The Long Walk is brutal, horrific, and heartbreaking, yet its profound and encapsulating portrayal of the depth of the human spirit and the will to survive propels what should’ve been a slow slog of a film to its last bleak moment of utterly captivating despair.

The Long Walk is Hunger Games Meet’s Lord of The Flies

Set in an post-dystopian reality, each year 50 boys between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen through a voluntary lottery to participate in ‘The Long Walk’. What is The Long Walk? It’s exactly what it sounds like—50 kids competing for the ultimate prize. That prize is their heart’s desire and “a gazillion dollars.”

Based on the 1979 novel by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, the story follows Walker #47, also known as Roy Garrity (played by Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman). Roy is a native of Maine, where the walk begins. Over the course of the walk he becomes part of a group called the musketeers, which includes #23 Peter McVries (David Jonsson), #6 Arthur Baker (Tut Nyuot), and #46 Hank Olson (Ben Wang). 

The group works to keep their spirits high while competing against themselves and the likes of #38 Stebbins (Garet Wareing), a walker who knows much more than his fellow volunteers, as well as #5 Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), an antagonistic hothead who seems to have a grudge against the group, all while harbouring deep feelings of resentment for himself.

Over the course of five days and more than 300 miles, the group slowly whittles down until only one boy remains, who will receive the ultimate prize from the Major (Mark Hamill). What begins as a tension-filled horror flick quickly turns into a story of perseverance and the futility of fighting against a power greater than oneself. The story is an allegory for war, capitalism, and life – in the end, everyone gets their ticket punched, and few leave with dignity.

Imagination Brought to Gorey Life

Francis Lawrence clearly knew what he was doing when he directed this film. Everything is right, and everything is modernized – in the right way. Overall, the film feels as though it matches the book. Visually, I feel as though I am seeing what I imagined when I steamrolled through the 300-page novel I finished an hour before watching this film.

There are some updated changes, including a greater representation of POC. There is also less emphasis on a certain aspect in the book, which, although may have worked for King and his narrative, probably would have been expensive to include. That is; the large crowds that appeared to swarm the walkers in the novel.

Now, while there are quite a few onlookers observing these brave yet suicidally reckless boys, they are so scarce that they barely seem to exist. The film convincingly portrays a lifeless world, almost perfect for telling a dystopian tale. Without the noise of the crowds, we can truly focus on these young men who are every single day fighting at their wit’s end to stay sane and keep moving forward.

There is a subtlety to the silence that surrounds them in quiet moments, where they march across roads between wide open fields, through rainstorms, and past towns that seem on the verge of abandonment. It is as if they are the only people in the world because, to them the world is the road and the walk. The next step is all they know, and even that is a coin toss.

A fresh take on one of King’s best stories

What makes The Long Walk so compelling is that it doesn’t just take King’s novel over 40 years ago and retell it word for word. Yes, as you expect, there is updated language and adjustments to dialogue, and because it’s a film and suffers from the time constraints of 1 hour and 40 minutes, certain characters get cut and have their narratives weaved into other characters.

What makes The Long Walk so original when you compare it to the book is how the relationship between Garrity and McVries is developed into something greater than a friendship. The two form a brotherly bond and delve deeply into the problems with their society. Not just seeking the reward for themselves, the journey of the walk not only pushes them to their physical extremes but to the depths of their soul, where the two not only find the perseverance to continue but the altruism to help each other selflessly and to put their lives on the line for each other.

Better Villains with More Humanity 

There is even a great sense of humanity given to the villains of the story and greater emphasis placed on the character of The Major. Hamill plays the villain of the film well, whilst I don’t necessarily think he is a necessary addition, his time on screen is not unpleasant. I mean, his character is not very nice, and I didn’t like him much, but there wasn’t a loss from his addition.

Stebbins and Barkovitch get the greatest expansion. The film’s cutting down on the number of walkers emphasizes these smaller characters’ larger roles—especially when other characters who are more prevalent in the novel are cut away.

Whilst both antagonists are shown to have a human side in the novel is not until much later in the story do we see this. Getting to witness these moments between the characters where their vulnerability feels as real to me as the crackling of the popcorn in my mouth and irritation at the bloke next to me for turning his fucking phone on three times and being blinded by that light.

Conclussion 

I wish I had more to say about this film I truly do. But what more do I need to say? This is truly a fantastic film that harnesses it’s talented cast and produces a story which remains faithful to the tone and intent King’s original work whilst removing some of them all dated concepts within his novel. Some of the sexualisation and the back stories are altered, the slightly ambiguously rapeytones removed and some love interests expunged.

If you were to ask me if this film is better than the book, I would say no. I would say it stands on equal footing for what it is. The advantage of a piece of literature is you’re not limited to a budget a time limit. You don’t have to consider how much money it will cost to keep on extras or giving them speaking roles or their real life conditions of marching 50 young men down the road for hours and hours and hours.

I do highly recommend you read the book before you watch the film on this. I probably said that many times about many films, but often when I’ve said that it has been because the book is better than the film, when both are equal accessing the first, the original, gives the adaption greater depth. When this film broke my expectations, it was more pleasing to me because I knew they were there to be broken.

If you see any film this September in theatres, let it be The Long Walk. 10 out of 10.