Hello everybody. I'm Dan Merl here with a review of The Long Walk, which has actually been in theaters already for a few weeks. But in five and a half years of running this channel, I can't think of another movie that I kept consistently getting comments saying like, "Dan, you've got to review this movie. Dan, you've got to review this movie." So, I finally decided to go see it. It's been a crazy month. I've been moving. I've been setting everything up here. This was going to be one of those movies that kind of just slipped through the cracks, but I listened to what everybody was saying. Plus, it may be wrapping up its run in theaters, but it will soon be hitting premium video on demand and digital video to watch at home. So, I guess there's still some value in reviewing the movie. Plus, it actually was a pretty good movie.
The Long Walk is based on that rarest of literary artifacts, an unadapted story by Stephen King and the first novel he claims to have written years before he was first published in 1974. It takes place at some undetermined time in American history after a second Civil War has devastated the country. Each year, 50 young men, one from each state, participate in the long walk, a test of endurance that forces them to walk without stopping while maintaining a constant pace of three miles per hour. The entire country watches the competition and it's sold as an inspirational event that boosts national pride and productivity. There's just one problem. The last man walking wins money and any wish of their choosing, but the other 49 are executed as they fall out of the competition.
This is a story that's set in a dystopian future and a dystopian society. It features a talented ensemble cast. And it's also a story about people who volunteer for a deadly competition. So, I guess it makes sense that the director of The Long Walk is Francis Lawrence, who has directed every single Hunger Games film since 2013. But this is not a PG-13 YA novel. This is a brutal, grizzly, hard R look at the physical and psychological torment inflicted on this group of young men, some of them barely adults, and how far they can push themselves in order to survive. It's a great concept for a story and for a movie, but if Stephen King adaptations have been plagued by anything over the years, it's been great concept, poor execution. Luckily, in addition to the director and the talented cast, The Long Walk has a great screenwriter in JT Molner, who had a sleeper hit last year with Strange Darling.
The contestant we meet first and who we follow the most is Ray Gered, played by Cooper Hoffman, whose past trauma inspired him to volunteer for The Long Walk. Because all the characters can do in this movie is walk. It actually makes sense as we go on that we learn more about the characters and they open up to each other. It doesn't feel like forced exposition. And the things that we learn about Ray and about his objectives and his motivations are interesting, but it's also interesting and somewhat terrifying to see how these early objectives fall by the wayside when the point becomes just pure survival.
Ray's closest bond among the contestants is with McVrees, played by David Johnson. He was an actor I was already watching after his impressive performance in Alien Romulus. But he takes it to another level in The Long Walk. David Johnson isn't just great in this movie. He puts in one of my favorite performances that I've seen in a film this year. And that's not to insult Cooper Hoffman and the other actors in this movie because they're great. But Johnson is on another level. And if he wasn't on your radar before, he should definitely be on your radar now.
The cast is also filled with other faces who I've enjoyed in different projects, but who also impressed me in this movie. Ben Wong, who I think capably carried Karate Kid legends this past summer, plays the jokester of the group. Charlie Plamer plays Barkovich, who makes you wonder if the contest has made him crazy or if he's in the contest because he's crazy. Garrett Wearing, who also stars in Ransom Canyon on Netflix, plays Stebins, who enters the contest with more confidence than anybody else. And Roman Griffin Davis, who played the title character in Jojo Rabbit several years ago, plays Curly, who is the youngest contestant and probably one of the most memorable in the movie.
There are only two major parts for older actors. Judy Greer plays Ray's mother, and she is absolutely heartbreaking in every second of her screen time, especially when you understand what she stands to lose. Should Rey not win? I've seen Judy Greer put in good performances, but she is really, really good. And Mark Hamill plays the major, a godlike dictatorial military figure who shows up to give his form of brutal encouragement to the contestants and relishes his role as the personal executioner of the final runner-up.
Now, I am not a professional filmmaker by any stretch of the imagination, but I have worked on movie and TV shoots. And I can tell you from experience that two of the toughest things to shoot are scenes that are outside and scenes that aren't static. So, scenes that involve motion. And nearly every single scene in this film is shot outside or appears to be and is moving because these contestants can't stop walking. So on just a purely technical level, I have to really tip my cap to Francis Lawrence, the director of the film, to the crew of the movie, because to execute a film like this in the harshest of conditions had to have been very taxing for the crew and for the cast as well. And it's a really impressive feat of film making just on that level.
But it also works really well on a story level. And part of the reason why is that it is similar to the Hunger Games in that if you find yourself rooting for a certain contestant to win as an audience member, you then realize that indirectly you're rooting for everybody else to die. And to kind of flip the coin there, if you're hoping that a contestant doesn't win, you realize that you are hoping that they are not going to make it. You're rooting for their death, and that's not good either. And in that way, you are kind of in the same shoes as the characters in the movie who are very conflicted because they make friends and they make enemies. But they have to figure out how to balance that against the life-or-death stakes of the game.
It causes them constant conflict and it caused me as an audience member constant conflict throughout. Part of that is just inherent in Stephen King and how the story originated, but part of it is also in the writing of the screenplay. And it's done very well. The long walk also doesn't shy away from the brutality of the deaths in the movie, nor from the horror of just having to walk without ever stopping for days on end and the realities involved with that. How do you go to the bathroom? What happens if you have to sleep? What happens if you get a cramp in your leg? What happens if you get a rock in your shoe? All of these are everyday scenarios, but they now become life or death in this movie, and they often end in tragedy.
Stephen King began writing this story reportedly back in the 1960s. It was published, I think, originally in the 1980s, but it still feels very relevant to today. And what I liked about the movie, too, is that it doesn't try to draw any direct parallels to the current political situation, to any current political leaders. And I think that that's a smart thing because it could have been a cheap gotcha moment that would have dated the film, but I think it also would have immediately polarized some audience members to take sides on the movie. And I think that the overall message of this film is that we are watching a horrific and brutal dystopian future. Something that nobody should want to live in.
And by not taking that direct parallel, I think what it does is make everybody remember that, hey, listen, we should all be working together to make sure that nothing like this happens. Even though you can draw parallels in things like reality TV, the fact that this is televised and political tensions in the United States are high right now, but the movie does not attempt to go one way or the other with it.
The Long Walk is a $20 million film that was distributed by Lionsgate. So, a massive release with all the bells and whistles was never really in the cards for this movie, and it's performed all right at the box office. Not fantastic, but not an outright flop. However, I do think that this is the kind of movie that is going to find a much wider audience on streaming, especially when it hits a major streaming service whenever the rights go somewhere like Netflix and the barriers drop to seeing the film. So, you can wait for that, but I don't think that you should.
And right now, you don't have to. The Long Walk is still playing in many theaters across the country. As I mentioned, it'll be on digital uh in the very near future. And I would say go ahead and invest that extra time and invest that extra money if you would like into seeing the film because I think that it's worth it. And I really appreciate everybody in the comments who said, "Hey, you need to see this movie. Don't let it slip through the cracks." Because part of my job and what I do here on the channel is to try to serve that function for you to draw your attention to movies that I think you should be watching.
But one of the reasons that I stay so engaged in the comments and read what people write is because you also serve that function for me. You're the reason why I'm reviewing this movie right now. You're the reason why I sought out K-pop Demon Hunters a few days after it was released on Netflix because so many people said, "Hey, I think that you should review this movie." And it put it on my radar. So, it really is kind of a two-way street that we've got going on here. So, thank you for your recommendation on the film.
On my personal scale, I am putting The Long Walk very healthfully in the It's Good range. I really, really liked this movie and especially the performances. I thought it was really well done, really well directed, and again, like I said, something I think that you should take the time to seek out.
So, those are my thoughts on The Long Walk, as delayed as they may have been. What do you think, though? Have you already seen the movie? Are you one of those people that was telling me to see it? Or has this maybe encouraged you to seek it out as well?
Let me know down in the comments below. And as always, stay tuned right here for the latest in movie news, reviews, box office, and more. Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you then.