After a decades-long journey to the big screen, the first novel that Stephen King ever wrote finally has a feature film adaptation. The Long Walk was originally published under the author’s Richard Bachman pseudonym and has tempted filmmakers with its dystopian premise since publication in 1979.
Based on the reviews for the Francis Lawrence-directed adaptation starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamill, it seems the wait for fans of the novel was not in vain.
“Dystopian cinema doesn’t come much bleaker than the latest Stephen King story to hit the screen, directed by that aficionado of the genre, Francis Lawrence,” writes The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck. “The Hunger Games filmmaker here does a superb job with material that could easily have proven repetitively dull in lesser hands. While The Long Walk doesn’t entirely escape its narrative limitations, it features generous amounts of the sort of emotion and heart that have marked the best King adaptations.”
Issues inherent to translating the novel’s dark premise do appear. The straightforward conflict doesn’t naturally lend itself to dynamic visual storytelling.
“For a movie about motion, The Long Walk feels oddly static, its washed-out images — a dead cow here, some live horses there — leaving the impression of a featureless nowhereland,” writes The New York Times’ Jeannette Catsoulis. “Lawrence’s commitment to authenticity may be laudable, but he was so busy honoring the book that he forgot to entertain the audience.”
Despite this, The Long Walk benefits from strong performances that keep the movie emotionally grounded.
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“It helps that the film has such a staggering cast to work with; Hoffman and Jonsson make for an invigorating pair, kids who maintain their moral center in an environment where survival is brutal,” writes RogerEbert.com’s Clint Worthington. “Their backstories may be thin, but the strength of the performances adds mystique and depth.”
Overall, the reviews — mostly positive — herald a successful adaptation of a book long ready for its cinematic moment. The film holds a 91 percent “certified fresh” ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and a 72 percent score on Metacritic.
“This Long Walk grows repetitive, its political message bluntly delivered in a finale that rewrites the book’s ending,” writes IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio. “Still, its grim commitment makes it a rarity for a studio movie: this walk doesn’t hold your hand, nor does it soften the blow.”
