Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Long Walk’ on VOD, a grim, but richly metaphorical Stephen King adaptation

Stephen King adaptations can be pretty grim, but The Long Walk (now streaming on VOD services like Amazon Prime Video) might be the grimmest. It’s set in a late-mid-century America that’s been ravaged by war and taken over by fascists who dictate an annual competition in which 50 young men hope to win a pile of money and “a wish” by walking walking walking and walking some more, to no finish line – the last one standing wins, and those who fall are gunned down on the spot. Appropriately enough, the film is helmed by Francis Lawrence, who mined similar territory when he directed four Hunger Games movies. The Long Walk is a talkier affair, led by two seeming greats-in-the-making, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, who make sure the film is a true heartbreaker.

The Gist: They say the participants are volunteers selected by lottery, but do we believe that? Can we trust the word of the type of people who’d concoct and execute something as diabolical as the Long Walk, and insist it’s an honorable endeavor that brings the winner glory and riches, and endows the populace with inspiration and boosts the GDP? Good questions, but ancillary background for what happens here, beginning with the arrival of Ray Garrity (Hoffman, Licorice Pizza star and son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) to the starting line, his mother (Judy Greer) weeping hysterically as she drops him off. “It’s just a few days,” Ray tells her, but of course, that’s only if he wins, because if he doesn’t, it’ll be, well, eternity. 

Anyone expecting a cutthroat “race” hasn’t met Pete DeVries (Jonsson, absolutely great in Rye Lane and Alien: Romulus), who establishes a tone of bonding and friendship before the walk begins. He introduces himself, shakes Pete’s hand, banters and keeps the mood light but never insubstantial. It helps separate the pack into like-minded optimists and the antagonizing guys who want to start shit or tear other people down. Ray and Pete align with Art (Tut Nyuot) and Hank (Ben Wang, Karate Kid: Legends). Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) scowls and Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer) teases, namecalls and bullies, both perhaps engaging in psychological warfare of sorts. Parker (Joshua Odjick) could go either way. Their real enemy is the cruel world around them crafted by unseen tyrants, represented by the Major (Mark Hamill), the orchestrator of the Long Walk, who barks at them in such a gravel-gargling voice, he makes Tom Waits sound like Tweety Bird. “You have heavy, heavy sack!” he tells the boys, and I guess he would know?

So off they go. The basic rules: Participants are referenced by the number tags around their necks. They have to maintain three miles per hour, monitored by a wristwatch. Drop below that, you get a warning. Three warnings means a bullet in your brain. Stay on the road. No excuses. This is going to be rough. It’ll get worse and may not ever get better. Barkovitch taunts a kid who tries to fight him and then the kid gets gunned down. “I keep hoping that part gets easier,” Pete says, and Ray replies, “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Another guy has a seizure – he’s a goner. A steep grade in the road at 3 a.m. after a few dozen miles does a bunch of them in. They get rations and canteens of water. They trudge on through rainstorms. We don’t need to talk about bodily functions, because the only thing the movie depicts in more graphic detail is the gore oozing out of the losers’ heads.

Led by Pete and Ray, conversation inevitably turns to what they’ll wish for if they win, and casual mentions of the oppression they live under, especially censorship: “The Major will have you shot for talking about ideas like that.” That leads to biographical bits that are just as inevitably morose. They get philosophical about life, death, the state of existence. Pete’s the wise one who advises Ray not to fixate on the destination. “We don’t think about making it to the end, we think about moments. Just making it to the next moment.” This is great advice – whether you’re likely to die in a couple days, or a few decades. Ray listens. Really listens. Because deep into the walk, after hardship and horror, he realizes something: “This moment matters,” Pete insists. And Ray is right there with him.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This is a wickedly smart blend of the two best Stephen King film adaptations: The Mist and Stand By Me – with The Running Man thrown in too.

Performance Worth Watching: Jonsson and Hoffman are the best on-screen pair of dudes since Eisenberg and Culkin in A Real Pain. The Long Walk leads maintain their earnestness – and in Jonsson’s case, spirited delivery of dialogue – without getting overwrought or schmaltzy. Their chemistry is exquisite.

Memorable Dialogue: This exchange, at about the 150-mile mark. Ripped me to shreds: 

Pete: You ever had a brother, Ray?

Ray: No.

Pete: Neither have I. Wanna walk with me a while?

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: The Long Walk is dark. Ruthless even, as the characters start to crack open, or just plain crack. In some ways, the film is about the variety of ways we can go out: Boldly, stupidly, bravely, cowardly, accidentally, with lousy luck, with madness, with strength, with weakness. Maybe having a choice, having a say in it, is best; maybe it’s best to be blindsided, never seeing it coming. But it’s coming.

Best to stay in the moment, then, whether you’re sharing a bit of yourself with a new, empathetic friend, or appreciating the rainbow on the horizon – something a smart, tonally precise film like this can twist from corny to profound. The only choice we have when faced with adversity – be it small, medium, large or ultimate – is to keep moving forward, which is where the film’s core metaphor comes alive. In the larger story, the individual stories of the characters and the dialogue is a mosaic of ideas tied to the concept of mortality: Forgiveness, tolerance, martyrdom, heroism, maintaining your principles. It’s about how truth forces itself to the surface when people are pushed to extremes, to their limits. 

The film isn’t about politics, directly anyway. And while King’s original story reflected the anxieties and frustrations of the Vietnam War era – the film resembles an alternate version of the late 1960s – it ports over to the current state of political division, cruelty and war. Within Pete and Ray’s heartfelt interactions, the film underscores how the barriers we erect around ourselves are more harmful than good, and tend to sow division and prompt us to forget about what we have in common: our humanity. Family, friends and love transcend all else. Sometimes the film feels a little capital-W Written, with tidy speeches and supporting characters functioning as walking, talking philosophies or manners of thinking. But that’s OK. The main scenario pushes the things that matter to the forefront, the most profound one being, we need to make the most of our brief time on this planet.

Our Call: Is The Long Walk one of the year’s best films? It just might be. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.