‘The Long Walk’ Review. A walking logline elevated by…

The Long Walk wastes no time selling you its premise. The title itself actually just about sums it up. A group of young men, portrayed by some of the brightest actors working today (Cooper Hoffman, David Jonnson, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis), have to walk at a speed of above 3mph for as long as their bodies allow. Dipping below that pace means a swift bullet to the head. The prize for the last one walking — untold riches and a wish that money can’t buy.

Being based on a Stephen King novel doesn’t shake the YA qualities of its premise, and a mini-society of youth quickly forms along the walk. Friendships are forged, villains identified and the cast of characters established as swiftly as they’re picked off.

Unlike a lot of YA counterparts, The Long Walk is happy to stroll through the dirt. By the end these characters look suitably sweaty and unkempt as their journey takes its toll and the final notes of the film are morbid and cynical. This is a flat, soggy, unpleasant American countryside, stalked by gawking, hungry locals eager for bloody spectacle.

It leans on archetypes, but for the most part they work because the young actors are so brilliant at sucking you in. In a world where stars are tough to forge, this is a great showcase for the next generation. Actors that simply have it. That intangible, hard to put your finger on ‘watchability’ and they make even the lulls in the plot engaging.

The archetype that falls flat is the villain, the Major, a gruff military commander who seems to hold power over, not just the walk, but society at large. He’s portrayed by Mark Hamill but it could easily be anyone beneath those sunglasses. His omnipresence seems to sting for our wandering heroes, but as a viewer it’s easy to forget his role in things. For large stretches of the film the actual reasons these characters are walking don’t feel particularly important. What matters simply, is that they are walking.

This isn’t a criticism of the film as a tense, entertaining way to pass a few hours. But as something deeper and more enduring it could probably do with striking a better balance. If the film accepted that you don’t need to understand the ‘why’ behind the walk, that could be interesting. If it gave the walk a unique and thought-provoking motivation, that would be another. But it lands somewhere in between. A walk with a reason you keep sort of forgetting about.

The Long Walk is a tense, safely made film that entertains, but what truly endures is its young stars, all walking into longer, more powerful work.