This afternoon I went and saw the movie “The Long Walk” which is based on a book of the same name by Stephen King.

The movie takes place in a dystopian alternate America where a war took place, and the country is rebuilding. As part of the rebuilding efforts and in an attempt to get the populace back to work, the government offers its people the chance to put themselves, if they are under a certain age and male, into a lottery to join a death game called “The Long Walk.” In this year’s Long Walk, a group of four young men form a deep friendship and survive the walk together until the end. Will they best the treacherous asphalt, or will they all fall to the Major’s bullets?

This movie follows Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty from the moment he is dropped off by his mother at the starting line until the end of the game. He is pushed to his limits and beyond by the 300+ mile trek he makes alongside a band of other contestants who call themselves the Musketeers. This group includes Peter Jonsson as Peter McVries, Ben Wang as Hank Olsen, and Tut Nyuot as Arthur Baker. These four young men, joined by 46 other boys, one from each of the states around the country, are tasked with walking until there is only one of them left. They do just that. There is horror, suspense, thrill, and adventure as the walk unfolds across the 108-minute runtime.

The Mastermind of the game, “The Major”, is played very menacingly by Mark Hamill, of Star Wars and DC fame. The Major has had a run-in with two of the boys’ families in the past, namely, our main character, Raymond’s father, was shot and killed by the Major himself when Raymond was just a boy. This lends to the main character’s motivation of Raymond.

The Long Walk, in the universe of the movie, has been going on for many years and is seen as mundane and even entertaining by many of the residents of this dystopian America. Each year when the last boy is found standing, he is given one wish and a massive cash prize. It is with this wish that Raymond hopes do something that will lead to the downfall of this Major’s regime and stop the games for good, despite it being clearly stated in the rules that the wish cannot be used to directly change any of the State’s standing legal policy.

How many of the musketeers make it to the end? What is Raymond’s wish? Who will go the furthest and last the longest? Find out in “The Long Walk.”

I would definitely recommend this movie for any Stephen King fan or fans of good, thrilling action movies. There is a lot of language, and so if that bothers you, maybe stay away. If it had not been for the language, this movie would have been given a higher score, but as it stands now, this movie is a:

8.5/10