The Long Walk by Stephen King And It’s Movie Adaptation That Sucked The Life Out Of Me, Sorry.
I’m not here to tell you not to watch The Long Walk, and I’m certainly not here to tell you not to read The Long Walk, but I am here to tell you about the story I devoured like an addict, and the disappointment I experienced soon after.
The Long Walk, an epic story
Stephen King was just a teenager when he conceptualised and began the chilling story, but it wasn’t published until 1979. It’s a very impressive vision for an 18 or 19 year old to have, albeit potentially disturbing and a calling for therapy. Nevertheless, I think King did a fantastic job.
It’s not easy to create a gripping story out of the concept at hand.
The About
Set in a dystopian version of America, 100 boys volunteer for a near impossible journey. They must walk, never falling below 4 miles per hour, not to sleep, eat, pee or shit. If they do, they get a warning; if they get three warnings, they get a ticket. A ticket being death, of course.
You follow the narrative of Ray Garraty, a sixteen year old boy from Maine. No one forced him to enter this competition, every boy entered under his own ‘sane’ mind.
The only way to stop walking is if you are the last walker standing. Then you have won, and you can have anything you want for the rest of your life. The odd’s are, most certainly, not in your favour.
This story, about 100 boys who must walk along a set path, through days and through nights, quickly becomes a story less so about a physical walk, and more about the crumbling psyche of these 100 boys.
The Long Walk is a story about desperation, insanity, exhausting, deterioration, and loss of humanity. It’s a book you read holding your breath. I consumed this story like an addict, and felt haunted by it as I tried to sleep after hours of reading.
It truly is a master piece. Only King could turn a concept so simple into a pillar of the horror/ dystopian fandom.
This book gets a 5 out of 5. A 6 out of 5. I couldn’t look away, even when I wanted to.
The movie, on the other hand
The movie- directed by Francis Lawrence- was far from this, and not in the way that the movies never quite live up to the books. It was simple, it was gory for gory sake, and it took the concept of The Long Walk in the most literal way possible.
Slight changes were made from the book to the movie, the minimum speed of 4 miles per hour was switched to 3 miles per hour. 100 boys became 50 boys. And the ending was entirely changed. The first two changes felt unnecessary, however the last change I can understand in the way of keeping things exciting for those who already knew the ending.
In the movie the boys walked, and walked, but not much else. By the end, 5 days later, they had a little sweat, a little exhaustion, a little attitude, but full voices and humanity still, very much, intact. You would have thought they had been walking for a mere 5 hours, not 5 days.
By the end, the boys should have been insane sleep walkers, whispering throaty, non sensical words, crawling, bleeding, slithering. But not marching, not talking, not sane.
For the first time in my life I wanted to be a movie director and do this story the justice it deserved.
I give this movie a 0 out of 5.
The book ending
The ending was marvellous and encompassed the raw insanity the walkers must have experienced. Garraty no longer understands the world around him, nothing can be certain, and nothing exists outside of him and the walk he has embarked upon. Even when he is the last man left, no longer a boy for a boy cannot have survived the brutal ordeal the walkers were unable to back out of.
He has won, the last walker has been shot. But he cannot understand. He is so far shrivelled inside of his own deteriorated psyche that he is miles away from the voices that are telling him to stop. And when the major puts his hand on his frail skeleton, he somehow finds it within himself to run.
And so the story ends: beautiful, chilling and haunting. A story of psychological demise.
The movie ending
The movie switched this up, perhaps to surprise those who were already a fan of the story. Garraty and Peter McVries are the last two contenders, and in a morally satisfying finish, McVries is the last man walking.
I found this a satisfying conclusion, as it had been McVries who had aided and coached the protagonist along the long walk. He was also one of the few movie character’s I had grown to care for.
Once Garraty sacrifices himself for his friend, in the only meaningful moment of brotherhood across the whole film, McVries is naturally crowned the winner. His winning wish- a gun to shoot the major.
Conclusion
The book was brilliant, clever and captivated the chilling demise as man became desperate, instinctive, animal.
The book gets 5 stars.
The movie disappointed me in every way imaginable. I felt as though the minds behind it only understood the story at it’s most surface of levels.
Because of this, the movie gets 0 stars.
What were your thoughts๏ผ
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