The Long Walk Review

 

Alright, reviewing another recently released movie. And one based on a Stephen King book, hopefully it'll be just as good as the last two adaptions I reviewed.

The Long Walk is a dystopian horror thriller movie based on the 1979 Stephen King novel of the same name. Vertigo Entertainment and About: Blank did production while Lionsgate distributed. JT Mollner wrote the screenplay, while Francis Lawrence directed.

The story is, in a dystopian America ruled by a totalitarian regime there's an annual event called "The Long Walk". Fifty boys are chosen at random and are given food and rations and must walk without stopping, to make matters more challenge they'll be a squad of soldiers to escort them. If any walker who falls below 3 miles per hour and takes three warnings he will be shot and killed. The walk ends with one survivor who will be grand a cash prize and have one wish fulfilled. So the question is, who will be the victor?

Initial Reaction

Now I was fully excited to see this movie but then I thought of backing out given Stephen King's dishonest claim regrading Charlie Kirk especially since he made that post when it was announced that Charlie recently died after being assassinated. And I don't believe for one moment he actually wanted to delete the original X post nor do I believe he's being honest with his apologies. BUT! In my review of Spinal Tap II, I pretty much promised I'd review this movie. So I instead viewed this as supporting hard working filmmakers and actors and not a book writer who from what I've heard but can't confirm for myself, hasn't written a good book in 20 years.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

One gray area is the characters. Now Ray and Pete have a really dynamic. At first they're just strangers to any another, but as they continue with The Walk they slowly become friends and after that brothers. But we also have other pretty good characters like Olsen, Arthur, Barkovitch, and Stebbins. Even though they don't have the strongest character it's helped by their personalities. Olsen is very scrappy and confident in his abilities. Arthur is a religious teen with a folksy warmth to him. Barkovitch is a character you'll love to hate. He's obnoxious, brash, and goats others to break under the pressure. Now at first Stebbins doesn't do much but he's reasons for being part of The Walk does turn into a slow burn mystery until later. But then you got characters who's fates are pretty obvious. Like one character wants to write a book about The Walk from a contestant's p.o.v. but then he fades away and you quickly don't have a good feeling about him. And it's not just the walkers with some lackluster writing. The Major, the villain of the movie, whose just evil, and that's it. He's either evil or cartoonish evil.

Pros

Now let's get into praising the movie. Let's start off with the visuals. Both Francis Lawrence and cinematographer Jo Willems do a tremendous job with the bleak imagery. Willems' use of showcasing desolate highways along with hazy horizons, dusty browns, faded greens, and overcast skies make the landscape of The Walk feel completely empty. These visuals make every step feel like hell. Then we have Francis' directing. With his nicely done close-ups and tracking shots do a fantastic job mirroring the walkers psychologically and physically toll. We especially see that toll with Francis' handheld shots showing trudging feet, sweat soaked faces, trembling lips, and tired glares. Now I want to give credit for the use of tension. Once The Walk starts the threat of the warnings looms in every scene. Hell, a single stumble or slight moment of weakness actually got me very nervous. But what really made the tension work is we can both see and feel the boys' decay. Again to the credit of Lawrence's showing characters and things like trembling limbs. But also because of the mental factor. Some get shot because they wanted to rebel, some get shot because they mentally broke and tried to run off the path, or the most sad of them all their bodies are breaking down and they know it show they just accept their fate. And this sense of dread is even felt through quieter moments like sharing a canteen of water. The last thing I'll praise is the performances of Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson. Like I said previously, they're growing brotherhood. But they're performances are also very soulful and help anchor the film in some humanity. Their chemistry made every moment hit, they're work together was something uplifting despite the film's dark world.

While some characters didn't get the strongest of writing, The Long Walk is actually a pretty good flick.

My final rating is, Good.

Now even though I did give this a positive review, I can understand why some plan not to see this given Stephen King's disgusting behavior. At the end it's your money and you can go see whatever movie you want to see, or use for something else.

Anyhow, sorry if I bummed some of you out with my Stephen King bashing. I know I've complained many times before about woke guys like King, censorship, or entire industries before. But at the end of the day I still want this blog to be a pretty chilled place to visit.

With all that being said, due come back on Monday, Sept 22nd, for the next part of my Road to Tron: Ares with my review of Tron: Legacy. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.