The Long Walk

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While Stephen King adaptations are largely hit or miss according to my tastes, I have taken notice that with movies like 'Stand By Me' and 'Shawshank Redemption', which this film follows the trend of, the film ends up making the story something, dare I say, a little bit better, or at the very least, parallel to the written story. I have tremendous respect for King and his legendary prowess, but with so many of his stories, I often find myself getting more out of the visual storytelling; 'Shawshank' being a great example.

'The Long Walk' is one of those films that I appreciate a tiny bit more than the story itself. I'm more of a movie guy than a book guy, though, so my opinions are probably far separated from those of your average Stephen King purist. However, the movie condenses the entire story into a nice, short runtime, with fewer characters to keep track of than the book, and even takes the opportunity to blend some characters with others without compromising the story.  I read the story shortly before seeing the film, and I have to say, I was impressed with the final product.

This particular King tale gives me 'Hunger Games' vibes, taking place in a dystopian America, ruled by a totalitarian government, in which a public spectacle is arranged every year in which several people die. Thousands of young men apply to participate in The Long Walk each year, as the prize at the end is a massive cash reward, and they get to wish for anything they could want. The competition is intended to draw in these young men, distract the public, enforce totalitarian rule, and inspire people (namely, these boys) to work harder. However, for all but one of these boys, the hope at the end of the tunnel is a false illusion.

The winner of the competition is the last one standing, but as for the 49 other participants, if they drop below 3 miles per hour, they receive a warning. If a walker gets three warnings and slows down again, they face execution by soldiers who follow them along their route, with Carbines trained on them at all times. However, a walker can erase and refresh his warnings if he keeps up his speed for long enough. Our lead walkers for this story are Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman), Peter McVries (David Jonsson),  Arthur Baker (Tut Nyuot) and Hank Olsen (Ben Wang), often referring to themselves as "The Musketeers."

The Major (Mark Hamill), who, without spoiling anything, is the reason Ray signed up in the first place, oversees this whole event, dangling the carrot in front of these walkers. I have to say, Hamill is in such an incredible disguise here, he's damn near unrecognizable. The effect is up there with Tom Cruise in 'Tropic Thunder' or Johnny Depp in '21 Jump Street'. The "Musketeers" also have characters like the villainous Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer) and the mysterious Billy Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) to deal with on this walk, providing, respectively, a secondary villain for the story and probably their strongest competitor.

If you're someone who likes the story just the way it is, be forewarned that the movie makes several changes, right down to the way the story ends. I found the book's ending was less satisfactory than the movie's ending. But again, that's just me, and I totally understand any King purists being upset by it, or even something like bringing the walker count down to 50 from 100. I didn't think the 100 was necessary for this story, which is mainly about these young men forming a brotherhood between them, urging each other on, while all the while knowing that only one of them can survive.

Throughout the film, we see these characters bonding with each other, helping one another, and for a Stephen King thriller, there's a whole lot of heart to it, along with a fair amount of drama when it comes to some of these characters "getting their ticket." You'll also get a fair amount of laughs, feel a lot of hope and empathy for some characters, while paralleling your hatred for others, and experience some truly harrowing moments that feel intensely intense. It's a bit of a bottle movie in its own way, which I always appreciate when done well, and this was, in my opinion, done very well, even with the changes to a story that's already good.

5/5

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