Review: ‘Long Walk’ is a brutal, and riveting, adaptation of Stephen King novel
Nothing about Francis Lawrence s take-no-prisoners adaptation of Richard Bachman s aka Stephen King staggering novel offers one shard of hope for any of us to wrap our bloodied fingers around Nor should it given the hellish America landscape it envisions an undefined time where a rotting-to-its-core nation goads male teens into a grueling contest that demands participants walk at a -mile-an-our pace or get a bullet through the head delivered by The Major Mark Hamill or his military goons The victor reaps hard-to-come-by rewards in an unwelcoming militarized land Related Articles Pink Floyd great David Gilmour releases concert film live album set Frank Lloyd Wright s iconic California architecture as Hollywood filmed it The Conjuring Last Rites creeps its way to another box office win for horror genre Fall films Here are reasons to get excited Weapons regains the top spot as the summer box office winds down Needless to say The Long Walk is a brutal and visceral nightmare that rattles and shocks with in-your-face violence and gruesome images that test audiences limits A few will flee from theaters Others won t even give it a shot I get that But make no mistake this odyssey through hell and not back virtually the entire film gets framed around that purgatory-like walking contest is an artistic and gutsy triumph of filmmaking Its craftsmanship and use of symbolism are undeniable and its sure-footed excellence extends from the character-rich screenwriting of J T Mollner director screenwriter of the daring Strange Darling Chiseled tear-your-heart-out performances are delivered by Cooper Hoffman as country boy and lead protagonist Ray Garraty and David Jonsson as the hopeful and gregarious Peter McVries And the appropriately off-kilter kinetic cinematography from Jo Willems and the unsettling decades-blending production design from Nicolas Lepage contribute mightily as well Lawrence has a knack for navigating his way through deadly contests he directed five Hunger Games films including the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping but here he uses bolder directorial brush strokes to stimulate a conversation starter full of layers The ending is an incredible cinematic achievement that only gets better with repeat viewings and is open to different interpretations King wrote The Long Walk in the s when the Vietnam War and the draft weighed heavily on him The fact that his tough-as-barbed-wire words remain relevant at present proves what a literary giant King And Mollner and Lawrence further expound on the work to explore uncomfortable themes that are staring at us in the modern day fascism spiraling hopelessness a lack of empathy and suppression Walk recalls horrors of past and present era let s hope it s not a window on the future THE LONG WALK stars Rating R strong bloody violence grisly images suicide pervasive language sexual references Starring Mark Hamill Cooper Hoffman David Jonsson Garrett Wareing Tut Nyuot Charlie Plummer Ben Wang Director Francis Lawrence Running time hour minutes When where Opens Sept in theaters
