A group of teenage boys compete in an annual contest known as “The Long Walk,” in which they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot.

Hot on the heels of ‘The Life of Chuck’, which I really didn’t like, we have another Stephen King adaptation coming into cinemas and this is far more the type of King work that we’ve come to expect. Adapted from his 1979 novel, ‘The Long Walk’ is a dystopian thriller that takes place in a post-conflict United States, where each state has to select one individual at random to take part in an annual event where they must walk and walk until only one man remains. So far, so ‘Hunger Games’, so it is no surprise that Francis Lawrence (who directed all bar the first ‘Hunger Games’ movie) is in the director’s chair.

With 50 walkers, the original task is for the filmmakers to establish who we should care about, who are the antagonists and who are the cannon fodder we can forget about. This is done fairly well with a healthy dose of American cringe dialogue (which does get worse as the movie goes on), and we become acquainted with several individuals, led by Cooper Hoffman’s Ray and David Jonsson’s Peter. Both Hoffman and Jonsson deliver strong performances which is crucial to making a premise that could definitely feel repetitive remain watchable throughout. Mark Hamill is also good as the main antagonist who appears to run the country and takes charge of this event.

The good parts of the movie centre on their performances, the skilful direction from Lawrence who maintains a thrumming tension, and brutal death scenes that caught me a little by surprise. On the flipside, ‘The Long Walk’ can’t escape its trappings as a linear story following characters walking through a sparse wasteland where they will be picked off one by one, and there is limited mileage in this material. I thought as much as Hoffman and Jonsson try to make it work, some of the dialogue is verging on schmaltz and there were several occasions where I rolled my eyes at the cheesiness of it all. Overall, ‘The Long Walk’ is an entertaining movie that makes a decent fist of a fairly thin premise, and it’s worth checking out if you’re after a bit of dystopian escapism from our current reality.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Joshua Odjick, Judy Greer and Mark Hamill

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt10374610/