“The Long Walk” Comes Home on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital
In a year of many Stephen King stories lighting up the silver screen, Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk stands tall as the finest example of what an adaptation can be. Based on King’s 1979 book of the same name (originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman), Lawrence’s film is the first time The Long Walk has been given the big screen treatment. Now, The Long Walk comes home on Blu-Ray, DVD, Digital, and an Amazon exclusive 4K UHD SteelBook from Lionsgate.
courtesy of Lionsgate
Set in a dystopian world, The Long Walk is centered around a yearly event where fifty boys, one from each state, come together to participate in The Walk. It’s an endurance test, both mentally and physically, where the boys start walking and don’t stop until only one is left standing. Along the way, they must maintain a pace of three miles per hour and they cannot step off the path. Three time infractions or one step off the route means death. The Long Walk begins by introducing the audience to Ray (Cooper Hoffman). His mother (Judy Greer) is distraught by his decision, but it’s clear he has something to prove, or revenge he wants to seek, by participating in The Walk. While on the road, he quickly befriends Pete (David Jonsson). Their bond grows, but in the back of their minds is the realization that only one person can win.
courtesy of Lionsgate
Beyond Hoffman and Jonsson, the list of the main cast of boys in The Walk reads like a who’s-who of young Hollywood talent. Charlie Plummer was astounding in last year’s National Anthem and will next be seen in the Rob Lowe- and Keith David-led My New Friend Jim. Ben Wang will reunite with director Francis Lawrence in the highly-anticipated The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Joshua Odjick is currently starring in another King adaptation on HBO with IT: Welcome to Derry, and Tut Nyuot will be in the upcoming Stephen Graham-led Animol. The Long Walk is going to be one of those movies people will look back on in fifteen or twenty years and be shocked at this powerhouse group of actors working together. Also, not to be forgotten, Mark Hamill is the Major in his most foreboding, unsettling performance to date.
The Long Walk is bleak, but it’s also an incredibly compelling film that speaks to our current state of affairs. Even though it’s a different world than our own, it feels eerily familiar and makes you wonder how far we are from starting a Walk of our own. In the special features of the release, the cast and crew discuss the deliberate nature of the production design. Plummer describes the uncanny feeling, saying, “The horror of it is that it feels very close to home.” The Long Walk doesn’t explain how the film’s society became this way, and that makes the ambiguity all the more worrisome. A featurette on the film’s costumes discusses the uncertain setting and mentions Stand By Me and The Outsiders as touchpoints for the beginning of the costume process. The featurette also mentions that Lawrence’s concept for the clothing was a mix of 1960s culture and the makeshift clothes of the Dust Bowl. Over the course of the film, the boys who make it to the end have eight stages of clothing and hair design. Each stage shows the toll The Walk takes on them, so that they become almost unrecognizable by the end.
One of the most interesting offerings of the special features section is the Alternate Ending. It’s exclusive to the 4K UHD SteelBook release and gives audiences another possible way the story of these boys ends. Both the original and alternate endings are different from King’s ending in the novel, so viewers and readers can decide which is their favorite.
“They both are looking for the brother they never had.” As heavy as The Long Walk is, what remains after the film ends is the brotherly camaraderie that emerges among the boys. They’re all teenagers who have been born into a broken world and have been taught to believe that The Walk is their way out. One of the finest adaptations of King’s work, The Long Walk is a necessary addition to your collection.
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