You Must Walk 500 Miles

As far as descriptive titles go, The Long Walk nails it. In an undefined near future, a bunch of teenage boys compete to see who can walk the farthest, with riches and a wish of their choice the reward for the last one standing. The catch? There is only one winner and if you stop, or drop below the allotted 3-mile-an-hour pace, you get shot. As if that wasn't bad enough, they have to march under the watchful eye of Mark Hamill's "Major", a military hard ass who, in the time-honoured tradition of old men sending young men to their deaths, constantly barks platitudes about how brave and noble the competitors are while clearly not giving a toss about them.

Given the nature of the film, it's something of an ensemble piece, with a glut of young actors you'll recognise, but the main focus is on Ray (Cooper Hoffman) and Pete (David Jonsson). While a level of camaraderie emerges between many of the boys, it is the friendship between these two that forms the core of the movie. Ray is motivated by a sense of injustice about the whole thing and is determined to win, while Pete has a sense of acceptance but dreams of making things better. Their bond in the face of oppression and impending death, and the different ways they view and are shaped by the events they go through, is the emotional crux of the story and the theme of trying to keep hope alive in the bleakest of circumstances is well realised. Both performances are very good, especially Jonsson who is emerging as a real star.

The film is based on one of Stephen King's earlier books (published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) and has one foot in its '70s roots and one firmly planted in today. The cast of characters and lo-fi depiction of a dystopia feels very old school. Meanwhile, the idea of a bankrupt US trying to fire itself up again after a civil war seems as close now as it ever has. The set up isn't a million miles away from director Francis Lawrence's work on "The Hunger Games" franchise, but this is a grimier, more sombre affair and is shot accordingly. The walk is huge national event, meant to inspire patriotism, but we never see a glitzy TV broadcast, only the drudgery of a never ending trek through farmland and run down old towns. This keeps us guessing about the state of the country in general and keeps focus on the unpleasantness.

And unpleasant it is. For a film essentially about the slaughter of young men it doesn't wallow in melancholy but we are given enough character for everybody that we feel each of the deaths to a varying degree. The acts of violence, both injuries and executions, are displayed matter-of-factly and in a minimally graphic way that doesn't allow the viewer the respite of finding them cartoonish or entertaining. There are also some fairly gross moments arising from the fact the march doesn't stop even for toilet breaks. One thing it doesn't cover much, is the insane physical toll walking hundreds of miles non-stop would take on the body. Sure, people seize up, or go down with cramp, but it seems to be all or nothing, with people either on their way out or pretty much fine. The lack of cumulative fatigue shown is in aid of portraying the competition as a battle of wills rather than a physical confrontation, but it is a little distracting.

The Long Walk is a fairly transparent metaphor for (given the time it was written, probably the Vietnam) war and so don't expect a laugh riot but it deftly stays on the watchable side of grim. Things are bleak but hope remains right until the last, and for a movie about people endlessly walking it is engrossing from start to finish. Edgar Wright's 'The Running Man", has a lot of work to do if it wants to be the best Bachman adaptation of the year.

8 wishes granted out of 10.

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