The Long Walk (2025)

The Long Walk | 4.5/5

Written by Cody Wagner: 9/27/2025

The Long Walk is not only a novel by famed writer Stephen King. It was also the first novel he completed around his freshman year in college (though the first one to be released was 1974’s Carrie.) It’d be another eight years after Carrie that The Long Walk would be released, under King’s pen name, Richard Bachman. I couldn’t tell you how the book is as I, myself, haven't read it, but I did watch the film that was recently released. 

Remember the Hunger Game movies? What about Constantine with what might be the best depiction of the Devil in Peter Stormare? That’s director Francis Lawrence, the same man we’ve got here in The Long Walk. With him at the helm, I think he delivered one of the best adaptations of King’s works. It’s not a horror flick this time around, but it’s a harrowing drama piece with a dystopian twist. 

The Long Walk brings another set of King’s strong characters to life, tightening up plot points to create a carefully crafted film. It’s not unlike one of those classic literature coming-of-age novels you’d have to read in school if it also included very graphic depictions of violence. Think The Outsiders, Lord of the Flies, and Fahrenheit 451 combined and was written by an author from Maine that wasn’t afraid to throw in some gore. I’ll try and not get into spoilers, so I’ll just say that hook of the movie:

“In a dystopian, poverty-stricken alternate 20th century, there’s The Long Walk; a contest where 50 boys will walk above three miles an hour. Those who fall short are shot until one remains. Winner gets a large cash prize and one wish granted.”

Very strong hook, one that promises both hope and despair.

This film is brutal. It has to come with the territory of a dystopian film where people are so impoverished that they’re willing to die in a 2% chance of not having to worry about money anymore. Slight spoiler, so skip to the next paragraph if you want to go in completely blind. So, everyone’s a few miles into the trek and a kid has a charlie horse. First warning. Second warning. Then BANG! They shoot him dead, and they shoot at an angle where his jaw is half-hanging off of his head. It really buckles you in and says, “No, these boys are going to DIE.” It’s graphic not only in how some of these boys are shot, but in complications they experience from walking for that long. It then switches the boys’ priorities from wanting to win a lot of money to simply wanting to live because the ways they die are very, very ugly.

The film is very lean, yet very confident in its actors. After all, the filmmakers have to make literal “walking and talking” somehow compelling. And they do, movie magic! Throughout the film the guys form genuine close bonds and, as the story progresses, the dread sets in that all of the boys must die except for one. That thought was in the back of my mind as I was feeling the kinship between the actors during the times of calmness and shootin’ the shit. That, no, there is no hope for 98% of them, only one of these characters can survive. Yet, I was still holding out hope. The dynamics between the boys were just that compelling, I was in denial about the hook of the story because I didn’t want to face the truth that these relationships are brief. Brief, yet meaningful all the same. 

There are two reason these characters are so good. Not only is it a great script, but the phenomenal actors bring King’s words to life. I won’t get into spoilers, but the script strays from the book in a few ways. Luckily, as someone who didn’t read the book, this movie is perfectly serviceable. With the movie (and book) being mainly dialogue, I can see this story as a play. I’d say it’s a very contained story, but these poor actors are walking in every. Single. Frame in this movie. Call me crazy, but you can kind of see these actors lose weight as the story develops. The actors, from what I’ve read, had to walk about 400 miles within a couple of months. I do not envy being on that set. 

Speaking of actors, man what a brilliant cast this has. I’m not familiar with a lot of them, but everyone played their part to a T. Cooper Hoffman is the ideal guy to play one of Stephen King’s “earnest, everyday” men in Ray Garraty. Judy Greer as Ray’s mother is damn heartbreaking because she realizes the odds aren’t in Garraty’s favor, treating dropping him off as the last time she’ll see him alive. Mark Hamill as the Major is also a high point. A King villain is always larger than life. A dastardly, bastard of an evil being, but also so commanding that you can’t take your eyes off of them. The Major is just that, too, right down to his boisterous, gravely voice. He’s this ever looming presence over the boys that may as well be the Grim Reaper himself. Or even scarier, the government! (Am I right???)

We’ve also got my personal favorite in David Jonsson as Peter McVries, Ray’s best friend during the Long Walk. God damn this guy can act. I was first aware of him in Alien: Romulus as Andy the robot, and there was something in his performance that made me want to look out for him because the guy is going places. In The Long Walk, he’s a scene stealer. Jonsson just commands the screen like very few in his age range. Loud, proud, freely speaking his mind without being a caricature. No notes on Jonsson’s take - great stuff. 

The Long Walk is a terrific drama with a dystopian twist. Definitely check it out if you’re a King enthusiast or just like character dramas with periodic bursts of graphic violence. It’s a King adaptation more in line with Stand By Me, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, and Life of Chuck. The Long Walk is certainly worthy of being cherished like those films.