A haunting trek through a morally-collapsed America, “The Long Walk” delivers both gruesome horror and political conversation with every bone-crunching step, turning one of Stephen King’s best novellas into one of his best film adaptations of the 21st century.
The dystopian thriller follows Ray Garraty and 49 other teenage boys as they endure the Long Walk, a country-wide, annual competition in which 50 young men are forced to march until one man remains. As the group walks for both money and for their wildest dreams to come true, they form friendships, rivalries and learn more about the broken nation that watches their every step.
Like many of King’s stories, “The Long Walk” serves up an eye-catching premise, all while feeding viewers political commentary that never seems to age.
Yet even through the deep themes, graphic violence and tearjerking deaths, the film thrives off of its heartwarming, if short-lived, friendships.
Led by Cooper Hoffman as Garraty and David Jonsson as Peter McVries, the flick is chock-full of young talents first making their mark, as well as a few solidifying their names in the industry.
Hoffman — fresh off of “Saturday Night” as well as Oscar-nominated “Licorice Pizza” — and David Jonsson — the standout of “Alien: Romulus” and romcom “Rye Lane” — lead the cast of “The Long Walk” with passion, fear and charm. The pair provides pitch perfect chemistry to the harrowing tale, yet manages to drive fear into the audience as they react to every blood-curdling scream and gut-wrenching goodbye.
Both Hoffman and Jonsson deliver performances that many would describe as their best — and for that, their futures in Hollywood are incredibly bright.
Ben Wang and Charlie Plummer also stand out among the 50 boys, with Wang’s performance as Hank Olsen giving the film a much needed dose of comedy, while Plummer stands out against his previous roles as the misunderstood, but sardonic, Gary Barkovitch. And although his screentime is limited, Mark Hamill’s portrayal as “The Major” is unforgettable, playing into the political figurehead’s charismatic yet sinister personality.
For the most part, J.T. Mollner’s script fires on all cylinders, adapting the required emotional beats and thematic messages found in the novel, yet the dialogue has moments begging for rewrites.
It’s obvious to tell whenever lines are written by Mollner or ripped straight from the 1979 novel, as the flow of conversation changes dialects from what would’ve been expected from late-70s teenagers, to today’s youth. It doesn’t stop the narrative in a screeching halt, but it can take time to get used to.
Luckily, even with these roadbumps, famed “Hunger Games” director Frances Lawrence brings “The Long Walk” to life in horrifying, yet sincere execution.
Since “The Hunger Games” was heavily inspired by the Stephen King Classic, there was no one better than Lawrence to be attached to this. And just like those beloved YA adaptations, Lawrence’s take on the shattered American dream is just as detailed as the world of Panem.
Featuring flashes of deteriorating banners and shattered families to shots of young children watching their brothers and sisters be gunned down, “The Long Walk” forces viewers to witness young death in an unflinching manner, mirroring modern day America in the most anxiety-inducing way possible. Audiences will squirm in their seats from beginning to end, but the violence never ends until the credits begin to roll.
Although the film’s themes of gun violence are hard to miss, “The Long Walk” finds ways to perfectly integrate other discussions involving class divide, the capitalistic spiral and the illusion of choice under authoritarian rule, whether it be through the conversations that the young men share along the walk, or images of boarded up buildings and deteriorating culture.
This is all topped off by Jo Willems’ evocative cinematography as well as Lumineers’ Jeremiah Fraites’ debut film score, featuring soul-stirring guitar chords and the faded thumps of a piano, similar to Michael Abels’ work on Jordan Peele’s “Us.”
Frances Lawrence’s adaptation of “The Long Walk” may not be long enough to discuss everything found in the beloved Stephen King novel, yet the dystopian horror film hits all of the right notes, perfectly encapsulating the 1979 book’s political messaging and graphic violence to a T.
“The Long Walk” was released Sept. 12 and is in theaters now.