The Long Walk

Director Francis Lawrences screen adaptation of Stephen Kings novel by the same name is one of those pictures that makes me want to stand up in the theater and exclaim that the Emperor is indeed naked (though Id probably be quickly escorted from the moviehouse if I did so). The source material for this production, originally written at the time of the Vietnam War, was an allegory about the draft and its impact on young American men at the time, a mandate that often led to their deaths in an unpopular and largely unexplained conflict. And its a statement thats admittedly still valid (albeit perhaps not as relevant) all these many years later. However, the storys translation from book to screen in the present day leaves much to be desired, in...

This review contains spoilers.

As you can probably tell, this isn't a "good movie 10/10" type review and I honestly don't know how to write a good one without spoiling things. I believe these spoilers are necessary to understand just how disappointing the film is and that they don't deter from the movie's "experience". You can already guess that half of the characters will die after the first night and that the main character and his best friend will be the last two remaining.

Also, art is subjective. The review below is my opinion. I'm not claiming that it's the objective truth.

With that said, let's get started.

Watching The Long Walk felt precisely as the name suggests: it was a long, tedious, bland and repetitive experience...

Take a road, a few military props and a small group of young actors and you have the essentials of "The Long Walk".

This is story is, in essence, a condensed metaphor, for walking the passage of life, its hopes, its dreams, nightmares and what life truly means to each of us, when its about to end. This is, in its own way, also a harsh repudiation of state sanctioned violence. Where the young are brutally sacrificed, by the old, in the pursuit of power and control.

In spite of the fact this film is derived from Stephen Kings work, an author I have mixed feelings about, Id characterize it as an "instant classic". Thirty years from now this will be as refresh, remarkable, moving and memorable as it was in 2025.

Why? Putting aside the...

Initially, I though this had something of the Hunger Games to it, as a group of fifty young men assemble at a military roadblock. It appears they have each won a lottery and a prize of untold riches awaits the winner of a walking competition. The rules are simple. Keep above 3 m.p.h. and dont stop. Ray (Cooper Hoffman) pays an emotion farewell to his mum and joins a group of lads that includes Pete (David Jonsson); the somewhat odious Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), talkative Olson (Ben Wang) and the lithe and fit looking Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) and Art (Tut Nyuot). A rousing speech from the Major (Mark Hamill) explains the rules to them, and makes clear that it will quite literally be the last man standing who wins. Quickly, Ray and Pete ...