[KING'S CORNER] The Long Walk (2025)

The Long Walk - King's Corner Review

Welcome to King's Corner. A recurring series of reviews based on the film and TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels and collections, reviewed and released in order of the original source material publishing date.

Director: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Waring, Tut Nyuot, Mark Hamill, Judy Greer

Written by: J.T. Mollner

Produced by: Francis Lawrence, Roy Lee, Cameron MacConomy, Steven Schneider

Cinematography by: Jo Willems

Original Score by: Jeremiah Fraites

Synopsis:

A group of teenage boys compete in an annual contest known as "The Long Walk," where they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot.

Thoughts:

Every so often a story set in a dystopian world that features some sort of game to the death for entertainment comes along and dominates pop culture for a short period of time. In recent years we have had the likes of 'Squid Game', 'The Hunger Games' and 'Battle Royale' which all take this concept and use it to explore socio-political ideas or the nature of human beings when faced with a kill or be killed situation. Popularised by these ideas, audiences indulge in the idea of putting themselves into a certain character's shoes to see what they would do in that specific scenario. They all seem to stem from Richard Connell's 1924 short story 'The Most Dangerous Game' which is arguably the source material for these kinds of stories. It is such a popular idea that Stephen King explored it twice under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman with 'The Running Man' and 'The Long Walk'. 

Originally written when he was 19 years old and still in high school, 'The Long Walk' is the first novel that King wrote. At the time the Vietnam war was raging and it looms large over the entire story. In an interview with Vanity Fair in May 2025 he spoke about this saying, "You write from your times, so certainly, that was in my mind. But I never thought about it consciously... I was writing a kind of a brutal thing. It was hopeless, and just what you write when you're 19 years old, man. You're full of beans and you're full of cynicism, and that's the way it was." He finished the novel by the time he started college in 1967 and then entered it into a first-time novelist contest for Random House but after losing the competition, the novel entered the famous trunk that all authors have for unpublished stories. After the success of his first novels 'Carrie', 'Salem's Lot' and 'The Shining' alongside the creation of his "dark half" Richard Bachman, 'The Long Walk' got a new lease of life and was published in 1979 under the Bachman pen name. 

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As arduous as the story's journey to publication was, it is nothing compared to the multiple attempts to adapt it for the big screen. The first came in 1987 when George A. Romero acquired the rights to the novel in the wake of his collaboration with King on 'Creepshow' but the adaptation never materialised. After the rights lapsed, Frank Darabont snapped them up with an intention of making a stripped back version of the story compared to his other King adaptations. In an interview with UGO he wanted his version to be, "weird, existential, and very contained." Like Romero he never got the chance to make it and the rights to it lapsed only to be picked up by New Line Cinema in 2018. They tasked James Vanderbilt to write the screenplay and in the following year André Øvredal was hired to direct it. Like the other attempts it never came to fruition with the rights lapsing once again in 2022 likely due to the production stalling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after this Lionsgate bought up the rights and hired Francis Lawrence to direct the project based on a script by JT Mollner and in 2024 the film finally went into production. 

When it was announced that Francis Lawrence was directing the film there was a degree of trepidation amongst fans of the book given how he handled similar material with 'The Hunger Games'. There was a worry that his take on a story featuring 50 young men on a death march would be sanitised to suit a younger audience in order to maximise the film's box office but that is certainly not the case here. Once the walk begins, Lawrence lulls the audience into a false sense of security as we get to know each of their characters and their motivations for joining the contest. There is an unusual sense of optimism as the weight of their participation hasn't fully set in. It isn't until one of the walkers pulls up with a cramp and is given their three warnings that reality starts to kick in. Even as a rifle is pointed at their head you feel that they aren't going to get shot or that it would happen off camera. That is not the case here as the bullet blows off part of their face killing them instantly in a brutal manner. It is at this moment that any sort of safety net the film teased is gone. The tension sparked from this one moment is at times unbearable and a trait of the film that keeps the audience on edge throughout. 

The first thing that strikes you about the vision Francis Lawrence has for the world of 'The Long Walk' is that it feels very much out of time. Aesthetically you might think it is the late 50s/60s (the good old days as some current world leaders would lead you to believe) but it is very much a dead world. This is realised through the muted colour palette of the film feeding into the idea of how this is a dying wasteland of Americana where the idea of 'The Long Walk' as a character building piece of entertainment for the masses is lost on the general population. Their lives are ones of survival from one day to the next and the contest almost feels like a microcosm of it. The few bystanders that watch are in isolation and they come across as being people watching a funeral procession walk by as a mark of respect. It is these quieter moments that are so impactful as they enhance the air of dread that hangs over the film and carries a choking relentlessness throughout. It is a well realised encapsulation of the cynical nature of the source material. 

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The first character we meet in the film is Raymond Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) as he is being dropped off at the starting line to the walk by his mother (played by Judy Greer, who makes the most of her limited screen time). His motivations for joining the walk (outside of some notion of late teen rebellion) are unclear until much later in the film. When they are revealed they seem more conventional in how it separates it from the anti-war sentiments of the source material but Hoffman is terrific in the role. The slow erosion of his mental and physical state is measured perfectly. He is not a clean cut hero we can all root for, there are many shades to his character that make him feel more real and believable which is down. mainly to Hoffman's performance which enhances what is presented in JT Mollner's script. 

Opposite him and the best thing about the film is the character of Peter McVries (David Jonsson). A worldly and philosophical character, he is the heart and soul of the film. Amidst the cruelty of the contest he maintains a level of composure throughout as he has in his own words been walking all of his life. Despite all of the death surrounding them he carries a sense of hope akin to Andy Dufresne in 'The Shawshank Redemption' but he is not immune to the effects of the walk, choosing to internalise them instead. In the role Jonsson commands the screen with an incredible power in what is a star-making role for him. His brotherly chemistry with Hoffman is so emotionally charged it makes you tearful at times and it might just be one of the greatest performances by any actor in any adaptation of Stephen King's work. 

They form two of what they call "The Four Musketeers” alongside Hank Olson (played by Ben Wang) and Arthur Baker (played by Tut Nyuot). Their comradery (which is the best part of Molner's script) is beautiful to watch and acts as a reminder of their youth and innocence when they engage in casual ribbing and banter. Most of it comes from Olson who provides a lot of comic relief in the film breaking the air of cruelty that surrounds them from time to time. He possesses a charming sense of cockiness that makes him instantly likeable. That likeability also shines through Nyuot's performance as Baker who has a happy-go-lucky 

attitude to the contest. When you are presented with characters such as these (and others) it makes the deaths of any character on the walk all the more impactful. One such death which is one of the most harrowing moments in any King adaptation is lifted straight from the book is when a dying character cries, "I did it wrong". It is a harrowing death cry full of remorse, regret and pain that is chilling as it is heartbreaking. 

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As well intentioned as these characters are, there are those who are more nefarious on the walk. There is Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) who carries a stoic arrogance throughout as he is the favourite to win due to his physique. As the walk progresses and his character arc becomes more clear you begin to feel more sympathy for him thanks to the sense of humanity Wareing adds to his role. Another villainous character that draws parallels to this is the unlikeable loner Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer). He carries out a despicable act of sabotage which turns everyone against him but the guilt weighs heavy on him and Plummer does a terrific job at capturing that in his mannerisms in how it tears his conscience apart. 

The clear villain of the piece though is The Major (Mark Hamill), The charismatic head of the contest, he carries a satirical edge akin to a character from a Paul Verhoeven film as he spouts faux patriotic vitriol with his booming voice in order to inspire those on the walk (as well as those watching at home). To his credit Hamill plays this to a near cartoonish effect which works incredibly well in contrast with the other characters. It is a performance for the cameras in the film and one that never drops for a second. He is someone stripped of humanity whose goal is to placate the masses through the contest stating that it is for their benefit. Astride a truck following the boys he is like the grim reaper waiting for the boys to fall one by one, as he hides behind his aviators and cap. It really reinforces the anti-war stance of the film in challenging how fascistic militarism takes young men and churns them through the war machine until they are dead or irreparably broken for a manipulative agenda. 

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'The Long Walk' is the first film that truly understands the anger and brutality of the Bachman side of Stephen King. Francis Lawrence captures the relentless cruelty of the world while JT Mollner tries to mine some sense of hope and humanity from it through the characters participating in the walk. This cast of characters really tap into the traits and emotions of their roles making you latch onto them as the inevitability of the contest tears your heart apart piece by piece as they die one by one. Whilst it is not strictly a horror film, it is certainly horrific and equally emotionally powerful which makes it one of the great adaptations of King's work. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Joseph McElroy