1 of 5 | Cooper Hoffman (L) and David Jonsson star in “The Long Walk,” in theaters Sept. 12. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
The Long Walk, in theaters Sept. 12, is a faithful adaptation of the early Stephen King novel, originally released under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Though published in the ’70s, the dystopian tale proves evergreen, and perhaps even more relevant now.
The story opens 19 years after a war decimated the American economy. Each year, the government holds an annual Long Walk, where 50 slots are given to lottery winners who walk until there is only one person standing. The winner receives whatever they want for life, while the others are killed.
Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) enters the contests despite his mother Ginny’s (Judy Greer) tearful objections. The film focuses on Ray’s walk with Peter McVries (David Jonsson) and the other 48 contestants, who occasionally keep pace, move ahead or trail behind.
The idea of a society so desperate to escape financial straits that people would risk almost certain death for a small chance of erasing debt and lifting one’s station might seem more believable in 2025 than it did in the ’70s. Some enter the race confident they can win, while others enter sure they will not.
Like King’s novel, JT Mollner’s film adaptation explains the rules up front. The Major (Mark Hamill) instructs the walkers their pace must be kept above 3 miles per hour and they must remain on the paved road.
Contestants will get three warnings for slowing or stopping for any reason, after which they will be eliminated. To further clarify this to viewers, several contestants either intentionally use warnings to take breaks, or frantically try to rectify injuries or shoe issues within three warnings.
The sight of military tanks with broadcast cameras leading the pace in front and following behind the walk provide an ominous threat throughout. Soldiers eliminate walkers who don’t resume the pace with graphic headshots, though many of the walking-related injuries are more disturbing.
Other prominent walkers who interact with Ray and Pete include friendly Arthur Baker (Tut Nyuot), brash New Yorker Hank Olson (Ben Wang), Native American environmentalist Collie Parker (Joshua Odjick), and young Curly (Roman Griffin Davis), who clearly lied about being 18 to enter.
Harkness (Jordan Gonzalez) thinks his ticket to success is writing a first-person book about the Long Walk, but he still has to survive to publish it. Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) and Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer) are troublemakers, but even they share the pain for which they are clearly overcompensating once they are worn down.
Most of the film shows the contestants walking along nondescript forested roads. It is a basic adaptation, but at least the actors are really walking, instead of filming inside soundstages against screens.
Director Francis Lawrence allows dialogue scenes to play out during long walk-and-talk sequences. When there is a change of scenery, it only lasts a moment before the entire cast walks past it and continues on.
Indeed, the heart of the film, as in the book, are the conversations between contestants on the road. They talk about their families, plans for the winnings, relationships, religion, literature, stories from their lives and more.
Ray and all of the contestants help each other at first. Even though there can be only one winner, even strangers are inclined not to let each other die.
Walking scenes do become tense, as the story covers several days and survivors become loopy from lack of sleep as well as physical exhaustion. Walking uphill adds strain, and when a soldier trails directly behind a contestant waiting to give the third warning, it is oppressive.
The film does address how people walking for days will eventually have to go to the bathroom. It may be gross, but it would ring false for the movie to depict the race and ignore basic bodily functions.
There are no women on the walk, in keeping with the book. Updating the story to be co-ed could provoke interesting new issues, but could also be so trite it would be a wash.
Besides, it is far more suggestive of the state of the world that specifically men sign up for the competition. Greer singlehandedly portrays the effect the Long Walk has on family members who have to watch the brutal contest play out.
The Long Walk is one of the great Stephen King adaptations. It may not be The Shawshank Redemption or Misery, but it’s still up there with Pet Sematary and It.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
