The Long Walk is the kind of film that sounds difficult to pull off on paper, but it was far more interesting than I expected it to be.
Strong performances from Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson.
More gripping then it has any right to be.
The cinematography helps makes the journey visually interesting.
The friendship between Garraty and McVries gives the story its strongest emotional moments.
The dystopian setting.
The pacing works far better than I expected.
Mark Hamill’s Major feels too one-dimensional.
The ending felt slightly underwhelming.
Some dialogue, especially in certain scenes with David Jonsson, was difficult to hear clearly.
A simple idea turned into a gripping film
I have to give The Long Walk a lot of credit, because this is the kind of movie that sounds like on the surface that it would be pretty dull - people walking, for hours - yet, director Francis Lawrence has taken that simple idea and manages to find a lot of emotion and tension hiding inside it, where it understands that the walking itself isn’t the interesting part, because the interesting part here is the watching of people change under pressure.
Everything that happens here seems to have an importance behind it, because the characters are constantly being tested - tired, scared, stubborn, and sometimes completely overwhelmed - and there is a massive confidence also in letting scenes breathe, allowing all the tension to slowly build instead of it constantly trying to force excitement onto you.
That approach won’t work for everyone, but for me, it worked just fine.
Two Key Performances
The acting would have had a massive impact on making or breaking this type of film, but the cast deliver, with two in particular - Cooper Hoffman is excellent as Ray Garraty., bringing s a quiet determination, just a person trying to keep going, and Hoffman makes that struggle feel genuine, and in turn, you feel that struggle.
David Jonsson is also fantastic as Peter McVries, and the friendship between Garraty and McVries gives the film some much-needed warmth, where their scenes help balance out the darker moments and make the movie feel a bit more personal.
My only small complaint is that some of Jonsson’s dialogue was difficult to hear at times, which is never ideal when you’re already trying to keep track of a stressful movie.
Mark Hamill’s villain needed more layers
Mark Hamill brings plenty of presence to the role of the Major, featuring a coldness to the character that he delivers superbly, and Hamill clearly understands how to make someone intimidating, but I did also feel like the character was missing something.
The Major is effective as a symbol of authority and cruelty, but I wanted a bit more depth to him, as there was an opportunity to explore what created someone like this - what motivates him, and how he sees himself - but he mostly remains a representation of the system around him, which I think is a missed opportunity because Hamill is capable of much more interesting work when given the material.
The cinematography makes walking look interesting
The visual side of The Long Walk surprised me a lot too, because a movie built around people moving along the same road should have become pretty repetitive, but cinematographer Jo Willems does a great job making the experience feel cinemati, and the weather plays a huge role in this - rain, mud, sweat, and exhaustion become part of the atmosphere, and you can feel the physical strain building throughout the movie.
The camera also does a great job showing the gradual changes in the characters, where at the beginning, they look confident and full of energy, but later, every movement feels harder and heavier, and the exhaustion becomes impossible to unsee.
I also liked the repeated backward tracking shots throughout the film, and while I did think they were maybe being used too often, but eventually they started to make sense in the way they reinforce the feeling that there is no escape and no easy way out.
The road keeps going, and so does the pressure.
Also, the fact that the film doesn’t make every character easy to judge was well done - some decisions are understandable, some will frustrate you, and some will make you ask yourself what you would actually do in the same situation.
It’s easy to judge people from the comfort of your couch, so I probably shouldn’t pretend I would handle this situation particularly well, even if my head says I’m an action hero who can take on anything.
The Long Walk is a film that really shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it does, and the overall experience landed pretty well for me, with more depth to it then I thought it would have had before watching it.
Worth watching.
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Screenplay by JT Mollner
Based on The Long Walk by Stephen King
Produced by Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Francis Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy
Starring - Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Jordan Gonzalez, Roman Griffin Davis, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer and Mark Hamill
Cinematography by Jo Willems
Edited by Mark Yoshikawa
Music by Jeremiah Fraites
Running time - 108 minutes
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