The Long Walk

"WARNING. WARNING."

The Long Walk is the latest adaptation of a Stephen King novel, directed by Francis Lawrence. The premise is terribly simple: America has descended into a totalitarian dystopia. Public morale and state control hinges upon an event known as the Long Walk, in which 50 randomly chosen young men must walk along a cordoned off road until only one of them remains. The reward for the winner is great. The price for those who lose is death.

I started reading Stephen King books when I was in middle school, but it wasn’t until later that I learned about his Richard Bachman novels. For those who don’t know, there was a time during the 1970s-80s where King published several of his darker, more cynical stories under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The Long Walk was one of those books and I listened to it in audio form around the time I graduated high school (along with Under the Dome and 11/22/63). I remember being struck by the layers of horror King was able to draw out with such simplicity, as well as his talent for writing and describing his characters.

Watching this movie — which I do think is probably one of the stronger adaptations of King’s work made in the 21st Century — brought back that sensation of engrossment I felt when digging into the novel it’s based on. Aside from a few key changes here and there, it’s pretty damn accurate. More than bringing the characters and dialogue to life as well as it does, I was struck by how well this movie captures the vibe of the book. Not entirely, but enough to match the same anxiety and dread I felt when reading.

That dread is somehow more subtle and more jarring than it is in many of his other stories. Especially as a modern tale of a dystopia in which youths put their lives on the line to win a savage lottery. When the protagonist, Ray Garraty, arrives at the starting line and meets the other participants, we are lulled into a false sense of ease. Friendships and resentments quickly develop, life stories get shared, and we are given a sense of who these kids are.

Then one of them gets a Charlie horse and “buys their ticket.” The reality of this unreal situation quickly sets in.

Those who walk are followed along the whole way by a few military vehicles. The armed soldiers on those vehicles dispense canteens of water and rations to keep the walkers going. More importantly, they issue warnings to those who fall below the designated walking pace for any reason. Walkers get three warnings, which they can get removed if they maintain the required walking speed for an hour or more. If they don't maintain speed after the third warning, they are gunned down by the soldiers.

The film is effective at immersing the viewer in this grueling atmosphere, even if it doesn't go quite as deep with it as the novel. The boys get no breaks, no real sleep, no mercy. Some try to strategize, to plan things out, or rely on their physical fitness or resilience. Ultimately, none of it matters. They each are forced to reckon with their own flaws and limitations, which gets more and more painful for the ones who survive the longest.

I enjoy that it's not as simple as an evil authoritarian government forcing this upon a bunch of innocent youths. I mean, it is that too, but the Long Walk is framed as a voluntary contest and all these boys (though randomly selected from thousands) signed up for it. The reward for winning is a fortune in money and one request for whatever they want. So while it is a cruel, manipulative, authoritarian system that the whole country's trapped in, it's one that exploits avarice, as well as the hopes and dreams of many young men. This includes our hero Ray Garraty, who has his own selfish reasons for wanting to outlast everyone and be the winner. It creates a very palpable man vs. man/himself conflict in the movie, as the walkers are all made to feel like adversaries with each other or victims of their own weaknesses, even with the presence of a blatantly corrupt regime run by a malevolent military honcho known only as The Major.

It's the kind of story I feel was designed to be applicable for many people. The book was written around the time of the Vietnam War. And aside from a few details here and there, one could be forgiven for thinking this film's alternate reality must take place at some point in the late 20th Century. Even so, I think a story about a younger generation being shamelessly used and grinded down to make up for the failings of an older generation that still clings to power is as relevant now as it was in the 1970s.

Luckily, the movie is not a purely grim experience. Through the friendship between Ray and Peter McVries, this film touches on the hope and compassionate spirit that you see in other, softer King stories like The Green Mile or The Shawshank Redemption. Some might argue that this conflicts with the novel's tone, but I think it's a necessary change. An endlessly exhausting endurance contest is a bit more palatable as a book narrative than it would be for a film, where it could easily just feel like a slog for a lot of viewers. While not a one-to-one perfect adaptation of the novel, The Long Walk finds a nice sweet spot between the penetrating darkness of the Bachman novel and the persistent light of King's larger mythos. It's a well-crafted, stark and intense thriller.

Bits and pieces:

* I always thought it was strange that The Long Walk never got an adaptation, considering what a simple plot it is compared to King's other stories that have been made into movies. Turns out, the filming for this movie was a bit rough on the actors and crew involved. Overall, they really did walk hundreds of miles on hot and humid roads, even if they weren't walking nonstop.

* Interestingly, I just learned that The Long Walk was actually the first full novel King ever wrote, I believe during his college days. Which, in hindsight, I can totally believe. The way King develops the story and characters, you get the sense of a talented young writer flexing his creative muscles.

* In the movie, the Long Walk is made up of 50 boys. In the novel, it’s 100 boys.

* While perhaps the only widely known actors in this cast are Mark Hamill as The Major and Judy Greer as Ray’s mom, the young guys playing the Walkers all gave powerful performances. Though the most notable will probably be the two leads, Cooper Hoffman as Ray and David Jonsson as Peter McVries. I’ve only seen either of them in one other role before (Licorice Pizza for Hoffman and Alien: Romulus for Jonsson), but they both impressed me before and their acting in this movie just built on that.

* I mainly know him for flashy action-horror movies like Constantine and I Am Legend, but I think most people know Francis Lawrence for directing the majority of The Hunger Games movies. That background probably made him an obvious choice to direct this specific Stephen King story. I honestly think it might be the best movie I’ve seen by him. Although, I still got a soft spot for Constantine.

* A lot of media illiterate people saw the promos for The Long Walk and immediately assumed Stephen King was ripping off Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series. Not realizing that King’s book predates hers by nearly 40 years, and The Long Walk clearly drew inspiration from Shirley Jackson’s short story, "The Lottery."

Very well-done. Four out of five bloodstained roads.

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