THE LONG WALK was excellent, though bleak as hell. It’s the second great Stephen King adaptation I’ve seen this year and I’m hoping (and expecting) Edgar Wright’s THE RUNNING MAN is going to be the third.
It’s a pretty simple tale – or stripped-back, if you want to be charitable. And it was – ironically – probably a little longer than it needed to be. But the two main leads – Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson – are absolutely magnetic and they’re surrounded by a fantastic supporting cast. Not least Judy Greer, who pours out the agonized emotion of a mother who knows she may never see her son again.
It’s not an easy watch. Grueling and heart-wrenching. Stephen King is so damn good at creating relatable flesh-and-blood characters. They feel like people you know and you really feel their pain and emotions as they navigate this nightmarish dystopian survival story. It’s kind of incredible to think that this was the very first novel King wrote, as the themes have never felt more timely.
Highly recommended, but definitely not a feel-good movie. I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
