Filmmaker Francis Lawrence has built a career making kids suffer for our entertainment (The Hunger Games films, anyone?), and with The Long Walk he may have found his bleak masterpiece. Adapted from Stephen King’s first novel, this is a story where endurance isn’t just survival—it’s spectacle.
The setup is deceptively simple: fifty teenage boys – one from each state – are chosen via lottery to participate in a contest where the rules are brutal—walk at a pace of three miles per hour or get a bullet. No breaks, no turning back, no finish line, no mercy. The last man standing gets whatever his heart desires. Oh, and by the way, the entire walk is being carried live to audiences across the country. It’s the cruelest game show you’ve ever seen—and the ultimate prize might not be worth the pain.
Yes, there’s blood and trauma in The Long Walk. The kind horror fans will eat up. But what keeps this movie moving isn’t the violence—it’s the talking. Long, searching conversations stretch across the endless miles, equal parts war-story bonding and philosophical rambling. It’s Paths of Glory in sneakers, with a touch of Lord of the Flies thrown in for good measure.
Cooper Hoffman’s (Licorice Pizza) Ray anchors the march as the reluctant moral compass, radiating quiet humanity in the middle of chaos, trudging forward with more resolve than swagger.
David Jonsson’s (Alien: Romulus) Peter is the spiritual core of the group, bringing a sharp tongue and nervous bravado as the group’s conscience, and raises the questions that hang over every mile. The brotherly bond he forms with Ray is a catalyst that challenges Ray’s value system as the gruesomeness of the walk intensifies around them.
Garrett Wareing’s Stebbins, called a “fitness nut” and “Superman” before the walk begins, knows just how ugly things can get, bringing raw intensity to the mix. Strong and tall with a tough exterior, he is full of facts and statistics. Stebbins comes off as the poster child for The Long Walk.
Mark Hamill nearly steals the show as the Major, a cheerleader of doom who rallies the boys with a grin before sending them to their graves. Hamill hasn’t been this chilling in years—his Major is half drill sergeant, half carnival barker, and all nightmare.
Lawrence shoots his film with hypnotic precision. The camera hugs the pavement, glides beside the marchers, and occasionally looks up at the merciless sky or zooms in on weather-beaten faces of Arbus-like characters watching the spectacle from the roadside. You feel the heat, the blisters, the weight of every step. For a film about walking, it is always running forward.
What really lingers, though, is how disturbingly close this dystopian America feels to our own. King wrote the book in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War, but the film plays like it was ripped from today’s headlines. To his credit, Lawrence never hammers the allegory, but the parallels are impossible to miss.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t a fun watch. The Long Walk is grim, grueling, and designed to test your endurance right alongside the boys. But when the dust settles, there’s a strange kind of uplift in seeing humanity flicker in such a hopeless place. It’s not about who wins—it’s about who holds on to their soul while losing everything else.
By the time the final mile arrives, you may feel as battered as the characters. And yet, like them, you’ll keep going—because Lawrence and his cast won’t let you look away.
The Long Walk is tough, relentless, and unforgettable. It’s not a popcorn flick—it’s a march into the heart of darkness. You don’t watch it for fun. You watch it because you can’t stop.
RULES OF THE WALK:
- Total participants: 50
- Required pace to maintain: 3 MPH
- If participants fall below the required pace, they will get a warning. If they are unable to reach the speed within 10 seconds, they will get an additional warning.
- Total warnings: 3
- Participants are eliminated before a 4th warning is called.
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 108 mins
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer: JT Mollner
Cast: Cooper Hoffman; David Jonsson; Garrett Wareing
Genre: Horror
Tagline: The task is simple: Walk or Die.
Memorable Movie Quote: "It takes a heavy sack to sign up for this contest."
Distributor: Lionsgate
Official Site:
Release Date: September 12, 2025
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
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.
