Your mileage may vary.

In a post economic apocalypse America, groups of teenage boys are forced to walk over 300 miles for the chance of riches.

The Long Walk is an adaptation of the Stephen King book of the same name, published in 1979. It sees a troop of young boys (one from each state) pitted against each other to be the last one standing in a televised blood sport. If this sounds familiar, add it being directed by Francis Lawrence, whose previous work includes four of the five The Hunger Games adaptations. It stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) Garrett Wareing, and Mark Hamill.

I feel mostly torn about this experience, having not read the book or even knowing of its existence. The film definitely strikes harder and truer than other teen-based blood sport movies, but nonetheless it feels tired nowadays.

As the title suggests, it is a long walk. The film is entirely set on this raw pilgrimage across rural America. We see the boys shepherded by heavily armoured vehicles and soldiers with rifles. Rules are dispensed quickly: They must walk at a speed of three miles an hour; if they stop or slow down they are given a warning. Up to three warnings later they are issued their “ticket.” A gross euphemism for “a bullet in the head.” Naturally, there is only one winner.

The film is ultimately quite good. For me it is an unfortunate reality that this has been seen before.

Cooper Hoffman (son of the late great Phillip Seymour Hoffman) plays Raymond, one of the participants. He leaves behind his tearful mother to join the other boys at the starting line. There he meets Pete (Jonsson) and a host of others. The two bond, along with a couple of others, and friendships are born. Bafflingly so.

We can go straight into negatives from here. Regardless of King’s book (which I have not read) it is evident that he is an “ideas” man, and not a world-building man. Supposedly, The Long Walk is televised, and supposedly only boys volunteer. They volunteer out of a systemic habit born from decades of American economic depression. Supposedly, this is because Americans have grown “lazy”, and need to remember the hardships that preceded them. Supposedly, everyone is aware of what it is: People die. Everyone but one dies. There’s no indication as to whether there’s punishment for not enlisting… So why do they enlist? The script suggests every single boy enlists. Why?

I volunteer as tribute this is not.

The characters are familiar tropes. The nerdy Asian. The religious one. The crazy one. A stoic one. The emotional weight doesn’t really start hitting until the final few scenes. Which means a large portion is left as a muchness. None of them look like teenagers, either. Ironically they make fun of the one boy who does look like a teenager.

But… it did build emotional weight. It was as long walk to get there, but we did get there. David Jonsson continues to prove himself a powerhouse actor. Delivering a multi-layered performance throughout the movie. Future Academy winner must be on the cards. There’s one stirring speech towards the end which was very captivating.
While the world-building feels lacking, there is a cruel matter-of-factness at play. The fact that this is only in America. That the Americans would dream up this cruel theatre to rile the masses into action. It speaks of a unfathomably awful system of Government and dreadful treatment of its citizens. I dunno… it seemed unpleasantly plausible as a flight of fancy.
It is also gruesome. Unlike the director’s previous blood sport movies, this one doesn’t hold back. The killings are sharp and grim. There are moments you aren’t expecting that will make you wince and cringe.

The reality is, if this had been released before The Hunger Games, or any number of glossy, high-energy blood sport media we have now (let that sink in for a moment…) this movie would have been huge. As it is, it is a good movie for younger audiences to go and see.

For me, it is just a little too familiar.

Additional Marshmallows: Two Stephen King adaptations in as many months, and both of them star Mark Hamill.