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In a dystopian future in a dystopian society, 50 young men from each state volunteer to enter a yearly competition called The Long Walk as a test of endurance, where the objective is to walk from point A to point B at no more or less than 3 miles per hour, and the last person standing wins a wish and riches. With all the competitors in this competition, some people do not get on, some make friends, but the game will test you and ultimately break you until there is a winner, whilst the whole country watches.
Whilst I will try not to go into spoiler territory, I have tried to keep the synopsis as light as possible, but this film was excellent, brutal and like I previously said, emotional. I cannot remember if it was near the beginning or in the middle, where I thought to myself and wondered, "Why would someone join a competition like this?" If there could be only one winner, how are most of them cheering each other on, helping one another to get up, and not be thinking, "there can be only one!". Do not get me wrong, it is mentioned in the movie and the characters know the rules and what you need to do to win the prize, as well as what happens to you if you do not keep to the rules, but I could not fully get behind the characters wanting to win, and also make friends. But I guess everyone is in the same situation, and you are doing it together. Maybe they did not think they could die or would not die to stay motivated to win, so making friends on the long walk is nice and all, but it is either you or your buddy, right? So with that said, this film is brutal because you cannot slow your pace as you must keep to 3 miles per hour and near the end, I was definitely shaken up, emotionally.
All the characters have their reason for joining the competition and for a lot of them, some simply just want a better life or to come out of a tough situation, so the story centres mostly around a handful of characters where you may get a little information on, as they walk and trade stories, but I was definitely in tears when a specific character got a nose bleed. Not because of the nose bleed itself, but the actor who played the character was great and entertaining, so when it was his time, it hit me hard. It was unexpected and very sad as I caught myself getting attached to some of these characters, as you feel like you are with them along this journey. Before going into this film, I kept hearing about David Jonsson from the film 'Alien: Romulus' or TV show, 'Industry' and how good he is, and he is really good, but this unknown actor (to me anyway) was good as well, so when he went, I could not help but get emotional. David Jonsson is a rising star. Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) is great in this, and his character's motivations as to why he entered the competition, is a motivation I am sure most people watching will agree with, so there were a few moments that were heartbreaking. Because they have been walking for days at this point and you are often reminded how far they have walked with little food, no sleep and zero stops, as the audience watching them walk and walk and walk, there were times I felt like some scenes or imagery must be a hallucination as I couldn't quite get to grips of how long they have been walking and how I myself would feel in their battered shoes. But David Jonsson carried this movie on his back, and is clearly the standout. His backstory was also emotional, like plenty of the other contestants we get to know, so when you get to the end, you do wonder was any of it even worth it?
The cinematography was great. There were some long shots, wide shots, close-ups and some blurry shots where some of the graphical shots were pulled back from or right in front of the camera. The first death was crazy to see, and I audibly made a noise when it happened, but as the film goes on, deaths start popping up rapidly, or at least you could tell who was next to go as you see a character limping or even worse before they expire.
There is not much music in this film, as the film is carried by the acting and the interaction between characters. The longer they walked, the longer you felt a bond with some specific characters, and you are rooting for them to win, or you are rooting for someone to eat it. You know, that one guy you dislike and you cannot wait for them to die horribly. At one point, one of the contestants had a radio, and that brought a tiny bit of levity to the story, where for a moment, the guys were frustrated, but at the same time, making the best of a bad and shitty moment, but in the end, this story is dark, bleak and also sad. The Hunger Games or Squid Game, but all you do is walk, not fighting one another, just a competition, because there could be only one. Great film. Go and see it as soon as possible, if those latter films are your thing, but also, if you like Stephen King, since it is a Stephen King adaptation after all.
