The Long Walk Review: The Odds Are Ever In Its Favor
Ken Jones, OnScreenBlog Chief Film Critic
It’s hard to think of an author who has had more of his stories adapted than Stephen King (maybe Shakespeare?). 2025 is proving to be a variety pack of Stephen King adaptations, with The Monkey and Life of Chuck already, and a remake of The Running Man coming later this fall. The Long Walk is the third King release this year, and it is quite unlike most Stephen King stories, but no less horrific than some of them in its own way.
Set in an alternate reality, the premise is simple: every year, 50 teens/young men, one from every state, are drafted or volunteer for a walk that has no finish line. They must maintain a steady pace of 3 mph, or they will receive a warning. Too many warnings, and they are executed. The walk continues until only one is left standing, with untold riches and glory awaiting the winner.
The contest in this dystopian version of the United States is run by The Major (Mark Hamill). It is observed by the military, who shoot contestants who disqualify themselves, and is recorded for the world to watch. Among the contestants is the home-state hopeful, Raymond Garraty (Cooper Hoffman), Peter McVries (David Jonnson), Arthur Baker (Tut Nyout), and Hank Olson (Ben Wang), four guys who strike up a quick friendship and call themselves the Musketeers. Everyone has their reasons for being in the contest; some are more complex than others.
I found it interesting that this film was directed by Francis Lawrence, who directed the Hunger Games sequels and prequels. There are parallels in the story's premise, with a totalitarian regime forcing tributes from each state to compete to the death, except this is an endurance test, not hand-to-hand combat.
The emotional weight of what the 50 contestants are about to undertake is underscored by Ray’s mom (Judy Greer) tearful goodbye and extreme reluctance to let go of her son. As groups and friendships are formed when the contest begins, there is a lightness to the festivities, a kind of denial, which is shattered when the reality of the first gunshot drops their ranks to 49. Regrets and doubt begin to creep in.
What also creeps in is the reality of the event and unforeseen circumstances. Some contestants have a plan, some are just hoping for a miracle. However, like Survivor or other reality TV competitions, not all plans are created equally. Also, with no set endpoint and 49 other human variables, plus environmental factors, plans will only get you so far. Then, there are the normal bodily functions that every human needs to perform, and a lack of sleep.
In addition to the physical demands of the contest, there are psychological factors, too. The open-ended nature of it is a mental hurdle for some, the sobering sound of a gunshot as another contestant goes down, and the overall, increasing oppression of the entire thing that is not fully realized until they are actually in it.
That oppression feels much more immediate in this film than in The Hunger Games franchise, Battle Royale, or any other movie with a similar premise. Armed soldiers ride alongside them in jeeps and tanks, weapons at the ready should they need to be called upon.
Given that the original Stephen King novel was written in 1979, it feels like there is a lot of allegory here for the Vietnam War or war in general. Soldiers are drafted or volunteer and get a sobering wakeup call about how life-and-death war really is, how senseless it is, and how tenuous the friendships that are made are because they can be taken away so quickly. I’m sure there are also some more modern-day parallels and commentary that could be discerned from this film.
Hoffman’s Ray and Jonnson’s Pete are the two main characters, two guys that grew up as only children but form a brotherly bond throughout their walk. There is a lot of conversation between them and the larger group; in some ways, one could squint and see this movie as the bromance, dystopian version of Before Sunrise. Ray and Pete form a strong bond, helping each other when the other is struggling, shouldering the load for one another. In contrast, the other essentially walks while asleep on their feet and offers encouragement to keep going when needed.
Hoffman and Jonnson do a terrific job of drawing you in and making their friendship and bond something the audience can invest in. There’s a terrific scene when one of them lashes out and storms off after witnessing something horrific, and then nearly causes himself to get shot, and the other one swoops in to pick him up. Immediate guilt hits, and he apologizes for how he reacted, and it’s not held against him because the other guy knows he didn’t mean what he said.
I was also particularly moved by Hoffman’s performance. He channeled his personal experience of losing his father into a character who has also lost his. When his character talks about how his dad was his hero, it feels like the lines between Ray’s dad and Phillip Seymour Hoffman blur.
For a movie called The Long Walk, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, clocking in at under two hours, though there are some leaner moments regarding the pacing. Overall, though, The Long Walk works to keep the audience engaged throughout, providing a group of interesting characters that are hard to say goodbye to when their times come. It’s also a haunting and chilling allegory of a futile struggle against a system of oppression. Of all the King adaptations this year, it might be the one left standing as the best when all is said and done.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
