Nerdly » ‘The Long Walk’ Review

17th Feb2022

‘The Long Walk’ Review

by Alain Elliott

Stars: Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Noutnapha Soydara, Vilouna Phetmany, Chansamone Inoudom, Por Silatsa | Written by Christopher Larsen | Directed by Mattie Do

When you think of a time travel sci-fi movie that blends a dark sense of horror throughout, The Long Walk is not what you would think of but that is exactly what it is.

I say the above because when people think of sci-fi they automatically think of this futuristic, often space-orientated world but other than people paying for things via chips under their skin, you wouldn’t realise this was set in some sort of alternate future universe. And the horror isn’t exactly the type to make you jump or gross you out (although there are a couple of close-up injury moments that kind of do that job) but it does feature ‘ghosts’ that fill that supernatural element.

The Long Walk is beautifully shot, making the best of its location and always looks great. Director Mattie Do may be best known to genre fans for writing an episode of the new Creepshow series but based on this outing she will soon be getting plaudits for her directing too.

It’s a slightly complicated story if you’re not paying attention as we see an old Loatian hermit discover that the ghost of a road accident victim can transport him back fifty years to the moment of his mother’s painful death.

Seeing that story unfold is when The Long Walk is at its most interesting. This is a slow-paced movie that doesn’t really have that big ending that many similar films build up to. You do get a satisfying conclusion but this was never going to have that big drama.

I was surprised to see Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy has very little experience in film as he plays the lead character simply called ‘The Old Man’. He definitely has that presence on screen that not everyone has, saying very little but always very watchable. This is a quiet movie on the whole with not too much in the way of dialogue through large parts of it. This perhaps makes the performances and the script even better because everything still comes across well.

The score is similarly strong and although quiet is probably the most terrifying part of the movie. It’s often creepy and helps remind the audience that these are ghosts on screen and that these characters are going through or have gone through terrible things.

This is not perfect though. I didn’t really feel the emotion I probably should have by the end, the film didn’t draw me in quite that much. The slow pace might be The Long Walk’s biggest problem though. It always had me intrigued, I always wanted to know where it was going but it sometimes feels like it never really gets going and some viewers might not be quite so hooked. This would be a shame though because sci-fi in particular needs fresh and original ideas like this one. You won’t have seen any time travel movie quite like this and for me, that can only be a good thing.