In The Long Walk, a bunch of young men sign up to die, shot in the head for walking too slow. There will be one survivor of the 50, of course, the last to keep pace—but it will be one damn long walk.
The second great Stephen King adaptation of 2025 (the other being The Life of Chuck), The Long Walk is a gripping drama-thriller where the terror that lurks ahead is as psychological as it is physical. Yes, these men/boys may fall victim to the bullet (if you fall below three miles per hour for too long) but many of them are gone long before the trigger is pulled.
The Long Walk will naturally be compared to The Hunger Games for its themes of economic distress, fascism, and young people competing in a life-or-death competition, despite King writing his book decades earlier and the tone markedly different. Coincidentally (?), Francis Lawrence, the director of the last three The Hunger Games, helms this one, delivering a film that is equally enthralling and bleak (yet oddly uplifting at times).
Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson lead an ensemble cast, both delivering powerful performances as strangers who bond and cope over the threat of death and despair.
Screenwriter JT Mollner unspools King’s characters in satisfying fashion, though the writing early on seems too on-the-nose for its own good. Karate Kid’s Ben Wang is a good example; the dialogue he spouts early on is painfully obnoxious and overly scripted. And yet the early and awkward trash talking almost feels intentional—by the end, as these same characters break down, reveal their inner demons, and push themselves to the limit and beyond, they become more human, a stark contrast to their brash former selves.
To call The Long Walk entertaining may be a stretch, but it’s an engaging, confident film that, despite its dreary storyline is a testament to human connection and hope. Hoffman and Jonsson embody this, their developing friendship the emotional core of the movie.
Mark Hamill is good, too, as the brutal and emotionless Marshal, though there is not much to his character other than what you see onscreen.
The Long Walk may only be the second best Stephen King adaptation of the year, but it’s a morbidly enthralling drama well worth the march to theaters.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.