Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

We got a second trailer for The Long Walk at SDCC this week. Here’s what Alasdair Stuart spotted in the upcoming Stephen King adaptation…

0.02 – ‘All for one!’

David Jonsson is one of those actors I’ll show up for any time, because he’s incredible. If you’ve not seen Alien: Romulus, or Rye Lane, honestly double bill them. The first is arguably the first truly great Alien movie since the David Fincher cut of Alien³ and the second is the best romcom made so far this century in the West. He, and all four of these guys, are going to break our hearts.

0.32 – ‘and if you’re lucky you get to choose how you spend those last moments.’

Too tired to think, too terrified to act. Either spending the last few seconds of your life hiding inside the soap bubble stability of tying a shoelace or committing suicide by just deciding to stop, defiantly shutting the world out even as the world kills you. This one’s going to get rough.

0.45 – Sight lines and straight lines

It took me to here to notice how the movie is shot. We’re almost always either low, with the boys in shot and the endless road behind them or emphasizing just how tiny they are in the landscape.

1.08 – Shattered America

And once you notice that, you notice the dead animals and the empty fields. The wrecks of vehicles and people. Again, low angles, long shots. No one gets to look away from this one.

1.31 – ‘ I don’t have much to lose but I have everything to gain and that’s why I’m here.’

Jonsson once again, as Pete McVries reveals why he’s doing this. It’s a starkly honest moment and it sets up an interesting dichotomy between the two leads, based on how much they’ve got in common.

1.50 – Mom

This is a stark reminder these boys are walking across America and it makes sense that they’d eventually go through their home towns. This looks like Ray (Cooper Hoffman) getting a brief moment with his Mom. it also looks like Mom is guilt ridden he’s taking the walk.

2.15 ‘You boys are the answer. The long walk is the answer.’

What a line to close on. How? How is this group of young men volunteering to kill themselves for a pay day they don’t even know they’ll get the answer? Or is it just a means of forgetting about your own suffering by looking at someone else’s?

The Long Walk releases on 12th September