Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

The Long Walk 

This film is my favourite Stephen King to screen Adaptation! Now I know that is a bold statement to make with films like Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, IT chapter one and I love all of those films hell even the Life Of Chuck was solid but what The Long Walk achieves so well is its ability to build amazing character development in a setting that for most would make it very dull and or boring but Francis Lawrence is able to infuse this blue knuckled terrifying atmosphere with just a long stretch of road and multiple characters and he builds upon it in a truly engaging way that keeps you wrapped up in each moment of the film and has you utterly terrified for the outcome of these characters. The Long Walk showcases great performances from the cast but the standout performances are Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson who both give sensational performances that will bring tears streaming down your face. The Long Walk is brutal, amazingly well acted and a film that will stay with you long after it is over. 

Firstly, This film has phenomenal pacing and the depths of emotion that are explored within the characters is tremendous. Now as I mentioned this film takes place all while their walking miles and miles to see who lasts the longest so the entire runtime is watching a bunch of young men walking on a road and they were able to find a way into the story to make that look and become thrilling. Not only is it a film that keeps you constantly on edge but it also explores the minds of these young men as all they have is each other on this long challenge ahead of them. Now the film delves into many of the secondary characters and not just the main ones which I appreciated as none of the characters in the entire story felt like throwaway characters whatsoever they all serve the plot in a way that is important and their arcs and meaning to the narrative all matter. They may not have as much screen time but enough that if they ever come into peril you are scared to see what may happen to them the ability to make the audience invested into each character was so smartly done. The two leads though are brought excellently to the screen by Cooper Hoffman and David Johnsson who both deal with their fair share of emotional baggage and the approach it took to unpacking what they individually go through to make us closer to them and seeing them bond and become in a way like brothers by the midpoint of the film was so moving. Because all of these men are in this pyshcially exhausting exercise that tests their limits and they all can bond over this that no one else can relate to and it makes them close very quickly due to the circumstances they find themselves in. The film discusses themes of Death, Family, Love and trying to be better then the life you had before starting this challenge and wanting to leave a positive impact if you become financially better off then some others. The way the creative team tackles all of this was so greatly done as it is not a horror film by any means but it is for sure shown through a lens of a dystopian future and the way the characters all interact with one another and discuss their thoughts on life and deep rooted topics seemed so organic and natural. It is able to discuss deep thought provoking discussions that will spark conversation and also be an edge of your seat thrilling film that has you guessing the whole time how the film is going to turn out. The way that it ebbs and flows through the violence and the smaller more intimate moments was greatly presented as the violence is shown in all the ugliness and brutality of it as they don’t want the audience to feel sheltered from it but to see up close how uncomfortable the situation is for these young men while also showing the mental toll it takes on them. The way the themes are explored and how well fleshed out the arcs of each character was done is masterfully executed by the creative team involved. 

Secondly, The performances from everyone in the cast is tremendous the standouts that really left an impression on me though was it’s two leads Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson. Cooper Hoffman gives a performance of emotional intensity that is brought on from emotional hurt in his past and you can see the bubbling frustration from him crack through his heart as the plot progresses. Hoffman is still a rising name and here he gives what I think his best onscreen work as of now and I cannot wait to see what he does going forward his chemistry with David is also incredible. Then you have David Jonsson who steals the film for me in terms of performance as he at first glance seems like this laid back guy who wants to enjoy this challenge while also being the one to relieve the tension but as the film goes on we see he has a terribly painful past full of trauma and the sheer amount of depth that David digs into with this character was amazing. He brings a subtle emotional depth that just leaves a huge impression on you and again David Jonsson blew me away with his work on this film. Everyone else in the cast are all solid but it is the two of its two main leads that will break your heart. 

Lastly, The Long Walk is the greatest Stephen King adaptation I have seen so far as the way Francis Lawrence made this film was greatly done. He never veers away from the brutality of it but faces it head on to show the ugliness of the situation and gets the audience to feel so attached to these characters through the amazing actors he cast to play them and all of which give solid performances. The film keeps you on your toes and also discusses things that will spark conversation between people The Long Walk is a masterful film that may just be the very best Stephen King adaption ever made and will go down as one of the years best pictures. 

This film centres around a bunch of young man with the challenge to walk as long as they can and whoever last the longest gets a huge prize of millions of dollars

Rated R : Pervasive Language|Grisly Images|Sexual References|Strong Bloody Violence|Suicide

Cooper Hoffman : Cooper delivers a sensational turn in this film that broke my heart! Now Cooper Hoffman has been slowly carving a name for himself within the industry in the last couple of years from his work in Paul Thomas Anderson films to the role he had in Saturday Night to now this and a lot of people are holding him up to the impossible standard of his dads shadow he now lives in which is no easy task. He plays the role of Ray who has been himself in this contest due to what he says is for his mother and himself to help them be better off but as the plot progresses we learn his real intentions of why he is their is far more personal and linked to the challenge then he lets on at first. Cooper is able to show this slow anger and frustration due to the brutality of what is going on around him start slowly affecting him more and more as the time goes by. He shows the sheer anxiety and stress that washes over his face as we see people getting knocked off as at first he is so hopeful but that light slowly becomes more and more faded as we see the mental and psychical toll it takes not just on his body but his heart. Cooper feels each line he delivers with such raw authentic emotional realness that hits you in the centre of your chest. Cooper brings ray to life with such emotional grit but we see he also has a tender heart as he thinks more with his feelings and not his head which is what gets him in trouble a good few times but I loved that though as he is not a one note character Cooper is able to explore the depths of this man’s heart and why he is here to start with. We see under the surface he is a person aching to have unfinished business be dealt with and we see to a degree how it has consumed him. Hoffman gives what I think is his most emotionally nuanced performance yet that shows so many sides of him we have yet o see him tap into before and it is for sure one of his strongest performances of his career and if this is just the beginning of his career I am so excited to see what lies ahead for him. You can see the ways he is trying to lift peoples spirits by the beginning and by the end he is just so done with it and seeing that light in his eyes slowly dim is just greatly captured by him and the way he brings this character to the screen is utterly heartbreaking and so so brilliant Cooper Hoffman delivers a truly tremendous performance that is among his best. 

David Jonsson : David gives one of the best performances of the year with his turn in the Long Walk! Now this actor I have been keeping an eye on since Rye Layne in 2023 and seeing him pop up in Alien Romulus and now with the Long Walk he has become one of my favourite actors working today! He has such a dominating charismatic screen presence that just oozes leading man quality. David plays this man named Pete who is more closed off then Ray is and their is something about how he carries himself that just makes him so intriguing as since Ray wears his heart on his sleeve he is more someone to just not talk about his past even though he wants to know more about Ray he is not great at revealing things of himself. We can see that he is aching to open up to someone but his faith in people has gone down to many years of being nothing but hurt by people he put his trust into but as we see he is sharing in a very intimate experience with Ray that many cannot relate too so he feels their is a sense of comfort in confiding in him emotionally which you can tell he does not do often. He has this laid back approach to talking to people as tensions are high but he tries to keep people’s anxieties at bay with helping in ways that he can to relive the thick tension going around them. But as the nights go on and it gets harder for him to stay hopeful he remains positive and when people are all grim around him he tries to find the beauty in such a dire situation. David Johnsson is a revelation in this film as he Also shares how he comes from a tough upbringing as well but does not want his hardships to define who he becomes going forward and the way he expresses his feelings about who he is touched me and is so moving. David lives and breaths this role to life with such emotional sincerity You can see in his eyes the pain and hurt he has gone through and how emotionally hesitant he is to open himself up to new people as he does not want to experience that pain all over again. David Jonsson is phenomenal in this film and for me was the scene stealer in terms of performance as he peels so many parts of this character back and revels his heart and the way he goes about showing it onscreen was just outstanding you can feel every ounce of emotion in either his eyes or through his line delivery he is fully deconstructing this character so the audience can get a full scope of who this guy is and by the end of the film you just want to hug him. David Johnsson delivers a performance that will rattle you to your core and is one of my favourite performances of the year he is truly tremendous. 

Frances Lawrence : This filmmaker did such a great job with The Long Walk now I have seen two films prior to seeing this film that this director has done which was Red Sparrow and the second instalment of the Hunger Games catching fire. I had not seen much from him in quite sometime so to see him take on a Stephen King adaptation really made me excited to see how he would tackle that. Now what I like with how he brought this beloved book to the screen was by not shying away from the ugliness of the situation what I mean is that when you see the young men get shot the camera never looks away to shield the audience from that moment of terrible violence it is close up and shown in all of its terrible nature so the viewer directly feels the uncomfortable nature that these people are going through. The film does not make the blood and violence seem cool or stylistic by any means but it is quick and brutal at times and the way that it is presented has you in shock. Then the way he takes on the character growth of these characters was amazingly well handled as the setting is not much it is just a stretch of road and somehow you have to make that entertaining and Francis Lawrence captured this sense of brotherhood and togetherness in how these men would rely on each other to stay alive for as long as they could. He gets amazing performances from each of his actors and he crafted this believable bond between them all that had you invested into what would happen to them. The deep themes of not letting your past trauma define your future self, knowing it is okay to open up to others in order to heal parts of you is beautifully discussed in this film and the way the conversations flowed about so many real world things was great as Francis was able to capture this sense of togetherness as I mentioned all the while their is this really tense situation going on and we have no idea who could be knocked off next but because he set up the characters so well and got us so invested into them when you see one of them go it makes it that more painful. Frances Lawrence did a amazing job at bringing this adaptation to the big screen as he explores so many great themes and also was able to make something that many would of struggled to be entertaining and turned it into a pulse pounding film that has paranoia and the sense of you not knowing what would come next he wove this story greatly onscreen to keep the audiences locked in the whole way through. I do think this is one of his strongest directed films that he has crafted and I would love to see him tackle another Stephen King adaptation as he has proven he can capture the tone and heart of what is required to successfully adapt one of his works overall Frances did a terrific job.