Review: The Long  Walk (2025)

Sometimes, bleakness has its place.

The Long Walk, the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name (and originally published under the name Richard Bachman) is a damn bleak movie.  If you go into it blind (and I'd recommend going into it as blind as possible) you get a feeling from the beginning that something is off.  The tone is established quickly and early, and even before the first major turn of the movie (the elimination of #7 Thomas Curley, portrayed by Jojo Rabbit's Roman Griffin Davis) you know that this will not be a happy film.

From that elimination, the is a pervasive sense of dread.  A figurative shoe that the audience is collectively waiting to drop as we follow the remaining walkers - a much smaller 50 than the novel's original 100 - as they carry on with their journey: a continuous walk that does not end until all but one is eliminated.  Winning gets the Walker a large amount of money and any wish they want.

With the basic plot underway, and quick character introductions before they start walking, we get to know our main group of Walkers: Ray Garraty, Peter McVries, Arthur Baker, and Hank Olson (played by Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, and Ben Wang respectively) along with secondary characters Stebbins, Gary Barkovitch, and Collie Parker (Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, and Joshua Odjick) also getting moments.

This group provides the emotional throughline of the film, with a quick bond forming between Garraty, McVries, Baker, and Olson.  Their discussions as they walk give insight into how this dystopian world operates, although more could've been done to build up the character of The Major (Mark Hamill), who is the apparently leader of this terrible future.

Given that the bulk of the film is just the characters walking - with occasional eliminations of other minor characters - their discussions are key to the viewer making it through this bleakness.  There are surprising moments of humor and occasional bouts of melancholy shading the characters, and their eventual eliminations are all effective in affecting the viewer.

As far as adaptations go, it makes substantial changes to the source material while still keeping the nihilism that litters the King novel.  I'm not sure all the changes are for the better - the order of the eliminations and how they occur varies wildly.  However, most of the changes are unabashedly good, so I'll reserve judgment on the others.

Going further into the movie runs the risk of spoilers I'd rather not give, but trust that the bleakness continues through right to the end.  There are brief moments that escape it, but make sure you are in the right headspace before seeing this.

7 out of 10