4 min to read
The Long Walk
How good is the newest Stephen King movie adaptation?
Review: While I was looking forward to watching this, especially after hearing some great reviews of it online. After finally watching it I couldn’t feel but a little disappointed by it. There are some absolutely great parts to the movie that stood out to me, like the acting and the great dialogue between characters, and the overall story of the movie is good, but I couldn’t help but feel that the story wanting to be told doesn’t really need a full-length movie, especially with how predictable it is. Within the first 5 minutes you can already tell who are going to be some of the last few people walking, and because of that you can only hope that the story being told up until it’s only them left is extremely interesting and engaging. I found it to be a little underwhelming.
Part of the reason that it was underwhelming to me is that there should have been something more to the film. While several characters do give their backstories, the audience doesn’t see where they are from, how they were raised, or what their real purpose for being in the long walk really is. Some people do talk about some of this, but it’s talked about so little that it seems the story doesn’t even care about them. They focus so much on Ray’s (Cooper Hoffman’s) character’s story, but that’s it. He is the only person that gets a proper backstory, which is not even interesting. I think this backstory should have been given to multiple more characters, having the long walk should have been the majority of the movie instead of the entirety of it. This would have allowed the audience to have been engaged with more of the characters intimately prior to the walk. By doing so, the audience would have had attachment to certain characters even more, which would have increased the stakes and the amount the audience would be invested in the story.
I also found the ending to be extremely disappointing. Throughout the walk, many great conversations took place between the characters about what they would use the reward money for, building towards the ending being a certain way. By the time the walk is over, characters do the opposite of what they have been talking about the entire movie, so all of the great conversations that were had between characters throughout the movie just felt like they were a waste.
On top of all of this, it’s completely obvious who the last few contestants will be in the first 5 minutes of the movie, and the movie doesn’t do a good enough job making me think otherwise. I couldn’t get over the fact that when something bad was starting to happen I knew it wouldn’t impact certain characters (which it never did), slowly whittling away at the inherent intrigue of the story and movie away.
aAfter the movie finished I was talking with my wife about the movie, and I realized there are a lot of intriguing comparisons between this movie and the Hunger Games. The characters live in a world where there is an event that frequently occurs, demanding “volunteers” from all of the states/districts. This event is in memory of a Great War that took place that almost destroyed the country, and there is only 1 living survivor at the end. Most people are living in poverty, and the only way to stop being poor is to win the event. The cherry on top is that the director of this movie also directed all the Hunger Games movies. When I’m thinking about comparisons of the two, every time the Hunger Games is way more intriguing to me. You actually get to know characters at home prior to them joining the Hunger Games. The Games is inherently more interesting, yet sadistic, concept than a long walk, and you actually get to carry through the victors’ story after the games are over.
Overall, I do think it’s an interesting enough story, despite how predictable it is throughout. The main actors give some great performances, and it’s because of their performances that the movie can work at all. While I know this is based on a book and that there is only so much you can deviate from the source material, I just wish they could have found a way to make the story and the characters a little more engaging and interesting, along with making the long walk feel like it actually had a purpose. If you were intrigued by the trailers, I’d recommend giving this movie a shot, as you may find it more enjoyable than me, but I think that the Hunger Games is a better and more interesting version of this story.
Rating: 2.5/5
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