THE LONG WALK : Wednesday 17th September 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE LONG WALK' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this American dystopian survival thriller film is Co-Produced and Directed by Francis Lawrence who after years of Directing music videos turned his hand to feature films with his debut in 2005 with 'Constantine', which he would follow up with 'I Am Legend' in 2007, 'Water for Elephants' in 2011, 'The Hunger Games : Catching Fire' in 2013, 'The Hunger Games : Mockingjay - Parts 1 & 2' in 2014 and 2015, 'Red Sparrow' in 2018, 'Slumberland' in 2022 and 'The Hunger Games : The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' in 2023. This film is based on the 1979 novel by Stephen King (writing under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), and has been in development Hell since 1988 when George A. Romero was first linked to Direct the film adaptation, and since then it has been on again off again as numerous film makers have come and gone, until Lawrence took the helm. On a production budget of US$20M the film has so far grossed US$18M since its release Stateside and here in Australia last week and has garnered generally positive critical reviews.

Here then, set in a dystopian United States ruled by a dictatorial regime, as a result of a war that broke out some time in the past, every year, thousands of teenage boys apply to participate in the Long Walk. This event in which fifty randomly chosen young men are given water and rations, must walk without stopping along a pre-determined route while soldiers escort them. Any walker who falls below three miles per hour is given a verbal warning, but can invalidate it by maintaining speed for an hour. If a walker receives three warnings and falls below speed again, he is shot on the spot and killed by the soldiers. The Walk ends when there is but one survivor left, who receives a substantial cash prize and can have one wish, any wish, fulfilled. 

Raymond 'Ray' Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) arrives at the starting point, and bids an emotional farewell to his mother Ginnie Garraty (Judy Greer) and meets the other participants, including Peter McVries (David Jonsson), Billy Stebbins (Garrett Wareing), Arthur Baker (Tut Nyuot), Collie Parker (Joshua Odjick), Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), Hank Olson (Ben Wang), and Richard Harkness (Jordan Gonzalez), along with the Major (Mark Hamill), who oversees the whole event. After each walker is given a dog tag bearing a number from one to fifty, and a quick set of rules and obligations is read out by the Major, the walk begins.

During the first day, Ray gets to know the other walkers and forms a close bond with Peter. A boy named Thomas Curley (Roman Griffin Davis) is the first to be killed, after he develops a painful cramp in his leg and is unable to keep up the minimum speed. Barkovitch is given a wide berth by the group for provoking another walker named Rank (Daymon Wrightly) into attacking him, resulting in Rank's execution. 

As the walk progresses, Ray reveals why he signed up to Peter, but makes him promise not to divulge this to anyone else. If successful in being the last man standing, his wish is for a guard's Carbine rifle and to use it to kill the Major, as revenge for executing his father for his staunch opposition to the political regime, a fact that he was prepared to die for. Peter tries to talk Ray out of it and confesses that when he is too tired to keep walking, he intends to stop and wait to die.

Harkness and many of the other walkers perish over the next few days, particularly when walking up a long steep incline late at night. Hank becomes delirious and attempts to attack the soldiers, who shoot him down and let him slowly bleed to death as punishment, and a deterrent to the other walkers. The next morning, the boys learn that Hank was married to Clementine, and the only man amongst the other forty-nine who was married. They all agree that the winner should give some of the prize money to his widow. Riddled with guilt over Rank's death, Barkovitch begs Ray to accept him into the group. Ray agrees, but Barkovitch suffers a mental breakdown soon afterward and fatally stabs himself several times in the throat with a spoon.

Eventually, only Ray, Peter, Stebbins, Arthur, and Collie remain. Stebbins, who has fallen ill, tries to persuade the others not to help each other anymore, so as not to prolong their suffering. Meanwhile the sole of Ray's shoe has come off, and he quickly discards both shoes and continues the walk in his bloodied socks. While walking through a town, Ray spots his mother watching and is given his third warning while trying to get to her, until Peter pulls him away just in time. 

Collie manages to steal a guard's rifle, shoots the guard, and then turns the gun on himself after the other soldiers wound him with several bullets to the gut. Arthur develops internal hemorrhaging and decides to stop walking, and is executed. As Stebbins' sickness worsens and he realises he no longer has a chance to win, he reveals to Ray and Peter why he chose to join the walk - he is one of the Major's many illegitimate children, and he intended to use his wish to force the man to accept him over tea at his house. He then tells the pair it was an honour to walk with them before stopping and allowing himself to be killed, leaving Ray and Peter as the final two walkers. 

Ray and Peter arrive at another town in the pouring rain late at night, where a crowd all sheltering under umbrellas has gathered to see who wins. Peter intentionally sits down, only for Ray to pick him up and encourage him to keep going. He does so, failing to notice that Ray himself has now stopped walking. The Major executes Ray and congratulates Peter for winning, while Peter cries out for his friend. When asked to state his wish, Peter carries out Ray's plan by asking for a Carbine rifle. The major responds saying that his wish will be granted and that he'll receive it in due course. Peter turns to a nearby guard and says that he wants his, to which the Major asks the guard to hand over his weapon. At which, Peter points the loaded rifle at the Major and says 'this is for Ray', pulls the trigger and kills him. He then continues walking down the road.

With 'The Long Walk' Director Francis Lawrence has delivered us one of the better Stephen King big screen adaptations in some years. However, this film is repetitive with forty-nine of the 'contestants' all buying the farm in some shape or form for stepping out of line, and not keeping up the pace, but, having said that it what these young men signed up for! Also you can figure out easily enough from the get go, who the last two men left standing are going to be, and in that respect the outcome is fairly predictable. On the positive front, the performances by Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson are top notch, and the bond the pair forge during their 330 or so mile long walk feels real and unforced. There are also some relevant present day messages at play in this film like the Major espousing pre-MAGA movement rhetoric, political unrest, economic and social downturn, the price of sacrifice and the true value of friendship, loyalty and the priorities we place on our lives and those of others. 'The Long Walk' is a solid enough film without being great, but it will leave you thinking long after the end credits have rolled, and hoping that this is a world we never get to see.

'The Long Walk' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-