Long Walk (2025) 84 points
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Directed by Francis Lawrence
Country of manufacture: USA
Genre: Horror
Duration: 108 minutes
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The 12th theater appreciation in 2026.
Although it is the latest work based on the original work of Stephen King, the king of horror, this "Long Walk" itself seems to have been written in the 1970s under the title "Long Walk of Death." It is a simple but very harsh death game in which 50 men keep walking on the road until the last one. It is said that Stephen King can make such a setting that most people are interested, but among fans, it seems that it was also a big mystery that this debut work was not made into a movie for nearly half a century.
The synopsis is omitted. Young men who volunteered for the "Long Walk" rule mentioned above gather and keep walking on the road. You must not go below 4.8 km / h, and you will be warned if you fall below or stop. If this accumulates three times, you will be shot in the head. This warning number will be one after an hour, but in any case it is too harsh rule. Of course, eating and drinking is done while walking, and excretion, which is the biggest problem, will be counted unless you walk. Sure enough, there is one challenger who has diarrhea, and we are shown a tremendous depiction. It is so real that even the video seems to have a bad smell. How do men act in this situation where even retying their shoelaces takes their lives?
If this work was just about men's greed being exposed and violent under this setting, I don't think it would have been so highly evaluated. Of course, there is no doubt that I ran into the theater because I was interested in seeing this setting in the synopsis, but the drama of the men on the way made me think about various things, and as a result I felt it was a very good work.
This is an unreasonable game, but I thought that it refers to life itself. If you stop, you will fall into a crisis, and if you make a slight mistake, death will come close, you can feel something close to an unexpected accident in life. And, of course, men who have been walking for a long time will become weaker, but there are also men who stop walking on their own, as if they have decided something there. I feel that it was similar to the feeling that those who have enjoyed life so far will eventually die of old age.
Perhaps it seems to be a low budget, and even though it is a simple movie with a simple setting of walking for 100 minutes, it is worth seeing. Even though the men walk earnestly, they talk about their lives, and unexpectedly, friendship grows between the participants. There were even those who continued to fail in their lives and realized the joy of living in this game. Strangely, the last part became a little teary. Even with such a human touch, only one person can survive. It is sad. Anyway, I'm glad that this film is not a hopeless film that breaks the emotions of men deceiving and killing each other.
There are places where it is a little biologically impossible to sleep while walking, and there may be people who are worried about that, but personally it is generally good. Apparently Battle Royale seems to have got the idea from here. Stephen King, the king of horror after all. It seems that it was simple but attracted a lot of people from the debut time.
『ロングウォーク』は、ただ単に恐怖を煽るホラー映画ではなく、人間の本質や人生の儚さを鋭く描いた作品だと思います。実際に鑑賞して感じたのは、長時間のひたすらの徒歩という極限状態が、参加者の心身をじわじわと追い詰めると同時に、本音や友情が露わになる点が非常にリアルで胸に響きました。特にデスゲームという過酷な環境の中でも、お互いを思いやり助け合おうとする場面は、現代社会での人間関係の希薄さを見つめ直すきっかけにもなりました。歩き続けなければ生きていけないというルールは、実は人生そのものを象徴していて、止まったり諦めたりすればすぐに終わってしまう厳しさが共感を呼びます。さらに、歩き続けながらの排泄や飲食のリアル描写は、生命の基本的な営みと極限状況のギャップを強調し、観る側に 強烈な印象を残します。映画の低予算感はむしろ作品の緊迫感を高めていますし、シンプルだからこそ登場人物一人ひとりの内面が丁寧に掘り下げられているように感じられました。スティーブン・キング作品の中でも異色ですが、そのデビュー作が長らく映画化されなかった理由も納得です。『ロングウォーク』はデスゲームファンはもちろん、深い人間ドラマを求める映画ファンにもぜひお勧めしたい作品です。