Made it to "The Long Walk" over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. This is the adaptation of one of King's Bachman Books, and it's every bit as dark and grim as the source material. They did take liberties, as you have to when adapting long form fiction to the screen, but they remained remarkably faithful to the source, save some fiddling about with the ending and the setting, and having to create a plethora of composite characters when they reduced the group of walkers from 100 to 50. The book is set in a loosely defined, dystopian near future while the film is set seemingly in a loosely defined alternate history dystopian mid 60's. The book was more allegorical of today's America than any book written nearly fifty years ago has a right to be, but the film is clearly an allegory of Trump's America. Despite being a grim tale, it's also a noble tale, with underpinnings of friendship and moments of levity, and it's the moments that matter.
As a stand alone film, I'd give it four of five stars, and three-and-a-half as an adaptation. It's one of just four King adaptations that have been done well by Hollywood* and the upcoming remake of "The Running Man" looks to leave that number firmly at four.
*There are a good number of King adaptions that have been well received, and well made, stand alone movies, but were still terrible adaptations. "Cujo," "Carrie," and "Christine" leap immediately to mind (and Cathy Bates' depiction of Annie Wilkes in Misery was genius, even if the film sucked). But, When I go to see a film based on a book, I'm looking to see an accurate adaptation, not the screen writer's or director's vision of a beloved tale.
As a stand alone film, I'd give it four of five stars, and three-and-a-half as an adaptation. It's one of just four King adaptations that have been done well by Hollywood* and the upcoming remake of "The Running Man" looks to leave that number firmly at four.
*There are a good number of King adaptions that have been well received, and well made, stand alone movies, but were still terrible adaptations. "Cujo," "Carrie," and "Christine" leap immediately to mind (and Cathy Bates' depiction of Annie Wilkes in Misery was genius, even if the film sucked). But, When I go to see a film based on a book, I'm looking to see an accurate adaptation, not the screen writer's or director's vision of a beloved tale.
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