In a dystopian 1970s America, fifty teenage boys take part in a deadly annual walking contest, forced to maintain a minimum pace or be executed, until only one survivor remains.
Director Francis Lawrence’s screen adaptation of Stephen King’s novel by the same name is one of those pictures that makes me want to stand up in the theater and exclaim that the Emperor is indeed naked (though I’d probably be quickly escorted from the moviehouse if I did so). The source material for this production, originally written at the time of the Vietnam War, was an allegory about the draft and its impact on young American men at the time, a mandate that often led to their deaths in an unpopular and largely unexplained conflict. And it’s a statement that’s admittedly still valid (albei…
This review contains spoilers.
As you can probably tell, this isn't a "good movie 10/10" type review and I honestly don't know how to write a good one without spoiling things.
I believe these spoilers are necessary to understand just how disappointing the film is and that they don't deter from the movie's "experience". You can already guess that half of the characters will die after the first night and that the main character and his best friend will be the last two remaining.
Also, art is subjective. The review below is my opinion. I'm not claiming that it's the objective truth.
Wit…
Take a road, a few military props and a small group of young actors and you have the essentials of "The Long Walk".
This is story is, in essence, a condensed metaphor, for walking the passage of life, its hopes, its dreams, nightmares and what life truly means to each of us, when its about to end. This is, in its own way, also a harsh repudiation of state sanctioned violence. Where the young are brutally sacrificed, by the old, in the pursuit of power and control.
In spite of the fact this film is derived from Stephen Kings work, an author I have mixed feelings about, Id characterize it …
Initially, I though this had something of the “Hunger Games” to it, as a group of fifty young men assemble at a military roadblock. It appears they have each won a lottery and a prize of untold riches awaits the winner of a walking competition. The rules are simple. Keep above 3 m.p.h. and don’t stop. “Ray” (Cooper Hoffman) pays an emotion farewell to his mum and joins a group of lads that includes “Pete” (David Jonsson); the somewhat odious “Barkovitch” (Charlie Plummer), talkative “Olson” (Ben Wang) and the lithe and fit looking “Stebbins” (Garrett Wareing) and “Art” (Tut Nyuot). A rousing s…
I started watching the movie thinking it would be a knockoff of The Hunger Games or maybe Battle Royale, but with a smaller budget. Instead, I found a film that makes little sense and has an even worse ending.
The story follows a small group of boys who sign up for a government-organized event where they must take part in an endless walk with 50 participants. The rule is that the first 49 who stop, for whatever reason, will be killed.
According to the film, the government does this to motivate the population, since the winner will receive wealth and a wish—which ultimately shapes the end…
The surprising effect of watching **THE LONG WALK** after such a divisive and worrying week in America -- is the message of hope, sacrifice, and brotherhood the film embodies.
These themes break through the stormy, dystopian clouds of gloom from this adaptation of an early Stephen King novel of the same name, blindsiding viewers with the perfect answer to tyranny, authoritarianism and the state:
Love.
Yes, love. John 3:16 love.
This is how you topple empires, destroy despotic reigns, cleanse corruption and purify communities -- with love. But heroism is hard and the sacrifice is of…
