Based on the harrowing novel by Stephen King (using his Richard Bachman pseudonym), The Long Walk takes place in a not-too-distant totalitarian future. Every year, a contest is held wherein fifty boys from fifty states participate in a walking marathon. The catch is if they stop walking, the armed battalion creeping just behind them will shoot them dead.
Licorice Pizza’s Cooper Hoffman is Ray, who acts as sort of a beacon of hope throughout the walk. He tries to inspire his fellow walkers to press on, even when their situation turns grim. Mark Hamill (in his second King adaptation after Sleepwalkers) is pure evil as “The Major” who issues edicts and warnings from atop his slow-moving Jeep.
This was my second favorite Bachman book (behind Rage), and I always thought it would make a great film adaptation. Maybe we had to wait till now to get one. It’s the perfect political climate for such a chilling tale.
I never saw those Hunger Games movies, but I think director Francis Lawrence learned enough from them to deliver a badass futuristic game of do or die. His style is very cut and dry, which serves the desolate road setting nicely. He doesn’t gussy it up either when someone gets their ticket punched, as the scenes where the boys are gunned down are sometimes brutal.
What I liked most about the movie was that it dealt with questions any viewer may have about the logistics of the walk head-on and without flinching. For example, going to the bathroom in a contest where you’ll be shot if you stop walking. I fully expected them to broach the subject of having to take a piss. I wasn’t prepared for the scene where a guy had to take a shit. Or that it would be shown in graphic detail. That has to be some kind of first for a studio picture. (As a bonus, there’s ANOTHER shitting scene later in the picture.)
Everybody loves those newfangled, overrated It movies, but did they feature two scenes of full-on defecation? I think not.
Speaking of which, Karate Kid Legends’ Ben Wang gets the best line as a fellow walker who says, “Your plan and the stuff that comes out of my asshole bear a suspicious resemblance!”
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