INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film The Long Walk. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
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PLOT
Via Letterboxd: Every year, fifty teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as “The Long Walk.” Among this year’s chosen crop is “Maine’s Own,” Ray Garraty. He knows the rules - that warnings are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, or sit down. That after three warnings, you get your ticket. And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that there can be only one winner in the walk. The one that survives.
REVIEW
Before The Hunger Games, before Battle Royale, there was Stephen King’s The Long Walk. First published in 1979 under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, the novel has long sparked debate over whether it could ever be adapted for the screen. Over the years, there were attempts. George A. Romero was approached in the eighties, and in 2007 Frank Darabont, who had already steered two King movie adaptations into Best Picture contention, nearly made it happen.
Now, almost fifty years later, and with King in his twilight years, we’re finally seeing The Long Walk brought to life. This time it’s Francis Lawrence, the director behind nearly all of The Hunger Games films, who gets the honor of finally bringing this classic to the screen. The cast includes Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill, an impressive ensemble fit for such an undertaking. With its themes of dystopia, brutal survival contests, and young men desperate to escape their day-to-day lives, the story feels as relevant as ever in these dire times.
Stephen King adaptations, of course, are a mixed bag. For every The Shining, Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, or It, there’s a Maximum Overdrive, The Lawnmower Man, Dreamcatcher, the 2022 Firestarter, or The Monkey. But given the strong early praise I’d seen from critics after the first press screening I couldn’t attend, I wasn’t about to miss my shot when a second screening was offered to me last second. Honestly, it almost felt like the good lord himself was telling me to watch this film as soon as possible.
One should know the film does take some liberties with the novel it’s adapting. Certain characters and their motivations are tweaked, and in one supporting role the relationship to our protagonist is completely different from the source material. There’s also a major shift in the climactic finale, which I’ll circle back to later in this review.
On a technical level, the movie is very competently made. The direction is sharp, the cinematography and score are both excellent, the dialogue rings true, and the visual effects do exactly what they need to. The pacing strikes a fine balance between the boys’ comedic interactions and the tense stretches as they’re inevitably eliminated one by one.
Performance-wise, this is one of the best ensembles of the year, and it has a strong chance of landing on my personal awards ballot for that category. Hoffman and Jonsonn give standout turns, but I’d also spotlight Ben Wang (easily the best thing to come out of the otherwise lackluster Karate Kid film from earlier in the year) and Tut Nyuot, who both shine in their supporting roles. The brotherhood and bonds these boys form feel authentic and deeply affecting. In an era when young men are often said to be adrift, and their primary media outlet seems to be a slate of superhero movies that are rapidly diminishing in quality, this film almost feels essential.
There are genuine earned moments of horror here. They land harder because we come to care for these boys. I’m still haunted by the fate of one character, whose simple ankle twist spirals into a grotesque, macabre moment I can’t get out of my head. That’s the best kind of horror; it invests you so deeply in the characters that you root for their survival, even when you know not all of them will make it.
If I have one major gripe, though, it’s the big climatic finale. Up until then, this was a strong contender for my year-end “Best Of” list. But in straying from the novel’s conclusion, the film opts for an even darker ending (which is pretty wild to have even been possible), one that left me a little unsatisfied and cold. My audience seemed to respond to one particular moment in it, but to me it felt like the film undercut everything a certain character had been arguing for the entire run time. What had been a powerful story of friendship and brotherhood lost some of its resonance in that final stretch.
That said, even with an ending I wasn’t too fond of, this is still a very solid Stephen King adaptation. Not quite in the top tier, but certainly among the better ones. It’s the kind of movie I think a lot of young men should see, and frankly, we need more films about brotherhood these days. I give it a solid B+, I just wish those last five minutes worked for me more than they did.
GRADING
The Long Walk is my favorite Stephen King book, and one of the few of his I’ve read that had a satisfying ending, even if it left it ambiguous. It’s disappointing to hear the movie strays from the book ending. Still excited to see the movie though.