Synopsis
From the highly anticipated adaptation of master storyteller Stephen King’s first-written novel, and Francis Lawrence, the visionary director of The Hunger Games franchise films (Catching Fire, Mockingjay – Pts. 1 & 2, and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), comes THE LONG WALK, an intense, chilling, and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question: how far could you go?
What We Thought:
I saw The Long Walk two weeks ago and I’ve been struggling to figure out what I want to say about it. Other than Mark Hamill’s performance there isn’t much wrong with it, but it’s also a movie I don’t think I need to ever see again. The keyword in that previous sentence is need. Once you see it you know what happens and I don’t think it has much rewatchability. That sounds a lot worse than what I mean though so let me explain.
The film has a dystopian timeline story which finds boys selected to make the long walk. Every state has a walker and whoever makes it to the end wins a cash price and gets to make a wish. Yes other movies like The Hunger Games, Battle Royale and the criminally underrated The Human Race come to mind, but Stephen King wrote this decades ago. Viewers at home get to watch and the boys walking represents strong wills and determination that the country needs in the dystopian timeline.
Of course it being a King story there is more to it. There are rules that every walker needs to follow like keeping a certain pace and not wandering off. If you break the pace rule you get a warning and can work that warning off if you go long enough without another warning. Once you get too many warnings, you’re done. I’m not sure if explaining that is a spoiler or not, but you can probably guess what it means.
The biggest positive of the film is the young cast. The young cast is pretty brilliant and holds your attention throughout. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson are the two leads and dominate the movie. The other cast members are equally impressive as well. You will see many of these young actors have solid movie careers. The only negative in the cast is Hamill who once again shows why he didn’t have much of a live-action career beyond Star Wars. He’s one-dimensional and flat throughout the film and brings nothing to the character.
It also feels tense thanks to its director Francis Lawrence. A movie like this doesn’t require much to it being a simple film about boys walking, but Lawrence brings surprising action feels to it. The script from JT Mollner is another surprise. The dialogue is a key component allowing the characters to have backstories and dimension. Again it’s simply boys walking so the dialogue is the only thing giving them character development for the audience to root for.
The second act of The Long Walk feels out of place with the opening act setting up the race and characters and the third providing the guessing game of who will win. The second act doesn’t get much to it and I think that’s where it loses me from really enjoying it. The momentum changes until the third act and it needed something more in the middle to hold our ADHD attention spans. The cast is good. The film looks good. I just don’t know if it’s something I’d watch again later on already knowing how it ends.
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Screenplay by: JT Mollner
Based on the Novel by: Stephen King
Produced by: Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Francis Lawrence, Cameron MacConomy
Cast: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Josh Hamilton, with Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill
The Nerds Templar 