I watched The Long Walk after hearing my coworkers talk about it. I knew the premise of the movie coming in so I wasn’t surprised to see what happens after someone stops walking. Basically, the movie is based in the US and the general population is not doing well financially. For some reason, the society came up with a challenge where 50 men, one from each state, walk until they cannot walk any longer. The winner gets one wish from the organizer and a lot of money.
I thought the two main characters were cast well. They had a great camaraderie, got along with the other people in the challenge, and were trying to help people. They were also realistic in the sense that they dealt with hardships and wanted to use the challenge to fix things in their lives or fix things in other peoples lives. There were some odd characters in the rest of the group, but I think that there are a lot of odd people in the world and this is an odd situation. Even though this challenge is voluntary, they mentioned in the movie that everyone they know volunteers. I guess it is because the prize is so attractive, but I think the cost of losing is also pretty devastating. Maybe it is worth it in this society. It was a bit gross to see people have to pee and poop while walking because people are not allowed to stop walking in this challenge.
In general, I thought the movie was good. I didn’t like the ending since I thought the winner was going to wish for something else. After reading some reviews and commentary online, I think it made sense. It seems like the movie ending is different than the book ending. It is possible that the book ending would have been even less satisfying for me.
Jeffrey's Thoughts 