Movie Review: ‘The Long Walk’

Tweet
The Long Walk is an intriguing story set in a post-apocalyptic fascistic United States. It is an unbelievable feat of endurance as the movie literally follows 50 participants on an endless marathon where only 1 will survive. Conversations between the main characters take us through their lives, ambitions (if they are the winner), and the state of the world. It is dark, dramatic, violent, and terrifyingly realistic, but the story and character development highlight that goodness, joy, and positive morality can be found even in the darkest of days.

The story is reminiscent of The Hunger Games for a few reasons, but the biggest difference is that the competition is not a deathmatch, but a marathon with seemingly no finish line. The winner is the person that keeps walking the longest within the set rules while the other participants are killed. There is far more drama than suspense because you are given plenty of time to get to know the main characters, you know that only one will live, and you can usually tell when someone is about to exit the competition.

The comparisons to The Hunger Games are inevitable. For starters, director Francis Lawrence directed this movie and four (soon to be five) of The Hunger Games movies. And, while not exactly a direct connection, lead actor Cooper Hoffman is the son of Hunger Games co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman. Cooper marvelously portrays Raymond Garraty, one of 50 young men who were chosen to represent their state in the annual competition that, according to “The Major” (Mark Hamill), is to inspire the workers of America to work harder and bring the country back to its top economic standing. It sounds like break times, but the film focuses almost exclusively on the walk and the main participants bonding while they can.

This was apparently the first story Stephen King’s wrote. I will admit I had never heard of this story, but there is definitely a Stephen King aura in the movie; it makes me curious about how the novel version differs, if at all. It was a great film, overall. The story had me invested enough to feel sadness and almost shed a tear a few times.