Charles Salom | Contributing Writer
“The Long Walk,” directed by Francis Lawrence, is another twisted story from the mind of Stephen King. The first book King ever wrote was “The Long Walk” under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Written in the midst of the Vietnam War, King took heavy inspiration from the political climate of the 60s.
Lawrence has experience in dystopian thrillers, having directed the majority of the “Hunger Games” films.
Much like the “Hunger Games,” “The Long Walk” follows a group of young men who sign up for a deadly competition called “The Long Walk” with the simple object of non-stop walking.
Those who stop or slow down below 3 miles are shot. Once one man is left standing, they will be awarded riches beyond belief and granted one special wish.
“The Long Walk” relies heavily on its ensemble characters who bond, fight, joke and try to face the psychological idea of dying if they stop walking.
Our core group of characters includes Peter (David Jonsson), Ray (Cooper Hoffman), and Hank (Ben Wang). Ray and Peter are the easy standouts in “The Long Walk” with their delirium and physical pain conveyed effectively in their body and voices throughout the picture.
Mark Hamill also joins the cast as the Major, the host of this sick, militaristic event. I found Hamill’s performance to be a bit over the top, but that could be used to provide some levity to a dark film.
The talent and performances are on point, but ultimately, the “sad” backstories were not enough to make their characters memorable past the credits. The brutality will be seared in my mind, but the personal struggles quickly pass.
While I think Jonsson gives a good performance, the thick southern accent he needs to force makes him difficult to understand at times and took me out of the film early on.
The thick accent was not the only frustrating part; the sound mixing in “The Long Walk” made dialogue between our characters difficult to understand. And when you have a film that is solely characters walking and talking, it’s not permissible to have audio that is difficult to make out.
Fortunately, the violence of “The Long Walk” somewhat makes up for the poor audio mixing with a bleak film that shows the kills viscerally.
And the film is clear when a character will die; it is never a surprise. Yet as a viewer, you still tense up and dread the moment the shot goes off and the body thuds on the concrete.
“The Long Walk” is an effective dystopian thriller with brutal sequences and showcases the power of brotherhood.
But it will inevitably end up being a forgettable King adaptation that reaches for deeper themes of government oppression and violence. But it is far too occupied with its violence that it forgets to say anything resonant by the end.
3/5
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