The Long Walk Is a Long Slog

In adapting Stephen King’s 1979 novel, The Long Walk, originally published under a pseudonym, the filmmakers made the bold decision to stick relentlessly to the walk itself. The walk is an annual televised public spectacle in an impoverished, bankrupt America following an economically ruinous war. It involves fifty young male contestants who trudge on, hour after hour without a break, with the last one standing declared the winner. He’s given immense wealth as well as one additional wish.