By Jake Wilson

Copyright smh

The rules prohibit them from pausing more than briefly, straying off the beaten track, or slowing their speed below three miles an hour – and when they’re unable to go any further, the soldiers driving alongside them simply shoot them down.

Wisely, the filmmakers haven’t attempted to update the material – or not overtly. The costumes evoke the 1970s without being too specific, and the Walk remains an all-male event, though the excellent cast is more racially diverse than what King may have seen originally in his mind’s eye.

Nor are there any pop-culture references more contemporary than Candid Camera, unless the casting of Mark Hamill as the officer overseeing this infernal ritual amounts to a reference in itself (he does also hint that his goal is to make America great again – but not precisely in those words).

The deaths are far more gruesome than in the relatively tame Hunger Games films, something King himself reportedly insisted on as an executive producer. But the tone is earnest rather than gleefully cynical. The real substance of the film is in the profane yet increasingly philosophical exchanges between those left standing, especially the rebellious protagonist, Raymond Garrity (Cooper Hoffman), and his fatalistic friend, Peter McVries (David Jonsson).