‘The Long Walk’ review: Long road to ruin

Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Judy Greer are just a few of the impressive players in this haunting adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk.

Stephen King has written about the end of humanity many times. He’s also put that dark journey on different canvases. Sometimes it’s in a small town, other times it’s happening to the whole world. While King can create some truly wild circumstances (space turtle, anyone?), some of his best stories are the ones with the simplest setups. There’s a lot you can say about the state of mankind when you tell it, “Walk or die.”

The Long Walk is one of King’s earliest works, being originally published in 1979. 46 years later, director Francis Lawrence and writer JT Mollner bring it to the big screen with a simple presentation. A group of young men start walking through the barren American northeast. Everyone steps until there’s only one left, who wins a cash prize and one wish from what remains of the U.S. government. Anyone who walks too slow or can’t walk no more gets three warnings before being shot by armed guards.

But like all King stories, it’s the characters who color in the lines. There’s the relaxed Ray (Cooper Hoffman), who just wants to provide for his mom (Judy Greer). He immediately bonds with Pete (David Jonsson), who has a chipper attitude despite the scar on his face. There’s also Hank (Ben Wang), who always has a zinger to throw around, and Arthur (Tut Nyuot) with the Lord by his side. But no matter who else walks with them, whether it’s the stern Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) or the shifty Gary (Charlie Plummer), only one is allowed to survive in America.

Band of brothers.

Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate

The Long Walk is the longest 108 minutes I’ve ever endured, and I mean that as a compliment. Lawrence keeps the audience locked with the walkers as they trudge through barren landscapes and the scraps of Americana looking on in shame. Every time a starving family looks at the doomed souls walking by, you don’t know if they feel sad for their fates or envious of the opportunity. It’s not the showiest post-apocalypse we’ve seen on the big screen, but there’s still something haunting about how vacant all the farmland and backstreets are. And that’s before we see what happens to the walkers. Every time Lawrence cuts to new timestamp, with more and more miles added to the journey, you wince at how much more punishment the characters have to face.

The key to getting that emotion out of an audience is having detailed and likable characters. Those come standard with any King story, but Mollner’s adaptation does the job of making even the most minor player in The Long Walk stand out. For all the dialogue that Ray and Pete get, there are little moments where Stebbins or Hank, or even a weak link at the start of the walk get a minute to stand out among everyone else. Not to say that the main men leave a lot to be desired. The way Ray and Pete connect as two different kinds of optimists (one hopeful for the future and one accepting their fate) is instantaneous, but still leaves plenty of room to see their friendship deepen. The script wears down every possible scenario for these guys to have a Hollywood ending and yet the script still makes these doomed souls impossible to look away from.

Walking tall.

Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate

As good as the characters are, it’s the actors who elevate them to being truly memorable. Even down to the smallest part, like Greer who maybe has three scenes total but still leaves an impeccable mark every time she’s onscreen. She may dress like a shocked housewife from the 60s, but the emotional weight she puts on her face is heartbreaking. All the other bit players keep things engrossing, from Wang’s smarmy energy that knows just when to drop a punchline to Plummer spiraling into guilt and madness the further down the road he goes. Even Mark Hamill (in his second King adaptation this year) is notable with occasional scenery chewing as the Major.

Even with the ensemble cast, there are two stars that truly go the distance. Hoffman continues to make a name for himself as a likable everyman, inhabiting Ray with a chipper attitude and deep emotional baggage. He spends the runtime fleshing-out Ray with layered dialogue that he effortlessly delivers. The amount of lines he has to roll out are as exhausting as those in a David Mamet play, but Hoffman lets them roll off the tongue. Same goes for Jonsson, who gives The Long Walk an extra spark of energy no matter how grim it gets. Not only do he and Hoffman have incredible chemistry, but Jonsson occasionally makes himself the main character through the sheer force of his own charisma. This may be one of those rare moments where we see two future heavy hitters in Hollywood play off of each other before rocketing to the top on their own.

The bottom line.

It’s tough to say whether or not The Long Walk ranks among the best King adaptations, but it certainly competes. The fantastic cast carry the gloom and doom in the hefty script, making you lean-in closer and closer despite the punishment the movie puts on the boys. What it lacks in visual dynamics, it more than makes up for in detailed characters and how the movie breaks them down. However little hope there is for mankind, at least you can make some friends along the way.

The Long Walk is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Murray Close/Lionsgate. Read more articles by Jon Winkler here.

Jon Winkler