I don\u2019t go to the movie theater anymore. I never was a fan of spending a decent chunk of money on a single watch of a movie, then spending a small fortune on snacks and a Coke. Add on top of that the several experiences of annoying audiences ruining the atmosphere of great movies and I was ready for an excuse to stop going to the theaters. Then came the pandemic and the bottom fell out of the movie screening industry and earlier streaming debuts of movies. Now, most of the time you couldn\u2019t pay me to go. However there are movie debuts that tempt me to go back. The release of \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d was one such movie.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always loved Stephen King adaptations. From the masterpiece that is \u201cThe Shining\u201d to the batshit insanity that is \u201cThe Langoliers\u201d I find something to enjoy in most of them. There\u2019s a warmth and particular charm to his characters that is hard to describe but you definitely know it when you see it. Maybe the copious amounts of cocaine imbibed while writing his characters just forces its way through even when it\u2019s been filtered through another layer of interpretation. Regardless, I can\u2019t read so enjoying his stories in book form is impossible for me. So when I saw a video discussing the \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d prior to its release, I got very excited.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Long Walk\u201d is one of King\u2019s earlier works and it\u2019s one that had always been an adaptation I hoped for. I had heard that \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d was essentially a very simple battle royale format that only consisted of characters walking for days but it was somehow interesting. I kept meaning to get it as an audiobook and give it a listen but my procrastination rewarded me with a movie version instead. I hadn\u2019t seen or been told anything else about it but I was very much interested in what could end up on screen. So I waited patiently. Eventually it came out to rent or purchase on streaming and I finally had a watch of it. I have to say, I was pretty damn happy with the end product.<\/p>\n
To preface all of this, \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d is not going to be everyone\u2019s cup of tea. It really is a battle royale but everyone\u2019s walking. The premise is that there\u2019s a lottery that picks a young man from each US state and has them compete in an endurance test in the form of walking until you collapse. Once a contestant goes below a certain speed, veers from the set path, or attempts to attack one of their escorting soldiers they get executed. Without spoiling the plot, that\u2019s really all there is to it. Not a ton happens except exactly what you\u2019d expect in a thriller of this genre. People talk. People die. I loved it, but I figured I\u2019d give you all the chance to go watch for yourself before I ruin anything for you. So either go watch it for yourself or ignore me and read my opinions on it for some reason.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So…<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen movies and TV shows with more direct allegories but few come to mind. The lottery is a clear representation of the draft into the war in Vietnam. The walk itself is a clear representation of the traumas that the soldiers we sent to Vietnam suffered. And the death toll is a clear representative of the men that were killed, maimed, and psychologically scarred. Even the winner of the competition walks away with mental wounds that will never heal. I figured I\u2019d mention that first because you\u2019re bludgeoned with it right away. I say that respecting the hell out of the message being sent. I cried at the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC. My parents\u2019 generation were heavily impacted by the draft. I have PTSD, myself, though not military combat related. I\u2019m a massive advocate for mental health support. I, personally, feel that the message \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d sends is an important one that deserves to be seen and heard. The message is sent very well but oh boy is it obvious and immediate.<\/p>\n
Rewinding a bit\u2026 We start the movie with a cast of widely varied characters in personality and in background. The majority of the cast are acted quite well with an absolute standout performance by David Johnson as Peter McVries. He manages to bring to life a character with a complex, dark background and make him believable as a man who fought off the darkness by shining bright. That\u2019s hard to do. It normally comes off corny as hell and even sometimes silly. That makes it all the more heartbreaking when you realize that he\u2019s going to die by the end of the movie. Because our lead guy is Ray, right?<\/p>\n
As the movie goes on I slowly came to realize that the primary protagonist of the movie might not be the guy we\u2019re seeing the story through. Ray is acted well and his story is compelling, but he never really felt like much of a hero to me. Just another angry kid with a score to settle, whereas McVries felt like he had more of a heroic spirit about him. Always stepping up to help those in need even in a situation where he\u2019s in direct competition with the men he\u2019s saving. Even when it could potentially lead to his own death. Whereas Ray had a good reason to want to kill the Major, but not much of a plan. And like Ray seems to realize by the end, he was being selfish by leaving his mom behind and repeating the actions of his father.<\/p>\n
The movie doesn\u2019t make it clear what happens in the end. It\u2019s clear that the Major dies, but we don\u2019t know if the escort soldiers shoot McVries back in retribution. We don\u2019t know how everyone around reacted when he finished Ray\u2019s plan. And I think that\u2019s because it doesn\u2019t matter. McVries keeps walking. He keeps walking because there\u2019s no end to his walk anymore. He\u2019s been through too much. His body and mind just keep willing him to move forward. Even if he\u2019s dead his soul has been branded by \u201cThe Long Walk.\u201d Which leads us back into that PTSD metaphor. It works and it works well, but even my monkey brain caught it my first go around.<\/p>\n
I really enjoyed \u201cThe Long Walk\u201d and I think it deserves praise and respect, but I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll be going back to watch it again. I think the acting is great, the cinematography is beautiful, and the story is very compelling, but not enough happens that I want to see it again. It\u2019s a journey I\u2019m glad I went on but not one I feel the need to return to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t go to the movie theater anymore. I never was a fan of spending a decent chunk of money on a single watch of a movie, then spending a small fortune on snacks and a Coke. Add on top of that the several experiences of annoying audiences ruining the atmosphere of great movies and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethanirl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59793"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59798,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59793\/revisions\/59798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}