its heartbreaking and nail biting narrative that has your heart in its clutches from the moment the first walker is brutally executed. The film’s narrative takes a great amount of time for you to connect with each of the characters and see how their bonds grow over the course of their journey, but it also keeps you on your toes by frequently reminding you of the stakes, even in the small moments, which in turn makes you feel even more invested with what happens to these characters as they go on for a grueling amount of miles that slowly but surely begin to take their toll on the characters in different ways.
Through these characters we get to see various depictions and themes of human nature that can range from wholesome to brutal in a rollercoaster of emotions that will leave you feeling emotionally wrecked by the end, especially with its unexpected twist ending that is the only major departure from the source material, yet manages to maintain the impact of the ending despite the major change.
Another thing I love that this film does really well narratively is the visual world building, with light sprinkles of exposition that gives audiences a clear picture of this dystopian America the characters inhabit, which shows us a terrifying reality that may not be too far away with how things have been going in America as of late.
The technical elements of this film are truly masterful on every level. Without the need of CGI or heavy amounts of digital editing this film truly captures the brutal, grounded nature of the novel through stellar practical effects, cinematography and on location sets that offer beautiful but haunting visuals that further enhance the suspenseful and emotional elements of the film as a whole. There are a number of horrific sequences and shots that burn into your brain and really stay there long after watching the film, especially since it doesn’t hesitate to show you everything in graphic detail.
Enhancing the emotions and thrills of this film further is a truly incredible score by Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers, whose music offers levity in the peaceful moments and suspense in the violent moments of the film.
This film was a perfect adaptation of one of Stephen King’s best stories and a truly incredible accomplishment by Francis Lawrence who managed to capture the most important elements of the novel, resulting in a majorly compelling survival thriller that will leave a lasting impact on all who watch it. Whether you are a fan of the novel or not you definitely should not miss out on this magnificent adaptation and should see it immediately on the big screen. It is not for the faint of heart but it is truly a worthy watch for those who dare to take on the walk. I’m going to give The Long Walk an A+ = 100.
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