September 8, 2025 • 20 mins
Ronald Young Jr. reviews The Long Walk with Deondre Jones…
RYJ and Deondre wonder if walking and talking makes for a good film
DJ - 2.2 of 5 stars
YJ - 2.5 of 5 stars
Follow me on IG, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and Letterbxd - @ohitsbigron
Follow Deondre Jones on IG and Bluesky
Check out his podcast I’m the Villain
Available in theaters
Starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Joshua Odjick, Tut Nyuout, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill
Written by JT Mollner
Directed by Francis Lawrence
For more information about The Long Walk check out this link
Support Leaving the Theater on Patreon using this link
RYJ and Deondre wonder if walking and talking makes for a good film
DJ - 2.2 of 5 stars
YJ - 2.5 of 5 stars
Follow me on IG, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and Letterbxd - @ohitsbigron
Follow Deondre Jones on IG and Bluesky
Check out his podcast I’m the Villain
Available in theaters
Starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Joshua Odjick, Tut Nyuout, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill
Written by JT Mollner
Directed by Francis Lawrence
For more information about The Long Walk check out this link
Support Leaving the Theater on Patreon using this link
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In the dystopian future, the authoritarian United States government boosts
morale through a sport of sorts. One young man is
selected as a representative from each of the fifty states
to compete. The winner is determined by being the sole
survivor of The Long Walk. I'm Ronald Young Junior, and
(00:23):
I'm leaving the theater.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
This is Ronald, and I am leaving the theater after seeing.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
The Long Walk. The Long Walk written by JT.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Malner, directed by Francis Lawrence, starring Cooper Hoffman, David Johnson,
Garrett Waring, Joshua Ojik, tutn Out, Charlie Plumber, Ben Wang,
Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
And as usual.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
For a complete cast listing, you can go to the
link in our show notes. I am not here alone.
I am here with second time, leaving the theater guest.
He has not been with us since the spring. He
skipped the summer. He's welcoming you right in the fall.
I'm here with DeAndre Jones, Dion the Mare. Jones Mare
(02:03):
is insane.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I didn't have anything.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
The Long Walk is a movie film adaptation of a
book written by Stephen King. It was his first book
that he wrote, although not the first one that he published.
The first one he published obviously as Carrie for those
that follow he also published this book under his name
Richard Bachman, which acter I fell into a rabbit hole
over why he had the pen name Richard Bachman. It
(02:28):
was because he was trying to see if, given the
worst circumstances possible ie not doing any promotion on books
and also writing as many titles as possible, would he
do worse as Richard Bachman or Stephen King, even though
at the time he already had a lot of notoriety
as Stephen King. But he revealed himself to be Richard
(02:48):
Bachman too soon, because as soon as if he found
everyone found out he was Richard Bachman, his sales for
all the Richard Bachman books all went up.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So a little bit of trivia to start off with.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Sure. So The Long Walk is about a dystopian future
in which a group of young men, one from every state,
one from all fifty states, are told that they have
to walk essentially until one of them remains. Essentially, they
all have to walk until one of the until all
forty nine others drop, and if you win, you get
untold wishes and one I'm sorry you get untold money
(03:18):
and one wish. That is the premise of the movie.
DeAndre Jones, What did you think of this film?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I think that it should have stayed a book.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I like, when you have time to think, that's a
very good start.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think it should have stayed as a book. And
my reason for that is I think a lot of
things that would fly in a book don't fly in
a movie. And the things that come into my mind
right now are like like flat characters I think fly
(03:56):
a little better in a book than in a movie.
I don't know, a kind of like hollow plot line.
I call it hollow motivation. This movie, for me, it
feels like it was relying a lot on the drama
of what is happening on screen, literally in front of you,
to justify its entire existence, which I guess maybe a
(04:19):
lot of films do. But it feels different because this
film is also trying to make social commentary at the
same time. And when you mix that, like this is
a Hollywood horror thriller, blockbuster with lots of like gore
and drama, and but then you also want to make
the like the commentary on today's point of view. I
(04:41):
think there's a there's a there's a fine line that
you have to walk, and I don't think this movie
really walked it very well.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I think that is a wonderful articulation. I I agree
with everything you said, and I have my own list
of issues with this film. So this is this is
gonna be a good I can tell this is gonna
be a good episode.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think I think you nailed it.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I think I think we stuck around afterwards for a
bit of a movie discussion, which we won't get into
too deep here, but I will say I turned to
DeAndre As a guy picks up a microphone and says,
we're going to talk about the movie in the theater,
and I said, do you want to stay? And he
goes yes, And I remember thinking, oh no, you gotta understand.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I'm I'm not used to this press stuff, man, I'm
not used to the privileges that come with seeing a
movie before it comes out.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
And I didn't even know there was going to be
a discussion. I didn't either, and I've never stayed for one.
I'm glad I stayed for this one. And I think
right off the bat, my biggest issue is this is
another David Johnson movie and which I am seeing him
essentially be a magical Negro. The last film that he
was an alien Romulus, which is one of I really
(05:48):
liked that movie.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
But there is a large portion of the movie where
I was like.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Because you cast this dark skinned black character, I have
some questions about what his experience would be in this
universe that he's living in. Now, I will say, in
this film The Long Walk, there's lots of black people.
I mean like there's nameless faces of black folks in
the front that you don't like seeing anymore at some
point in the movie. But there's enough like that are
(06:12):
focused characters in the film that I felt like, Okay,
there's there's black folks here. What is the commentary going
to be about the race relations in a dystopian future?
And I can tell you that commentary was thin for me.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, I think that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
This is a perfect example of why maybe this thing
should have stayed just a book, because when I learned
this thing was written in the sixties, it so many
things clicked into place for me, like and that it's
like kind of Vietnam focused, and like Stephen King's a
white guy.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Obviously he's very liberal, but very white.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And and he you know, we heard in the post
film discussion that David Johnson David Johnson. We heard in
the post film discussion that David Johnson's character in the
book as a white man, and that already changes everything, right,
(07:05):
But then you look at obviously David Johnson's there, right,
and then they give.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Him this accent.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Almost unintelligible, almost unintelligible accent, as if like and he
is not the only black person in this film with
a crazy Southern accent, by the way, correct. I leaned
over to you at one point and saw this clearly
African actor doing a very deep South accent. I was
(07:33):
just like, oh, I don't I don't know if he
needed to be from the South. I don't know if
that was something that you needed, right. So it's like,
it's so weird because here's David Johnson.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
He's saying all these things about like positivity, happiness, you
gotta find the love and everything, brother in this weirdly
like Southern, like a literal accent that sounds like yes,
mass I love it, I love it massive, like very shucking, jivy,
very shucking and Jivy. Meanwhile, he's had this like his
character has this devastating backstory, why is he so positive?
(08:07):
Like what is going on? And when you think about it, like, oh,
this character is a white guy in the book, you
don't you lose the need for all that explanation, right, Like,
this is just a guy that's positive and like and
is loving. And I think that My guess is that, well,
you can't in today's climate, climate and in today's Hollywood,
(08:27):
you can't make a film with just all white folks.
And I think that's that's fine.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I think that's fine too.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think that's good to be clear. But when you
are making when you are taking a book like this
that was written at the time that it was and
making it into a film, and you know, clearly the
casting directors were like, Okay, it actually definitely shouldn't be
all white people. It's more compelling and more realistic if
there are people of all different races. But it seems
(08:52):
like they're thinking stop there, They're thinking stop that it
would be cool if there were people of other kinds
of the racism besides white in this film. They didn't
take a step further and be like, Okay, what does
that actually mean for the film's plot, the like, do
we have to do anything extra beyond just casting black folks?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I agree, And I also think that's my biggest problem
with The Handmaid's Tale and The Handmaid's Tale, especially in
the book. Margaret Atwood actually writes about what that black
people are completely separated from society in the books. In
the show, all of a sudden, we see black folks
that are commanders, and I'm like, there's no way in
the world and the dystopian future. And if anyone questions
(09:36):
me saying this, just look at what's happening right now
with black people, queer people, women in society right now.
When you give the wrong people the reins, there's a
disenfranchisement that happens. And I feel like it's difficult for
folks to imagine consequences when it comes to race. If
you are casting in a very specific way, you have
to start thinking about the stories that come with that.
(09:57):
But when you're I believe this white is white. I
looked it up. He looks white. He's at least white passing.
And I feel like maybe for him, the casting wasn't
as important as the story and the characters. But I'm like,
if you're not looking into the characters and their experiences,
then you're not actually doing a good characterization in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, and I mean this kind of I think dovetails
nicely into a conversation about the characters and their experiences
and like whether or not they're believable. And for me,
I feel like the characters fell flat because like it,
you know, the film is like, it's it's people walking, right,
that's not a spoiler.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
That's the whole film, the film walking and talking. The
film is, That's what they should have called it. The
film is walking and talking. All of the plot is
developed via walking and talking, and it's developed through the
lenses of these characters. But which I think is a
cool concept, to be clear, I like the concept, I agree,
But when but when the characters themselves actually don't have
(10:57):
more than like four things to say, the things quickly
fall apart right like and to me, these characters actually
just felt like caricatures of a certain type of person. Yeah,
I think there were character types. There were character archetypes
and or tropes more than they were actual characters. I
(11:20):
think on top of that, it got to the point
where I started to get desensitized to the deaths as
they happened, because there's only so many times you could
show different deaths in the same way, i e. Like
in the background fuzzy while people are focused on the
front like or right in front of your face or
right in front of your face.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Those were the two options you had.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
So I feel like, if the story you're going to
tell is about like these folks, you have to make
us care beyond tropes like there's you have to draw
me in in a way. And I think the pacing
of it that was kind of an issue for me,
because there was a way in which they got close
so quickly over a short amount of time, which.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
It didn't feel unbelievable to me.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It did feel like by the time they're already crying
and saying I got this man, Like, it felt like
that was pretty early into the film. So then later
on I'm just like, well, what do we have left?
If that was day one, what do we have left
for days two through five?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
This thing is tight, right, it's an hour forty eight. Yeah,
it's not long, so it's a tight thil and God
bless that it's not longer.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Thank God, to me, it did not feel like an
hour forty To be clear, it doesn't need to be
a longer one, but at the same time, it's a
short run time to flesh out this concept that you're
trying to pound home, which is what if we had
a movie where the plot is entirely built by people
talking to each other in this really awful situation and
(12:42):
to your point about how close they got so quickly,
there is like some aspect of it that's believable.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
It's like, look, this is all we got, you know,
all we have is each other right now. But at
the same time it did feel it felt unearned, and
especially when, like you know, it becomes clearly these people
are all gonna die, so again like this this idea
of the movie falling back on the drama of like
(13:10):
someone you care about dying and it's like, okay, but
how many times is this? Like is this all this
movie has to give?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
You know?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And it seems like the answers, yes.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yes, that's it. I think that's exactly true.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I will point out that this film was done by
Francis Lawrence, who's done the majority of the Hunger Games films.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
He's done Mocking Jay, one and two.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
He did Catching Fire, he did a ballad of songbirds
and snakes and the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping, So
he definitely has a certain perspective when it comes.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Comes to Dystopia.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
This pairs it down a little bit, smaller budget, smaller
everything when it comes to compared to like what a
blockbuster franchise like The Hunger Games has given you. So
I'm wondering how much his perspective, especially if Dystopia plays
into it.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
It's hard not to compare this film to The Hunger
Games because it feels the Hunger Games. Z. It makes
a lot of sense that you just told me that
this dude that worked on it worked on all the
Hunger Games stuff, and the concept is very Hunger Games.
And also The Hunger Games was a book before it
was a movie. And man, I gotta tell you, I
like the Hunger Games movies more because I think the
(14:15):
idea that you're gonna leave it as like this blank
slate for the viewer to project whatever authoritarian vibes they
want to project onto it, I think that just leaves
so much, so much room for holes. And it seems
like from the post film discussion that a lot of
people resonated with that. They were like, Wow, I really
liked that ambiguity. For me, didn't, it didn't work at all.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
With all of that being said, what is your rating
for this film one through five?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Three being?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I would watch it again and up from there you
go down if you don't ever want.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
To see it again.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
You know what's funny is I'm such a data guy.
I wish I could remember what I gave Mickey seventeen,
because I think I like this film more than I
like Mickey seventeen, but not a lot more. But I'm
just to rate from the heart and then maybe able'll
come out and post I would give this film two
(15:10):
point two.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
And I say that because the more I think about it,
the more hollow it feels. And I and it feels
like a waste of the acting talent, a little bit
like you gave these really good actors such one sided roles,
(15:35):
and it felt like, you know, if you're gonna have
a movie that relies so much on storytelling from the characters,
then you got to give them better scraps.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I agree. I think this is probably for me. It's
funny because I would watch it again. However, not quickly
and only if it happened to be on already, Like
I wouldn't go seek it out and be like, I
would not choose to watch this movie over something else.
So I feel like for me that changes the rewatchability
(16:07):
quottion quote shit here, because it's like if it's on, like,
oh yeah, I'll watch The Long Walk.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
But I would not choose it.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Therefore, it is below a three for me, and I'll
probably give it around a two point five, so I'm
only point three higher than you. I think the acting
I want to see more from both David Johnson and
Cooper Cooper Hoffman. I think Cooper Hoffman is doing something
different from his father, but he is still doing it
very well. Like his father was more of a like
(16:34):
a tried and true character actor turn leading man that
like really was good at embodying things in a very
specific way. And what I'm seeing Cooper Hoffman do is
just he I believed him as the character. I believed
him being tired, I believed when he was angry. He's
just a very like I feel, a good, serviceable Hollywood
(16:55):
actor and I'm excited to see what comes next for him.
Don't care about what Francis Lwrence does next. He's gonna
do another Hunger Games, and I don't care what this
writer is going to do. He needs to fix this movie.
It didn't work very well for me. Yeah, so for
me it's a two point five. Yeah, I mean shoutout
Tokoper Hofman.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
I agree with everything about what you said on his acting,
and like to be clear on my last comment, like
I think he did a great job. I think that
he didn't. He wasn't given much to work with. And
I wholly agree with you. I will, I will, I
will go see more Kooper Hoffman in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
You know, I here on leaving the theater.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I call that clocking in when I say that the
actors clocked in and did their job when you can't
do anything with a bad script. So with that, leaving
the theater is a production of Oh It's Big Ron Studios.
I mixed this episode and I'm so excited to tell you.
By the time you're listening to this, you probably already
noticed that the feed has changed a little bit, especially
(17:50):
if you are not a member of the Patreon, because
I have made an ad free feed for Patreon members,
meaning that you could still listen to the show. It
is not a paywall. You can still listen to the show.
There are ads now in the show. There's a pre roll,
there's a midroll, there's two mid rolls, and a post role.
You're still gonna hear those. But if you want to
hear the show without ads, you could join the Patreon
(18:11):
where you can also hear the show without ads, and
you can listen to my brand new podcast, I Don't
Like That with Ronald Young Junior, where all I do
is talk about things I don't like, which I am
just as passionate about the things that I hate as
I am about the things that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I love, which is on that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The obtur will be my first guest when we start
talking about the things that we don't like. I can't
wait for y'all to sign up become Patreon members. Remember
this is a labor of love, but it is labor.
And if you believe at supporting small businesses and independent journalism,
this is a journalism but independent media, you should become
(18:51):
a patron. Go to patreon dot com, slash leave in
the theater, or go to the link in our show notes.
Show art from Heather Wilder. Theme music by the mysterious
Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information about The Long Walk or
DeAndre Jones, check out our show notes. You can follow
me on Instagram, Blue Sky, TikTok, threads, or letterboxed at
Owitz Big Ground.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
That's at O h I T S b I g
R O N.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
You can find out more about this show on other
Ois Big Ground Studio shows by following us on Instagram
at Ow's Big Round Studios. Leaving the theater will be
back soon. Thanks for listening and thanks for being.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
On the show. Hey, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I have two comments off the bat for you for you,
just so you know, One it's still summer. And two
you just said Mark Hamilton.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Now I got to cut the two comments Mark, because
now I gotta go back and fix that, uh or
you can leave it in. I don't do that, and
so say your first comment again again. Well, my first
comment for you is that have one.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Comment for you. It's definitely going to the Bloomers.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Well, I have one comment for you to start off,
and that it's still summer. Thank you for clarifying. It's
almost like we did this twice. We'll just make the episode.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Who knows? All right? The long walk.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Don't ever correct me the long Okay, I gotta stop.
This is a lot of editing
In the dystopian future, the authoritarian United States government boosts
morale through a sport of sorts. One young man is
selected as a representative from each of the fifty states
to compete. The winner is determined by being the sole
survivor of The Long Walk. I'm Ronald Young Junior, and
(00:23):
I'm leaving the theater.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
This is Ronald, and I am leaving the theater after seeing.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
The Long Walk. The Long Walk written by JT.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Malner, directed by Francis Lawrence, starring Cooper Hoffman, David Johnson,
Garrett Waring, Joshua Ojik, tutn Out, Charlie Plumber, Ben Wang,
Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
And as usual.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
For a complete cast listing, you can go to the
link in our show notes. I am not here alone.
I am here with second time, leaving the theater guest.
He has not been with us since the spring. He
skipped the summer. He's welcoming you right in the fall.
I'm here with DeAndre Jones, Dion the Mare. Jones Mare
(02:03):
is insane.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I didn't have anything.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
The Long Walk is a movie film adaptation of a
book written by Stephen King. It was his first book
that he wrote, although not the first one that he published.
The first one he published obviously as Carrie for those
that follow he also published this book under his name
Richard Bachman, which acter I fell into a rabbit hole
over why he had the pen name Richard Bachman. It
(02:28):
was because he was trying to see if, given the
worst circumstances possible ie not doing any promotion on books
and also writing as many titles as possible, would he
do worse as Richard Bachman or Stephen King, even though
at the time he already had a lot of notoriety
as Stephen King. But he revealed himself to be Richard
(02:48):
Bachman too soon, because as soon as if he found
everyone found out he was Richard Bachman, his sales for
all the Richard Bachman books all went up.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So a little bit of trivia to start off with.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Sure. So The Long Walk is about a dystopian future
in which a group of young men, one from every state,
one from all fifty states, are told that they have
to walk essentially until one of them remains. Essentially, they
all have to walk until one of the until all
forty nine others drop, and if you win, you get
untold wishes and one I'm sorry you get untold money
(03:18):
and one wish. That is the premise of the movie.
DeAndre Jones, What did you think of this film?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I think that it should have stayed a book.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I like, when you have time to think, that's a
very good start.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think it should have stayed as a book. And
my reason for that is I think a lot of
things that would fly in a book don't fly in
a movie. And the things that come into my mind
right now are like like flat characters I think fly
(03:56):
a little better in a book than in a movie.
I don't know, a kind of like hollow plot line.
I call it hollow motivation. This movie, for me, it
feels like it was relying a lot on the drama
of what is happening on screen, literally in front of you,
to justify its entire existence, which I guess maybe a
(04:19):
lot of films do. But it feels different because this
film is also trying to make social commentary at the
same time. And when you mix that, like this is
a Hollywood horror thriller, blockbuster with lots of like gore
and drama, and but then you also want to make
the like the commentary on today's point of view. I
(04:41):
think there's a there's a there's a fine line that
you have to walk, and I don't think this movie
really walked it very well.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I think that is a wonderful articulation. I I agree
with everything you said, and I have my own list
of issues with this film. So this is this is
gonna be a good I can tell this is gonna
be a good episode.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think I think you nailed it.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I think I think we stuck around afterwards for a
bit of a movie discussion, which we won't get into
too deep here, but I will say I turned to
DeAndre As a guy picks up a microphone and says,
we're going to talk about the movie in the theater,
and I said, do you want to stay? And he
goes yes, And I remember thinking, oh no, you gotta understand.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I'm I'm not used to this press stuff, man, I'm
not used to the privileges that come with seeing a
movie before it comes out.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
And I didn't even know there was going to be
a discussion. I didn't either, and I've never stayed for one.
I'm glad I stayed for this one. And I think
right off the bat, my biggest issue is this is
another David Johnson movie and which I am seeing him
essentially be a magical Negro. The last film that he
was an alien Romulus, which is one of I really
(05:48):
liked that movie.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
But there is a large portion of the movie where
I was like.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Because you cast this dark skinned black character, I have
some questions about what his experience would be in this
universe that he's living in. Now, I will say, in
this film The Long Walk, there's lots of black people.
I mean like there's nameless faces of black folks in
the front that you don't like seeing anymore at some
point in the movie. But there's enough like that are
(06:12):
focused characters in the film that I felt like, Okay,
there's there's black folks here. What is the commentary going
to be about the race relations in a dystopian future?
And I can tell you that commentary was thin for me.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, I think that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
This is a perfect example of why maybe this thing
should have stayed just a book, because when I learned
this thing was written in the sixties, it so many
things clicked into place for me, like and that it's
like kind of Vietnam focused, and like Stephen King's a
white guy.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Obviously he's very liberal, but very white.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And and he you know, we heard in the post
film discussion that David Johnson David Johnson. We heard in
the post film discussion that David Johnson's character in the
book as a white man, and that already changes everything, right,
(07:05):
But then you look at obviously David Johnson's there, right,
and then they give.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Him this accent.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Almost unintelligible, almost unintelligible accent, as if like and he
is not the only black person in this film with
a crazy Southern accent, by the way, correct. I leaned
over to you at one point and saw this clearly
African actor doing a very deep South accent. I was
(07:33):
just like, oh, I don't I don't know if he
needed to be from the South. I don't know if
that was something that you needed, right. So it's like,
it's so weird because here's David Johnson.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
He's saying all these things about like positivity, happiness, you
gotta find the love and everything, brother in this weirdly
like Southern, like a literal accent that sounds like yes,
mass I love it, I love it massive, like very shucking, jivy,
very shucking and Jivy. Meanwhile, he's had this like his
character has this devastating backstory, why is he so positive?
(08:07):
Like what is going on? And when you think about it, like, oh,
this character is a white guy in the book, you
don't you lose the need for all that explanation, right, Like,
this is just a guy that's positive and like and
is loving. And I think that My guess is that, well,
you can't in today's climate, climate and in today's Hollywood,
(08:27):
you can't make a film with just all white folks.
And I think that's that's fine.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I think that's fine too.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think that's good to be clear. But when you
are making when you are taking a book like this
that was written at the time that it was and
making it into a film, and you know, clearly the
casting directors were like, Okay, it actually definitely shouldn't be
all white people. It's more compelling and more realistic if
there are people of all different races. But it seems
(08:52):
like they're thinking stop there, They're thinking stop that it
would be cool if there were people of other kinds
of the racism besides white in this film. They didn't
take a step further and be like, Okay, what does
that actually mean for the film's plot, the like, do
we have to do anything extra beyond just casting black folks?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I agree, And I also think that's my biggest problem
with The Handmaid's Tale and The Handmaid's Tale, especially in
the book. Margaret Atwood actually writes about what that black
people are completely separated from society in the books. In
the show, all of a sudden, we see black folks
that are commanders, and I'm like, there's no way in
the world and the dystopian future. And if anyone questions
(09:36):
me saying this, just look at what's happening right now
with black people, queer people, women in society right now.
When you give the wrong people the reins, there's a
disenfranchisement that happens. And I feel like it's difficult for
folks to imagine consequences when it comes to race. If
you are casting in a very specific way, you have
to start thinking about the stories that come with that.
(09:57):
But when you're I believe this white is white. I
looked it up. He looks white. He's at least white passing.
And I feel like maybe for him, the casting wasn't
as important as the story and the characters. But I'm like,
if you're not looking into the characters and their experiences,
then you're not actually doing a good characterization in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, and I mean this kind of I think dovetails
nicely into a conversation about the characters and their experiences
and like whether or not they're believable. And for me,
I feel like the characters fell flat because like it,
you know, the film is like, it's it's people walking, right,
that's not a spoiler.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
That's the whole film, the film walking and talking. The
film is, That's what they should have called it. The
film is walking and talking. All of the plot is
developed via walking and talking, and it's developed through the
lenses of these characters. But which I think is a
cool concept, to be clear, I like the concept, I agree,
But when but when the characters themselves actually don't have
(10:57):
more than like four things to say, the things quickly
fall apart right like and to me, these characters actually
just felt like caricatures of a certain type of person. Yeah,
I think there were character types. There were character archetypes
and or tropes more than they were actual characters. I
(11:20):
think on top of that, it got to the point
where I started to get desensitized to the deaths as
they happened, because there's only so many times you could
show different deaths in the same way, i e. Like
in the background fuzzy while people are focused on the
front like or right in front of your face or
right in front of your face.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Those were the two options you had.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
So I feel like, if the story you're going to
tell is about like these folks, you have to make
us care beyond tropes like there's you have to draw
me in in a way. And I think the pacing
of it that was kind of an issue for me,
because there was a way in which they got close
so quickly over a short amount of time, which.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
It didn't feel unbelievable to me.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It did feel like by the time they're already crying
and saying I got this man, Like, it felt like
that was pretty early into the film. So then later
on I'm just like, well, what do we have left?
If that was day one, what do we have left
for days two through five?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
This thing is tight, right, it's an hour forty eight. Yeah,
it's not long, so it's a tight thil and God
bless that it's not longer.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Thank God, to me, it did not feel like an
hour forty To be clear, it doesn't need to be
a longer one, but at the same time, it's a
short run time to flesh out this concept that you're
trying to pound home, which is what if we had
a movie where the plot is entirely built by people
talking to each other in this really awful situation and
(12:42):
to your point about how close they got so quickly,
there is like some aspect of it that's believable.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
It's like, look, this is all we got, you know,
all we have is each other right now. But at
the same time it did feel it felt unearned, and
especially when, like you know, it becomes clearly these people
are all gonna die, so again like this this idea
of the movie falling back on the drama of like
(13:10):
someone you care about dying and it's like, okay, but
how many times is this? Like is this all this
movie has to give?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
You know?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And it seems like the answers, yes.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yes, that's it. I think that's exactly true.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I will point out that this film was done by
Francis Lawrence, who's done the majority of the Hunger Games films.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
He's done Mocking Jay, one and two.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
He did Catching Fire, he did a ballad of songbirds
and snakes and the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping, So
he definitely has a certain perspective when it comes.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Comes to Dystopia.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
This pairs it down a little bit, smaller budget, smaller
everything when it comes to compared to like what a
blockbuster franchise like The Hunger Games has given you. So
I'm wondering how much his perspective, especially if Dystopia plays
into it.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
It's hard not to compare this film to The Hunger
Games because it feels the Hunger Games. Z. It makes
a lot of sense that you just told me that
this dude that worked on it worked on all the
Hunger Games stuff, and the concept is very Hunger Games.
And also The Hunger Games was a book before it
was a movie. And man, I gotta tell you, I
like the Hunger Games movies more because I think the
(14:15):
idea that you're gonna leave it as like this blank
slate for the viewer to project whatever authoritarian vibes they
want to project onto it, I think that just leaves
so much, so much room for holes. And it seems
like from the post film discussion that a lot of
people resonated with that. They were like, Wow, I really
liked that ambiguity. For me, didn't, it didn't work at all.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
With all of that being said, what is your rating
for this film one through five?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Three being?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I would watch it again and up from there you
go down if you don't ever want.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
To see it again.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
You know what's funny is I'm such a data guy.
I wish I could remember what I gave Mickey seventeen,
because I think I like this film more than I
like Mickey seventeen, but not a lot more. But I'm
just to rate from the heart and then maybe able'll
come out and post I would give this film two
(15:10):
point two.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
And I say that because the more I think about it,
the more hollow it feels. And I and it feels
like a waste of the acting talent, a little bit
like you gave these really good actors such one sided roles,
(15:35):
and it felt like, you know, if you're gonna have
a movie that relies so much on storytelling from the characters,
then you got to give them better scraps.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I agree. I think this is probably for me. It's
funny because I would watch it again. However, not quickly
and only if it happened to be on already, Like
I wouldn't go seek it out and be like, I
would not choose to watch this movie over something else.
So I feel like for me that changes the rewatchability
(16:07):
quottion quote shit here, because it's like if it's on, like,
oh yeah, I'll watch The Long Walk.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
But I would not choose it.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Therefore, it is below a three for me, and I'll
probably give it around a two point five, so I'm
only point three higher than you. I think the acting
I want to see more from both David Johnson and
Cooper Cooper Hoffman. I think Cooper Hoffman is doing something
different from his father, but he is still doing it
very well. Like his father was more of a like
(16:34):
a tried and true character actor turn leading man that
like really was good at embodying things in a very
specific way. And what I'm seeing Cooper Hoffman do is
just he I believed him as the character. I believed
him being tired, I believed when he was angry. He's
just a very like I feel, a good, serviceable Hollywood
(16:55):
actor and I'm excited to see what comes next for him.
Don't care about what Francis Lwrence does next. He's gonna
do another Hunger Games, and I don't care what this
writer is going to do. He needs to fix this movie.
It didn't work very well for me. Yeah, so for
me it's a two point five. Yeah, I mean shoutout
Tokoper Hofman.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
I agree with everything about what you said on his acting,
and like to be clear on my last comment, like
I think he did a great job. I think that
he didn't. He wasn't given much to work with. And
I wholly agree with you. I will, I will, I
will go see more Kooper Hoffman in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
You know, I here on leaving the theater.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I call that clocking in when I say that the
actors clocked in and did their job when you can't
do anything with a bad script. So with that, leaving
the theater is a production of Oh It's Big Ron Studios.
I mixed this episode and I'm so excited to tell you.
By the time you're listening to this, you probably already
noticed that the feed has changed a little bit, especially
(17:50):
if you are not a member of the Patreon, because
I have made an ad free feed for Patreon members,
meaning that you could still listen to the show. It
is not a paywall. You can still listen to the show.
There are ads now in the show. There's a pre roll,
there's a midroll, there's two mid rolls, and a post role.
You're still gonna hear those. But if you want to
hear the show without ads, you could join the Patreon
(18:11):
where you can also hear the show without ads, and
you can listen to my brand new podcast, I Don't
Like That with Ronald Young Junior, where all I do
is talk about things I don't like, which I am
just as passionate about the things that I hate as
I am about the things that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I love, which is on that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The obtur will be my first guest when we start
talking about the things that we don't like. I can't
wait for y'all to sign up become Patreon members. Remember
this is a labor of love, but it is labor.
And if you believe at supporting small businesses and independent journalism,
this is a journalism but independent media, you should become
(18:51):
a patron. Go to patreon dot com, slash leave in
the theater, or go to the link in our show notes.
Show art from Heather Wilder. Theme music by the mysterious
Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information about The Long Walk or
DeAndre Jones, check out our show notes. You can follow
me on Instagram, Blue Sky, TikTok, threads, or letterboxed at
Owitz Big Ground.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
That's at O h I T S b I g
R O N.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
You can find out more about this show on other
Ois Big Ground Studio shows by following us on Instagram
at Ow's Big Round Studios. Leaving the theater will be
back soon. Thanks for listening and thanks for being.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
On the show. Hey, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I have two comments off the bat for you for you,
just so you know, One it's still summer. And two
you just said Mark Hamilton.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Now I got to cut the two comments Mark, because
now I gotta go back and fix that, uh or
you can leave it in. I don't do that, and
so say your first comment again again. Well, my first
comment for you is that have one.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Comment for you. It's definitely going to the Bloomers.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Well, I have one comment for you to start off,
and that it's still summer. Thank you for clarifying. It's
almost like we did this twice. We'll just make the episode.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Who knows? All right? The long walk.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Don't ever correct me the long Okay, I gotta stop.
This is a lot of editing
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