"The Long Walk" - Review

In another, similar time, in another, similar place: 50 boys sign up for "The Long Walk". An arduous march across America, where the last one standing receives any prize they desire: all televised for the country, inspiring them to greater productivity with this display of strength, endurance and hope! Of course, like any fair contest, there are rules: do not drop below a certain number of paces, do not deviate from the path, and if you violate again after 3 warnings? You punch your ticket. Entering the contest is Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman), who has his eyes on the prize. He walks, walks and walks, meeting the other walkers, learning their stories, but never taking his eyes off the prize, no matter what happens...

(Photo Credit: Polygon. Apologies for not doing this for so long, my brain is all over the shop)
I read the novel (written in 1979, Jesus H Christ...) by Stephen King years ago, and it imagery and characters still remain jammed in my mind (I think most nerds got through his backlog as teenagers) all these years later. I was pleased and pleasantly surprised to see that this is effectively almost verbatim the book, and most enjoyable at that since I don't even find the book the strongest of the Bachman works, let alone King's ouvre.
A resonant, rich character piece, with the stark horror (hah, that's a Bachman pun...) and a fine script by JT Mollner. We get to know these walkers, their lives, peppered across some excellent visual storytelling by Francis Lawrence (burnt out cars across the desolate landscape, mentions of "the great war", a very retro setting making the time period ambiguous) which I really respect. Standout performers are Ben Wang as Olson (the shit-talking Bronx kid doing an excellent John Magaro in "Overlord" impression), Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch (the antagonistic unhinged dickbag) and particularly, getting much rightful praise once again, David Jonsson as McVries. It tackles how we approach death, resistance in all of its forms, solace and hope in the face of adversity, and moves across the emotional spectrum pretty fluidly. It's excellent stuff, a pleasant (if grim and dystopian) surprise with an excellent anti-fascist bent and a delightful scenery-devouring Mark Hamill.