The latest in a long list of Stephen King stories to be adapted into big screen pictures is the Francis Lawrence directed, The Long Walk, starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamil.
Over the years, Francis Lawrence has carved out a bit of a niche for himself as being a guy that is constantly drawn to bleak and dystopian stories such as The Hunger Games franchise and I Am Legend. The Long Walk is another of those tales to be adapted by Lawrence that draws from the potential dark future that awaits us if we fall too deep down the rabbit hole of late-stage capitalism. This one sees 50 young men take part in a deadly annual walking contest, forced to maintain a minimum pace or be executed, until only one survivor remains. With the winner to be granted copious amounts of riches that take them out of nationwide poverty, as well as one singular wish of their choosing.
King wrote the story whilst in college during the 1960’s, using the book as a way of venting his fears and frustrations around the ongoing war in Vietnam. He was just one of many young American men at that time who was afraid of being called upon to fight in what was a fruitless war, and saddened for those who were forced to do so. In an ‘Ask me anything about The Long Walk’ reddit thread, when quizzed on whether the political state of 60’s America influenced the story, King responded “Well, at that time, Vietnam was chewing up our kids pretty bad. Back then (1967) there were still college deferments for kids in school. But it was a scary time to be young, and a year later they did away with deferments and put in a lottery”.
The parallels between the two are obvious, the boys, much like the soldiers in Vietnam, knew that they were marching toward almost certain death, or at least severe mental scarring. Whether you made it out alive or not, the lasting affects of the experience meant that you could never really go back to a world before it, forever struck by the horrors they witnessed, but left with no other choice but to follow suit. Additionally, Vietnam is where a great deal of young American men were forced to grow beyond their years. With the average solider being between the ages of 19 and 22, having to carry the weight of their country on their shoulders before they even had a chance to live. With the boys in King’s story similarly burdened with financial responsibility too young, shedding their innocence mile by mile.
Obvious ties to Vietnam aside, the story still remains as relevant today, not just because of the continuous warfare that has gone on since, but because of the financial hardship that looms over so many. Whilst we don’t have a literal ‘long walk’, for many of us the unrelenting nature of life that sees us feel like we’ve ‘fallen behind the pack’ so often, can feel as tiresome and gruelling as the walk is described. For young people in particular, life is becoming harder and harder to get a start in, with more and more becoming as desperate as the boys in The Long Walk for financial freedom.
Adapting a story like this for the big screen can certainly be a challenging task to tackle, with the uncompromisingly miserable source material not exactly making for a fun time at the movies. So, how did Lawrence and Co fare at managing to stay faithful to King’s original sentiments whilst ensuring the story doesn’t feel overpoweringly despairing?
Well, immersing the audience with pure suffering for an entire runtime is a bold move to make, and Lawrence manages to find moments of humour and hope that help to better translate the story for wider moviegoing audiences. He does so through moments of solidarity and brotherhood amongst the boys, which provides levity and comedic relief in what is an otherwise torrid and challenging time. Though it’s unclear how effective this would be if not for the clear genuine chemistry between the actors. Hoffman and Jonsson in particular represent the beating heart of the story, and cement themselves as a potential great movie duo for years to come, and two of the most promising young stars working. The sheer likability of the two, as well as Tut Nyuot and Ben Wang in supporting roles, make it all the more emotional when the inevitable eliminations come that are sure to tug at the heartstrings.
Another standout is the legendary Mark Hamil as The Major — who feels like a direct page to screen book character wonderfully brought to life — bringing the exact distance and grittiness needed to pull off such a character. Another superb performance from Hamil in a year that has seen him take on two Stephen King adapted roles, with his take on Albie Krantz in Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck similarly great.
Lawrence’s direction is solid too, turning the 20 million dollar budget into what is essentially a Hunger Games lite. Though he is of course relatively limited with what he can do, given that at the end of the day, it’s just some boys walking. But that isn’t to say there aren’t moments of beautiful visuals and a clear sense of confidence from a director that knows the genre so well.
With that being said, the film does have its limitations beyond just the singular nature of the material. JT Mollner’s script is rough in parts, with moments of clunky dialogue leaving a little to be desired, whilst the mix of humour and horror can often offer some whiplash and fail to blend the two as successfully as Weapons from earlier this year did, for example.
But beyond all else, The Long Walk reminds us all to find the humanity in one another, and provides an emotional rollercoaster that’s sure to have you feeling reflective, and possibly in floods of tears. By no means anything groundbreaking, but without doubt another solid dystopian Francis Lawrence picture, that makes good on its promise of adapting Stephen King’s historic work.