Adapting Stephen King into a screenplay seems like the cushiest job in Hollywood. Just pick one of his 900 novels out of a hat, copy and paste it into Final Cut, and you’re greenlit. This latest film actually comes from the first novel King ever wrote, though not published until after Carrie. Initially released under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Long Walk is not a story I’d heard of before the casting announcements for this film, but the concept is a familiar one. Broadcast on TV in a dystopian United States, the Walk forces fifty young men to walk down a highway without stopping until only one remains. The prize? Untold riches, and one wish granted. If you stop walking? Lights out. Undeniably one of King’s bleakest stories, The Long Walk succeeds thanks to its leads Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, elevating this material and making you feel everything they suffer through.
Francis Lawrence is no stranger to televised death contests as the director of 4/5ths of the Hunger Games franchise (with another on the way!). Against a lush Maine backdrop, Lawrence finds ways to effectively frame these walking boys without things getting dull or too flashy. Raymond Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) is the quintessential King lead, a somewhat unassuming Maine native thrown into a hellish situation just trying to survive. He’s joined by Peter McVries (David Jonsson), Hank Olson (Ben Wang), and Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), along with many others. The dialogue remains as post-Vietnam as it could be, with zero attempt to modernize or change for “our times.” This comes off as clunky at the start, with Wang getting the worst of it – gotta have the swearing Brooklyn kid! But as their humanity gets stripped down, and the boys cling to optimism and life itself, there’s no time to worry about talking.
The filming is almost incidental to the story – no one is going to be Katniss and “play the game” to survive. They can only walk. I can’t imagine how grueling this production was. The boys really are always walking! I can’t even think about it. Hopefully everyone got massages and sauna trips after each shooting day. It’s hard to fathom large crowds embracing something this nihilistic, but The Long Walk could end up with some cult appeal, especially those interested in Jonsson’s burgeoning stardom. Like I wrote in my Alien: Romulus review, he is one of the most exciting young actors we have today. Even when his American accent falters, his performance never does. He and Hoffman go toe to toe, carrying each other through this brutal walk.
The Long Walk isn’t perfect, but it stands above plenty of trashy King adaptations. Maybe it feels good to watch something so nakedly upsetting and try to figure out how to live anyway? Surely things can’t get this bad, right? Right?
The Long Walk
2025
Dir. Francis Lawrence
108 min
Opens Friday, 9/12 @ Somerville Theatre, Kendall Square Cinema, Apple Cinemas Cambridge, Alamo Drafthouse Boston Seaport, and all local AMCs
